Emmaus’ defense had its ups and downs over the first three weeks of the 2017 high school football season.

But last Friday against Northampton the Hornets posted their first shutout of the season. And it’s likely not a coincident that the shutout came just two games after nose guard Joe Barno was cleared to get back with the team after a preseason concussion.

Barno and the Hornets held the Konkrete Kids to negative-34 rushing yards in a 35-0 win. The senior had one sack and two tackles for loss in the win.

“I think we played very solid as a team and as a unit,” said Barno. “I feel like this is the best we’ve played all year and I’m very proud of my team.”

Emmaus allowed only five first downs while stuffing the run and allowing just three complete passes for 108 yards. Barno’s presence in the middle was a key to the team’s success.

“They’re just so physical up front,” said Kids head coach Mark Scisly. “Their offensive line has five returning starters. They won the line of scrimmage and that was the difference in the game tonight.

“They were giving us the pass. They brought everybody up. Even their safeties were up. They were trying to force us to throw the ball and they were putting a lot of pressure on us. They own the battle at the line of scrimmage. We didn’t have lanes to run or time to throw and we have to do a better job.”

The Hornets forced punts on Northampton’s first four possessions while scoring on four of their first five drives.

Sone Ntoh scored on a first-quarter 24-yard run and Noah Breidinger had a pair of one-yard TD runs in the first half to put Emmaus ahead 21-0. Quarterback Blake Reed found Carlton Lovett with a 30-yard touchdown pass to put the Hornets up 28-0 with 5:04 left in the first half.

Emmaus got the mercy rule clock running when Ntoh ran in for a 10-yard touchdown with 7:11 left in the third quarter.

Northampton came within five yards of breaking the shut out. The Kids had a first and goal from the Emmaus five-yard line in the fourth quarter. But two incompletions, a Mekhi Flannigan tackle for no gain and Timothy Higgins’ tackle for a five-yard loss kept the zero on the scoreboard.

“That meant so much to our defense,” said Barno. “That was a big confidence booster.”