The Whitehall Zephyrs’ last-chance effort to regain their lead against Emmaus resulted in a 38-31 victory over the Green Hornets after Nazavier Calcano’s interception with 47 seconds left on Oct. 3 at Whitehall.

“I knew they were gonna try and go for something big, so I had to get back, I saw the ball in the air, and I had to grab it. I felt him (Tyler Carmosky) try to jump up, but I had to get to the ball first, so I tried to high-point the ball, and as soon as I touched it, I held on for dear life,” Calcano said. “In eighth grade, he caught a game-winning touchdown on me and we lost the game because of that play, so there were just immediate flashbacks from eighth grade.”

The entire Zephyr football team sprinted toward Calcano in celebration of the interception.

“Those are my brothers,” said Calcano. “I love all those guys. I play with all my heart for them.”

Whitehall trailed Emmaus 31-30 with 2:43 left in the game.

The Zephyrs received a 10-yard penalty to start their drive, and quarterback Tanner Dogmanits (196 passing yards) was brought down for a loss.

On second-and-16, Dogmanits completed a pass to Talon Dogmanits (134 receiving yards), Jeziah Gregory (114 rushing yards) ran for 12 yards, and Dogmanits passed to Dogmanits who reached the 14-yard line.

Gregory rushed 11 yards for the game-winning touchdown, and Tanner Dogmanits scored on the 2-point conversion.

With time still left on the clock, Emmaus quarterback Jerek Cooper’s pass to Jamaad Sanders was broken up by Nolan Hudak followed by Calcano’s interception.

Said Whitehall wide receiver Bryce Medina, “We had a rough game against Northampton a couple weeks ago, and once [Emmaus] started coming back, we were like, we can’t let the same thing happen that Northampton let happen against us. That was awesome, perfect defense by Naz, he got in a good position, made the play, and I’m proud of him.”

Medina had 125 receiving yards against the Hornets.

“We saw the defense they were playing, and we were practicing that stuff, scheming it all week,” Medina said. “The second half, they definitely came out stronger and they were doing really good running the ball. They did a good job covering me, but Tanner put the ball in places where I could get it and they couldn’t.”

The Zephyrs took a 24-7 lead at halftime on Cole Richards’ 31-yard field goal.

Emmaus’ Javier Santos scored consecutive touchdowns in the fourth quarter to give the Hornets a one-point lead.

Whitehall’s Gregory rushed for four touchdowns, and Talon Dogmanits had a 5-yard passing touchdown in the end zone in the second quarter.

This week, the Zephyrs will travel to J Birney Crum Stadium where they will take on William Allen on Oct. 10 before hosting Parkland on Oct. 16.