It’s fair to say that Emmaus had plenty of motivation heading into last Saturday’s contest with Bethlehem Catholic.

As both teams entered the contest with unblemished 2-0 marks, Emmaus proved it is here to belong this season following a 34-25 victory at Bethlehem Area School District Stadium.

The Green Hornets defense collected eight sacks on the night, got two field goals from kicker Carson Landis and the quarterback-wide receiver tandem of Derek Sheaffer and Josh Artis connected on two scores to give the Hornets a big win in week three.

“This is definitely the biggest win of the season for us,” said Emmaus junior linebacker Blake Reed. “We were definitely motivated coming into this one and it’s a great feeling to come away with the win.”

The defensive motivation for Emmaus came from some of the preseason comments that Becahi players made about their defensive front six being the best in the area and the state.

The Green Hornets certainly showed their prowess up front by harassing rookie quarterback Javon Clements all night, with Reed leading the way with five sacks.

Clements only completed 8-of-27 passes on the night, but that produced 183 yards and three touchdowns.

It started off with a 44-yard screen pass to Randy Terry with 10:15 in the opening quarter to put the Hawks ahead 7-0, but Emmaus would reel off 19 straight to end the first half capped by a 48-yard field goal by Landis.

The Hawks got a jolt of momentum to open the second half when Clements found Karim Powell for a pair of 49-yard and 76-yard touchdowns to bring the game within 25-18 heading into the final period.

That’s when PJ Weierbach stripped the ball from Sheaffer’s hand on an attempted pass and returned it 27 yards for the touchdown.

However, the extra point failed, one of three on the night for the Hawks, keeping Emmaus up 25-24 with 11:06 to play.

With momentum on its side, Becahi recovered an onside kick, but could never punch its way ahead.

Instead, Sheaffer found Artis for a six-yard score with 7:38 left and the Hornets were the beneficiaries of a high snap that went through the endzone late in the game to cement the victory.

Sheaffer finished the night 14-of-29 for 130 yards and three touchdowns and an interception.

Artis hauled in six balls for 58 yards and two scores, both of them coming inside the red zone.

Ultimately, the huge special teams advantage that Emmaus carries, as well as its ability to get to the quarterback Saturday night became the difference in highly contested matchup.

“We work hard in the weight room,” said Emmaus head coach Harold Fairclough. “You guys (reporters) don’t see that, but we’re in there and we work hard. We take pride in what we do. Their self-proclaimed ‘best defensive line, best six-man front’ was a challenge for us and our guys answered the bell.”