After missing all of last season with a broken collar bone, Stephen Wolf wants to make the most of his senior season.

He worked his way back onto the field, but the senior running back/receiver had touched the ball just four times on offense through Emmaus’ first five games with one carry and three receptions.

Friday night in the Hornets’ 56-21 win over Northampton, Wolf played an increased role in the offense. He got he ball four times as he ran for a touchdown, caught a touchdown pass and accounted for 137 of his team’s 408 yards against the Kids.

“That’s a kid I’m really happy for,” said Emmaus head coach Randy Cuthbert. “He’s worked so hard. He had a lot of disappointment last year with the injury. He’s a great kid with a great work ethic. He’s worked hard and has gotten better every week. Tonight he broke out on both sides of the ball. He had a huge game.”

Wolf’s performance was one of many stand-out efforts as the Hornets (2-4) broke a four-game losing streak. The last four games had coaches and players soul searching for answers.

“It was very frustrating,” said Wolf. “Four straight losses. That is terrible. It annoys you. It makes you really think about football and you’re love for it. We fought hard and we won, so it feels great.

“We’re just going to keep fighting as a team. We’re going to practice as well as we did this week and see where that takes us. We want to keep working as a team. That’s our goal.”

Over the past four weeks the team might have been improving, but it was not rewarded with wins and that became harder to accept each week.

“I think we made progress and got better but we just didn’t get wins and that’s frustrating,” said Cuthbert. “To break through and get a win and have probably our best performance of the year [Friday night] for four quarters, that’s a big lift going into the second half of the season.”

Emmaus enforced its will in the running game Friday night on Northampton’s brand new Al Erdosy Stadium turf.

Kyle Boney continued his stellar season. The senior ran for 220 yards and three touchdowns on 13 carries as his team piled up 361 yards on the ground. He went 70 yards to pay dirt on the second play of the game to get the scoring started.

“This is a much-needed win,” said Boney. “We needed this one so bad. It was just one of those wins where everyone had to come together as one team, play as a unit, and we came away with the victory tonight.”

The Hornets ran the ball at will despite the fact that Northampton was keying on the run. Emmaus only threw three passes, but both went for touchdowns. Wolf scored on an 18-yard catch in the first quarter and Josh Artis hauled in a 23-yard pass from quarterback Derek Scheaffer 13 seconds before halftime to give his team a 35-6 lead at intermission.

“I was very pleased to see a lot of different guys step up tonight and make plays,” said Cuthbert. “That was very encouraging.”

The Hornet defense played well, holding the Kids to just six points for three quarters, allowing the mercy rule to kick in after Boney’s 1-yard run

Emmaus forced three Northampton turnovers in the game and senior center/defensive tackle Brett Poling came up with a fumble recovery late in the first half and an interception early in the fourth quarter.

Poling has played very little defense in his football career, even in youth leagues. Other than snapping the ball every play, he doesn’t often touch the pigskin for very long during games. A two-year starter at center, he got moved into the starting line up on defense just a few weeks ago and made the most of it Friday night.

“It just felt awesome,” said Poling. “It’s unbelievable, a once in a lifetime thing.”

He said his team was prepared for the Kids’ short passing game and he knew precisely where to be on his interception play. But he was still a bit surprised when the ball headed his way.

“I had no time to think,” said Poling. “I just saw the ball. We worked on it in practice, the screen plays. So I was prepared for it.”

Emmaus’ special teams also played a big role in the win.

Kicker Carson Landis pounded kick offs into the end zone and went a perfect 8-for-8 on extra points.

“He had a great game tonight in a lot of ways,” said Cuthbert. “He has also done a great job punting the ball. He was booming [kick offs] tonight. Once he put one in [the end zone], then we just kept doing it and they all were going in. That’s a weapon. That helps the defense when the other team’s got to go 80 yards.”

Freshman Lubens Myers, who got his first defensive start last week, ran a kick off back 73 yards for a touchdown.

Emmaus even got its second team into the game as quarterback Blake Reed capped the Hornets scoring with a 1-yard touchdown late in the first quarter.

With four games left and a district playoff berth seeming all but out of reach, the Hornets will take the rest of the season one game at a time.

“It has been very frustrating, but those last four weeks have brought us together as a team,” said Boney. “It shows how strong everybody is. We can’t fall apart. We have to come together in moments like that.

“The next four weeks we’re going to take it week by week.”