Despite 28 points and four passing touchdowns from quarterback Doug Erney through two quarters of play, Liberty found themselves up just 28-24 against Emmaus at halftime.

Emmaus running back Kyle Boney kept the Hornets very much alive, running for 179 yards in the first half and accounting for all three scores. Liberty’s struggle wasn’t scoring points; it was stopping the Hornets’ ground game from responding after those Hurricane scores.

But the second half was a completely different story.

The Liberty defense held Boney to just 26 yards on the ground in the second half and the Emmaus offense to just seven points. And the Hurricanes’ (4-1) offense did just enough to hold on for a 34-31 victory on Thursday night after Hurricane Joaquin pushed kickoff up 24 hours.

“I thought defensively they did a nice job of adjusting and trying to get in front of the run,” head coach John Truby said. “Offensively we did some things. We shot ourselves in the foot towards the end there, but we’ll clean it up.

“He [Boney] is a good football player. He’s tough and he runs the ball really hard. My guys did a nice job in the second half getting in front of him and making him earn every yard.”

Gunner Anglovich pushed Liberty’s lead to 34-24 with an 8-yard touchdown run midway through the third quarter. That was their largest lead of the game after Emmaus failed to capitalize on a fake punt on their first drive of the second half and a three-and-out on their next series.

That lead would hold until Boney capitalized on a 10-yard scamper with under five minutes to play that got Emmaus to within 34-31.

And while the Liberty offense turned the ball over on downs with less than two minutes to play, their defense held stout when it mattered most.

Erney, who completed 13-of-25 passes for 232 yards, threw those four scores in the rainy and sloppy conditions, but Liberty could never pull away completely from the host team.

After Erney’s first score on a 66-yard connection with Victor Santiago, Boney responded with his first rushing touchdown minutes later. He then hooked up with Darian Street on consecutive touchdowns, but the Hornets took back the lead at 24-21 with 2:05 to play in the opening half.

What turned out to be Erney’s final score, a 41-yard catch-and-run by Elijah Williams with 45 ticks left in the half, was the one that put Liberty ahead for good.

“We definitely had to stop Boney,” Erney said. “They kept running down our throats. When we went into halftime we talked about the defensive line stepping up their game and stuff. We just wanted to stop them in the run.”

“Doug has so many weapons to choose from,” Truby said. “He’s the leader of our team. He had a really good game.”

Emmaus even through in a couple of pooch kickoffs on two of their first three attempts. Both resulted in recoveries by the Hornets and a field goal to open the game.

“We knew it Wednesday, and we just had to adjust,” Truby said of moving the game to Thursday. “They had to do the same thing, too. For both of us, we kind of had to tighten up some stuff. We really should have hit special teams a little bit more this week, but we’ll be back at it next week.”

Erney ran for 51 more yards on the ground, but Nasir Legree paced the Hurricanes with 91 on 14 carries. Anglovich ran 12 times for 74 yards.

“Obviously I can get better in some things,” Erney said. “I completed a lot of passes and I’m glad my receivers pulled through for me today, even though it was raining and all that other stuff.”

The Hurricanes face their toughest test of the season in Week 6 with unbeaten Parkland coming to town. Kickoff is Friday at 7p.m. at Bethlehem Area School District Stadium.