Emmaus bounces back, Northampton remains unbeaten

Freedom beats Bechai, and Blue Mountain stuns Bangor

Here is a roundup of the top Lehigh Valley high school football games Friday night in Week 9.

Emmaus 42, Easton 21: Emmaus struck first, with quarterback Jake Fotta scoring on a seven-yard touchdown run on fourth and one. The score remained 7-0 after the first quarter, but Easton running back Aidan Hutchinson had 11 carries for 125 yards. Hutchinson then scored his first touchdown of the night on the first play of the second quarter to tie the game at 7. Emmaus answered as Fotta found Dylan Darville for a 74-yard score to retake the lead 14-7. Fotta scored his third touchdown of the night on a five-yard run to put Emmaus up 21-7. Easton went to their guy again, as Hutchinson found the end zone for the second time to close the lead to 21-14, but Fotta ran in his third touchdown in of the night (4th total score), and Emmaus was up 28-14 at halftime. Fotta found Darville again for a 34-yard score, and then Josiah Williams’ six-yard run gave Emmaus a 42-14 lead. Easton added a late score.

Freedom 24, Bethlehem Catholic 13: Jalen Fletcher got Freedom on the board with an eight-yard touchdown run and then followed it up with his second score of the night to put the Patriots up 14-0 at halftime. After a Freedom field goal to go up 17-0 in the third quarter, Bethlehem Catholic answered as quarterback Luke Thomas found Zyair Morris for a 13-yard score to make it 17-7. Fletcher scored his third touchdown of the night to extended the lead to 24-7. Bethlehem Catholic scored with 5:49 left as Thomas found Jaiden Ellis-Lahey.

Stroudsburg 23, East Stroudsburg

South 8: Stroudsburg running back Andre Reames Jr. scored early to give his team a 7-0 lead. Reames continued his big year, as he broke off a 60-plus yard run for his second score of the game, giving Stroudsburg a 14-0 lead in the first quarter. Nick Radoi’s field goal extended th Mounties’ lead to 17-0 at halftime. Stroudsburg’s defense extended its shutout streak to 10 quarters heading into halftime. In the second half, it was more of the same as Reames scored his third touchdown, and Stroudsburg was up 23-0. Stroudsburg shut out South in the third quarter to extend the shutout streak to 11 quarters, but South scored in the fourth quarter to end the impressive streak.

Blue Mountain 21, Bangor 20: This game was a defensive battle in the first half, as neither team got on the board in the first quarter. It wasn’t until there were 55 seconds left in the second quarter that there were points scored, and that was after Bangor’s Eric Striba scored from five yards out to give Bangor a 7-0 lead heading into the half. Blue Mountain got on the board in the second half to tie the game at 7-7, but Bangor answered before the end of the third. Seth Bossert scored for the Slaters with 37 seconds left to give Bangor the 14-7 lead. Another Striba touchdown run extended the Bangor lead to 20-7. Blue Mountain got a safety to cut the lead to 20-9, and then a touchdown cut it to 20-15 with 2:13 left in the game. Blue Mountain got the ball back and drove right down the field to take a 21-20 lead with 1:05 left in the game. Bangor was unable to respond and Blue Mountain won a thriller.

Lehighton 24, Saucon Valley 7:

Lehighton struck first, with a 43-yard score to take a 7-0 lead. Lehighton added to the lead in the second quarter when Brady O’Donnell took it in from four yards out and made the score 14-0. However, Saucon Valley answered as Luke Shimko found Braden Weiss before the half to close the lead to 14-7 heading into the third. Neither team scored in the third, but Lehighton extended the lead early in the fourth with a 22-yard field goal from John Light. O’Donnell put the game away with a 14-yard touchdown pass to Aiden Rarick.

Northampton 48, Dieruff 16: Northampton had a quick start, scoring three times in the first quarter. First, Antonino Russo found Caden Henritzy for a 27-yard score, then AJ Slivka scored from a yard out, and Henritzy scored his second touchdown of the game to make it 21-0. Dieruff ’s Jordy Guzman broke off a 54-yard run that led to him scoring from one yard out, and after a two-point conversion, Northampton’s lead was 21-8. However, Henritzy scored his third touchdown of the game to extend the lead to 27-8 at the half. To start the second half, Russo found Jaelen Richardson for a 22-yard score, and then another Konkrete Kids touchdown had Northampton rolling 34-8. The teams traded scores to end the third, and Northampton led 41-16 heading into the fourth. One more scoring play from Russo to Richardson helped Northampton cruise to a 9-0 record.

Southern Lehigh 42, Pottsville 7:

Southern Lehigh got on the board first and never looked back after a six-yard touchdown to go up 7-0. Southern Lehigh scored again on a 23-yard touchdown pass to make it 13-0, and Pottsville answered to make it 13-7, but that was their only score of the night. Southern Lehigh had a 19-yard touchdown run to head into halftime up 20-7. Pottsville fumbled on the first drive of the second half, and then Southern Lehigh scored a 40-yard touchdown on the first play after the turnover. Another touchdown run made it 35-7, and one more made it a dominant 42-7 victory.

Palmerton 36, Tamaqua 20:

Palmerton struck first as Matt Machalik scored on a 39-yard touchdown run. Machalik then found Cole Serfass for a 15-yard score to extend the lead to 14-0 to end the first quarter. Another Machalik run, this time from 37 yards out, gave Palmerton a 20-0 lead. Tamaqua finally got on the board after Luke Kane found John Klein for a 54-yard catch and run to cut the lead to 20-7. Kane then scored from one yard out to cut the lead to 20-14 heading into the half. Kane scored his third touchdown of the night to tie the game at 20, but Machalik’s fourth touchdown, this time a 60-yard run, gave Palmerton a 28-20 lead. Daniel Lucykanish ran one in from seven yards out.