The Emmaus football team had built a 26-14 lead over the Easton Red Rovers last Friday night at Cottingham Stadium. But in the fourth quarter, the Red Rovers scored two thrilling touchdowns, including the game winner with just seconds left - to tear it all down and make Emmaus’ bus ride home a quiet one on the short-end of a 27-26 defeat.

The shame of it for the Hornets was that they lost a game they could have won. The Red Rovers gained more yards (417-209), more first downs (24-13) and were more efficient on third down (63 to 30 percent). But Emmaus played an opportunistic, smart and mostly error-free game.

“We played a good football game and I’m proud of our effort, but there are no moral victories,” said coach Harold Fairclough. “We have an expectation level that we can win those games.”

A big reason why Emmaus (3-2) played a good game was its run defense. The Red Rovers have five rather large young men who perhaps comprise one of the best offensive lines in all of East Penn Conference. They pave paths for Nahjee Adams, one of the league’s best running backs. If Emmaus had a legitimate chance to win this game, it needed to contain Adams.

“They (the defense) knew their assignments and executed,” Fairclough said.

Ultimately, Adams got his - gaining 100 yards and scoring one huge touchdown. But it didn’t come easy.

Emmaus defenders did a good job neutralizing Easton’s sterling offensive line. It took Adams 27 carries to hit the century mark. He also made one costly fumble in the third quarter.

Emmaus’ Jared Groller led the way for Gang Green, registering 10 tackles, two assists and one piercing sack. Always ready and always tough Adam Heiserman battled all night to get off blockers and on to ball carriers, acquiring five tackles and two assists for his efforts.

It forced Easton quarterback Cole Transue to take to air more than normal. Transue, going 18-for-33 and 232 yards, two touchdowns and one interception.

“The bottom line is they made plays when they had to,” Fairclough said.

Easton (5-0) broke on top and led 7-0 before the Green Hornets unleashed some special teams magic. Brandon Camire responded with an 93-yard kickoff return for a touchdown to even the contest at 7-7.

“It was huge and stole that momentum back,” Fairclough said. “Keith Brader is our special teams coach and he’s been around a long time doing a great job. We spend a lot of time on special teams, as much or more than anyone. The kickoff return was well executed.”

In the second quarter, Emmaus outscored Easton 13-7 courtesy of two Alex Orlando field goals and a slick 19-yard touchdown pass from quarterback Jacob Moyer to Jameel Sanders to give the Hornets a 20-14 advantage. They added to the lead in the third quarter with a Camire two-yard touchdown run to give them a 26-14 lead. However, Emmaus could not stick in the two-point conversion. It would prove costly.

Easton cut the deficit to five when Transue played pitch-and-catch with Dominic Falcone on a 7-yard TD pass to cut it to 26-21.For a while it looked like Trexler officially told the Rovers to go lay down when he picked off Transue in the end zone. It ended a promising Easton drive with less than three minutes to play.

However, Emmaus was unable to move the ball, going three-and-out. It was one of three drives where the Green Hornets’ offense could not get a first down. Fairclough said had they been able to move the ball and the work the clock, the outcome almost certainly would have been different.

When Easton regained possession with 2:13 remaining, Transue and the boys expertly executed their two-minute offense. Transue was clutch, scrambling and passing Easton down the field for the winning score, which came when Adams took it in from one-yard out.