Emmaus came into Zephyr Stadium as the homecoming opponent of Whitehall Friday night bent on showing just how good their defense has been on their five game winning streak. That defense contained the Zephyr potent ground game for much of the evening, however Whitehall’s defense flexed their muscles as well on defense. That tipped the scales in Whitehall’s favor as the Zephyrs defeated the Green Hornets 19-7 in front of a packed house.
Whitehall’s Saquon Barkley scored via the air, ground and on defense in the victory. “We knew going in this was going to be a tough test,” Barkley stated. “We were focused on task at hand, and we got the job done.” I cannot say enough about all these guys around me who made some plays tonight. (Ryan)Bonshak and (Jake) Buskirk played great tonight,” he added.
Barkley got the scoring started after the Zephyrs blocked an Emmaus’ punt and recovered at the 20 yard line. Quarterback Jeff Charles hit Barkley over the middle for an 11 yard score midway through the first quarter. The PAT was missed and left Whitehall with 6-0 lead.
Whitehall managed to get the ball to the Green Hornets one yard line, but a fumble on the snap ended that chance to put more points on the board and the half ended with that 6-0 score.
Barkley got his second score of the night on a one yard end around and PAT was converted to extend the lead to 13-0 in the third quarter. Barkley got the trifecta by returning an errant pass from Emmaus’ quarterback Logan Kober and returned it 50 yards down the sideline. The PAT was missed, but Whitehall led 19-0 late in the third quarter.
Unfortunately for Whitehall they could not complete the shutout on this night as Charles’ pass was intercepted by Kyzir White, who returned the ball 48 yards for Emmaus’ only score of the night.
Emmaus(5-3, 5-2 LVC) was held to 170 yards in total offense and commited 4 turnovers all by interceptions. Whitehall(7-1. 6-1 LVC) stays in a tie atop the LVC with Parkland and Easton who also won tonight. The Zephys will need to clean some things up in order to have a chance to knock off Easton next week at Cottingham Stadium.
2 responses to “Barkley, Zephyr Defense Stymies Emmaus 19-7”
He’s also been offered by Syracuse.
although Barkley committed to Rutgers he received a scholarship offer to Penn State yesterday.