The Emmaus rifle team continued showing its shooting prowess during the Northeast Pennsylvania Rifle League team playoffs, finishing third overall.

“Obviously, I’d rather we jump up a few spots,” said Emmaus head coach Michael Schuler. “But with a young team I think we did extremely well. “

The Green Hornets lost a tough match in the semifinal round Feb. 1 to top seed Southern Lehigh, 1000-995. The Hornets then won their consolation round match Feb. 3 over the tournament’s number four team Berwick, 994-989.

“In the Southern Lehigh match we were very competitive,” the coach said. “In our match with Berwick we had nice bounce back that would have been right among the best scores. I’m very excited for the state team match to continue building on the improvements that have been happening all season.”

Last Tuesday the state individual qualifying matches were held and four shooters - Aubrey Marshall, Molly Yard, Griffin Lake and Nate Servais - represented Emmaus. Qualifying matches are a stern test.

“It’s a fairly rigorous match,” Schuler said. “The students shoot two targets of 10 bulls each in 20 minutes. Then they have a five-minute break, and then do it again.”

Shooters need to be focused mentally over a longer period.

“It really strains the shooters’ stamina because it’s twice as long as what they’ve been doing the entire season,” said Schuler.

Out of 45 NPRL students, the league sends 10 to the individual match. All four of Emmaus’ students placed in the top 11 spots.

“Aubrey was just barely edged out by the 10th place shooter by half a point,” Schuler said. “In the context of the actual shot placement, that’s fractions of one inch.”

Marshall’s finish meant only Yard, Lake and Servais advanced two days later to the state individual match. Griffin took first among NPRL finishers, registering a higher score compared to his previous year’s output.

“We’re confident that will hold when we get the scores from the state’s western half later this month,” Schuler said.

Yard and Servais finished seventh and eighth, respectively.