There have been times in his two seasons as Allentown Central Catholic’s quarterback that Patrick Cahill has seemingly had to run for his life to elude the oncoming pass rush.

So, it had to feel good for the junior to simply take a knee for the last two plays of Friday night’s 28-14 Eastern Pennsylvania Conference win at Emmaus.

Cahill did plenty to earn the opportunity to take a knee in victory formation.

Unofficially, he completed 14 of 20 passes for more than 220 yards, including a pair of touchdowns — one of them covering 90 yards to Tahir Edmondson.

That big play came in a big third quarter for the Vikings, who outscored the Green Hornets 14-0 in the third quarter to break open a 14-14 tie.

“My receivers really help me out,” said Cahill, who is the son of Lehigh University coach Kevin Cahill. “In most of our big plays, I am throwing the ball about 10 yards and guys are taking it the rest of the way. My line also stepped up. A few big plays in this game were because of them.”

In getting to 3-3 and beating an Emmaus squad that hammered the Vikings 38-6 last year, Central was able to get big plays in all three facets of the game.

The Vikings’ first touchdown came on a blocked punt by Luis Martinez that Tommy Roth picked up and ran 23 yards for a score. That special play by the special teams tied the game at 7 and Central took a 14-7 lead when Grayson Schmell intercepted a pass to set up the Vikings at the Emmaus 35. A pass interference penalty — one of many infractions committed by the Green Hornets — moved the ball to the 20 and four plays later Cahill found Di’Quiawn Leak for a 7-yard score.

Emmaus, though, answered just before halftime with Jay Santos scoring on a 16-yard run.

However, the Green Hornets, who fell to an uncharacteristic 2-4, were shut out in the second half.

The tone was set on the first Emmaus series of the second half when the Hornets went for it on fourth-and-1 at the Central 23, but Santos was thrown for a 2-yard loss.

“We just didn’t make enough plays,” Green Hornets coach Harold Fairclough said. “You should be able to get a yard in that situation. That was a big play but there were a couple of plays that changed momentum.”

Central changed the momentum and the scoreboard with two scoring drives. Tate Shoemaker finished the first one with a 3-yard run after Cahill had two completions of 26 yards on a 75-yard drive.

Then after Edmondson picked off an Emmaus pass, the sophomore had the ball in his hands again on the 90-yarder that will go down as the biggest play of the Central season so far.

“Me and my QB were on the same page, and he got me the ball and I found my way to the end zone,” said Edmondson, who played at Executive Education last season.

The win was special for first-year ACCHS Jake Reichard, who spent the previous six seasons as an assistant at Emmaus.

“I have the utmost respect for Harold and his staff and those kids over there,” Reichard said. “They’re the standard we’re trying to get to. Hats off to those guys. I am just happy for my kids and my staff. It’s not about me. These guys believe in each other, and we got a huge win that we desperately needed. All three phases were important tonight. Everybody had a hand in it.”

Scoring summary

ACCHS 0 – 14 – 14 – 0 — 28

Emmaus 7 – 7 – 0 – 0 — 14

FIRST QUARTER

EM: Jay Santos 9 run (Gavin Yartymyk kick), 4:22

SECOND QUARTER

CC: Tommy Roth 23 punt return (Bryson Baker kick), 6:53

CC: Di’Quiawn Leak 7 pass from Patrick Cahill (Baker kick), 2:01

EM: Santos 22 run (Yartymyk kick) 0:23

THIRD QUARTER

CC: Tate Shoemaker 3 run (Baker kick), 5:29

CC: Tahir Edmondson 90 pass from Cahill (Yartymyk kick), 3:02

Did you know?

Emmaus’ all-time leader in coaching wins is Luke Lobb, who went 89-64-6 in 16 seasons between 1947 and 1962. Joe Bottiglieri, the current Liberty defensive coordinator, went 70-51 in 11 seasons from 2002-2012. Harold Fairclough is second all-time. In his 10th season, Fairclough, who won state titles as both a player (1993) and coach (2010) at Allentown Central Catholic, entered Friday’s game with a record of 74-34 which is good enough for second place all-time at Emmaus.

Colin McDermott owns Central’s single-game rushing record. He ran for 422 yards and five touchdowns in a 42-7 win over Bethlehem Catholic in 2012.

Who’s next?

Emmaus travels to Whitehall on Friday, while ACCHS hosts Allen on Saturday night. Last year, Emmaus beat Whitehall 31- 7, and the Vikings beat Allen 37-22.

https://www.mcall.com/2025/09/26/allentown-central-catholic-beats-emmaus-gets-back-to-500/