Whitehall’s Braxton Marrero and Emmaus’ Sone Ntoh can attest to the redemptive power of sport as they both responded to adversity with big plays that helped make last Friday’s EPC South matchup an early candidate for the high school football game of the year.

Ntoh had his moment of misfortune midway through the fourth quarter when he fumbled the ball as the Green Hornets were driving for the tying score. Whitehall had just forged ahead on a pass from Ethan Parvel to wideout Dez Boykin who found the end zone for the third time in the game, making it 35-28.

The Hornets took the ensuing kickoff and marched down the field, as Ntoh gained huge chunks of yards on big runs throughout the drive. The junior was like a locomotive churning through the Zephyr line, gaining of 36 of his 116 yards during that march.

But he lost the ball at Whitehall’s 17-yard line with a little less than six minutes remaining, and it looked like Whitehall was in the driver’s seat as they began to run their offense that had torched the Hornets for 390 total yards and 5 TDs to that point.

It was the first turnover for either team, and it could have spelled disaster for the Hornets, who were looking to go to 2-0 on the season in their quest to defend their conference championship.

But as the Zephyrs lined up to begin their next series, it was Marrero who felt the sting of a critical turnover at a point where a sustained drive could have ended Emmaus’ hope for a comeback victory. The Hornets were playing from behind the whole evening, but eventually took their first lead midway through the third quarter, 28-21. They now had the ball back in their hands with another opportunity to tie, and coach Harold Fairclough turned to Ntoh again.

The junior quickly redeemed himself with a 3-yard score to knot the game at 35-35 with a little over four minutes left in the game.

Ntoh had erased that previous turnover with a score that put the momentum back into Emmaus’ favor.

But redemption paid a visit to Marrero on the Zephyrs ensuing drive as head coach Brian Gilbert didn’t hesitate to call his number again. After Parvel hooked up with Boykin for a big gain on a third-and-four to keep the chains moving, Marrero burst up the gut for an 18-yard TD run for the winning score, giving the Zephs a 42-35 victory.

“Coach [Gilbert] told me to stay in the middle, and don’t get too down or too high,” said Marrero who finished with 190 yards on 18 carries. “When I fumbled, obviously my head was down a little bit, but I knew I had to come back onto the field and make a play.”

That play kept Whitehall undefeated at 2-0 as they look toward Nazareth this Friday.

Gilbert said that Marrero wanted the ball back in his hands after the fumble.

“There wasn’t a coach that wasn’t confident in giving him the ball back,” said Gilbert. “He responded and it was great to see.”

Marrero said that his ability to gash the Hornets for 190 yards wouldn’t have been possible without the work up front. His biggest run came in the third quarter as once again he found a lane through the middle of the Hornet defense for a 62-yard score.

“I hold our line as one of the best in the league,” said Marrero. “I saw that hole and I had to hit it.”

Another player who was hitting the holes was Parvel. In his second start, the junior signal caller gave opposing defensive coordinators a foreshadowing of his ability to attack a defense with his legs and his arm. In just the second play from scrimmage, Parvel bolted 69 yards before people at Zephyr Stadium got comfortable in their seats. Parvel finished the game with 120 yards on 20 rushes.

Parvel also threw for over 100 yards, connecting with Boykin on eight of those passes, including three TDs.

Last year Josh Artis was a nightmare for the Zephyr defensive backfield, reeling in eight receptions for 144 yards and two scores. On Friday, Artis only caught three balls for 41 yards. Gilbert said that the key to their success against Artis was the play of defensive back Joel Henninger who Gilbert dubbed as the “player of the game.”

Still, they surrendered 35 points and allowed almost 300 total yards. But the defense buckled down when they needed to, limiting the Hornets to just 1-10 on third-down conversions.

“Our defense made the stops when they needed to,” said Gilbert. “We knew that the offense was going to keep moving the ball. We weren’t perfect, but we made enough big plays.”

Gilbert said that they also had to be physical against a good team like Emmaus.

“We needed to show tonight that we can stand toe-to-toe against the best teams in the league,” said Gilbert.