When a team scores six touchdowns and racks up 417 yards of offense the way Liberty did on Friday night, it can be easy to forget about the defense and special teams.

But make no mistake, the Hurricanes wouldn't have posted a 42-33 Eastern Pennsylvania Conference win over Emmaus without those units delivering.

While the offense certainly had enough big moments to delight a sizable Homecoming crowd at Bethlehem Area School District Stadium, the defense shut out the Green Hornets in the fourth quarter.

And a punt that rolled to a stop on the Emmaus 3 led to the pivotal turnover and subsequent clinching score as Liberty reached the halfway mark of the regular season at 3-2 and in the hunt for a postseason berth.

"We've got to give effort all the time and if we do, we can play pretty good football," Hurricanes coach John Truby said. "We got down tonight, but we kept playing."

Emmaus, which had two guys rush for more than 100 yards in Wyl Miller and Andy Davidson, seemed unstoppable at times.

And when Miller got loose for a 66-yard TD run on the Green Hornets' first play from scrimmage in the second half, it created a 27-14 deficit for Liberty.

However, Liberty gamely fought back and gained the upper hand in the back-and-forth battle thanks in large part to its defense, which got stops on four of Emmaus's final five possessions.

The key stop came after Michael Lehman's punt rolled dead on the Emmaus 3 with 4:25 left and the Hurricanes protecting a 35-33 lead.

The Liberty defense swarmed on Davidson, popped the ball loose and Justin Soimes recovered. Two plays later, senior Ryan Lawrence had his third rushing TD of the night and the Hurricanes were on their way to a bounce back win after a disappointing 56-20 loss to Whitehall last week.

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Liberty gets complete effort in coming from behind to beat Emmaus, 42-33