At 1-4 just five games into the 2015 season, not many people outside of the Emmaus football program believed the Green Hornets would make, or were even worthy of playing in the postseason. But that was just one half of the season.

Over its next five games Emmaus went 4-1 with the lone loss coming to Eastern Pennsylvania Conference champion Parkland last Friday night. The loss kept the Hornets out of districts, but they still qualified to play in the Eastern Conference playoffs.

The team that had its senior night game moved to Whitehall two weeks ago will now get a chance to play at least one more game on its home field. Emmaus is the number one seed out of the South and will face the number two seed from the North, Williamsport (6-4) on Friday night at Emmaus High School.

“I told them in the huddle [after the Parkland game] to keep their heads up and that I’m proud of them,” said Emmaus head coach Randy Cuthbert. “They played well and still have at least another game to play. We just need to come back out and start working hard starting Monday and through the week to prepare for Friday night. We still have a lot to play for and want to win two more games.”

Unlike the Green Hornets, the Millionaires won their first four games, but then had a stretch of three straight losses. Last weekend, they were beaten by Wyoming Valley West, the number one seed in the District 2-11 subregional playoff, 48-7. It was the lowest-scoring game for Williamsport this year, as it has scored at least 20 points in eight out of the other nine games.

Emmaus comes into the game riding the legs of senior running back Kyle Boney, who has amassed 2,002 through the regular season.

The winner of Friday’s semifinal will face the winner of the Reading-Pleasant Valley matchup in next week’s Eastern Conference championship.