There are few high school football programs in the country with as much history as Easton Area High School.

It added another milestone to its legendary resume on Friday night as the top-seeded Red Rovers earned the 900th win in program history with a 28-7 win over No. 8 Emmaus in a District 11 6A quarterfinal matchup at Cottingham Stadium on a windy Halloween night.

They’ll advance to face the winner of Saturday afternoon’s Bethlehem rivalry between No. 4 Liberty and No. 5 Freedom next Friday night at Cottingham Stadium at a time to be determined.

Coach Matt Senneca’s group had a pair of touchdowns wiped off the board by penaltiey in the first half, but Cole Ordway’s three-yard touchdown run and Sean McPeek’s 19-yard touchdown grab wouldn’t be denied in a defensive struggle that led to a 14-0 Easton lead at the break.

McPeek moved the chains on a 3rd-and-7 earlier on in the team’s final drive of the half by elevating for a contested catch to get the Red Rovers into Emmaus territory. His leaping grab in the end zone was a nearly identical play, helping his team to get points on the board after Chris Martinez’s nine-yard touchdown run was eliminated by a holding penalty.

These costly penalties, a consistent gusting wind and a muffed punt in their own territory provided the Red Rovers with more of a challenge than in a 42-7 mercy rule victory earlier in the season against the Green Hornets.

Still, the undefeated hosts avenged last season’s 20-19 district semifinal loss to the Green Hornets on the same field to clinch a spot in next week’s District 11 6A semifinal.

A drive, which in many ways emulated what Easton’s done so well in the 136 years and 900 wins of its existence, helped put the game away to start the second half.

The Red Rovers marched 80 yards on 11 running plays, taking more than half of the third quarter clock off the board and extending their lead to 21-0 before Emmaus could even think about getting back into the game. Trevon Tyler’s 28-yard touchdown run capped off the drive after stiff-arming a would-be tackler into the ground and cutting upfield to find paydirt.

His quarterback put together another successful performance on the ground as his first half touchdown inched him closer to Shane Simpson’s school record of 33 rushing touchdowns in a season. The senior quarterback now has 30 on the season after a 75-yard performance that came up just short of Tyler’s 92 rushing yards to lead the team.

McPeek punctuated the historic win with a 64-yard interception return for a touchdown with 14 seconds remaining for his fourth pick-six of the season and second against the Green Hornets.

Derek Bast is a freelance writer who can be found on Twitter/X at @derek_bast. He can be reached by email at derekbast11@gmail.com. 

EMMAUS 7, EASTON 28

Emmaus: 0; 0; 0; 7 — 7

Easton: 7; 7; 7; 7 — 28

ORDER OF SCORING  

First quarter

Eas: Cole Ordway 3 run (Noah Borluca kick); 9:05

Second quarter

Eas: Sean McPeek 19 pass from Ordway (Borluca kick); 0:24

Third quarter

Eas: Trevon Tyler 28 run (Borluca kick); 5:02

Fourth quarter

Emm: Jerek Cooper 48 run (Gavin Yartymyk kick); 0:48

Eas: Sean McPeek 64 interception return (Borluca kick); 0:14