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Northwestern Lehigh gets out of own way, pulls away from Saucon Valley for District XI Playoff Victory

Tagged under: District 11, Gameday Hub, News, Playoffs

| November 2, 2024

New Tripoli-

Northwestern opened this year’s playoff season looking forward to another trip to “The Chap” and another crack at state title, but a relentless Saucon Valley defense and slew of self inflicted mistakes and turnovers provided an early playoff test for the 2023 state runner-ups.

The evening’s matchup started with Saucon Valley being forced to go 3 and out by the Tiger’s defense on the opening drive of the game.  The punt by the Panthers Jack Robertson was then muffed by the Tigers‘ returner, Eli Zimmerman, but luckily he was able to pounce back on the ball to keep possession for the Tigers.  The Tiger offense went to work for the first time on the evening at their own 38 and gave the Panther defense a heavy dose of the run game and Eli Zimmerman.  The Panther defense finally was able to force a 4th down deep in their own territory, but an offsides penalty on a hard count gave Northwestern a first down and they immediately capitalized on the mistake via a 6 yard touchdown run from Eli Zimmerman with 9:26 left in the opening quarter.  The extra-point try was then blocked by Saucon Valley’s Caleb Grim.

Saucon Valley looked to respond, but the Tiger defense had other ideas and on 4th and 3 seemed to have forced another punt, but the Panther’s punter Jack Robertson had other ideas and scrambled for a long gain on a fake punt.  The momentum from the conversion for the Panthers was short lived however thanks to multiple false start penalties which put them in one of the proverbial “forever to go” situations.  The Panthers were able to get to 4th and manageable and went for it on 4th down.  The attempt was immediately blown up via pressure from the Tigers’ Bryer Reichard who forced an incomplete pass and a turnover on downs.

The next offensive possession for the Tigers saw the Northwestern offense and quarterback Shane Leh start to air the ball out. After converting a 4th and 2 through the air,  the Tigers were then forced to punt later in the drive.  Saucon took over and after a short gain on first down by running back Jared Rohn, quarterback Peter Albano was intercepted by Eli Zimmerman.  This interception by Zimmerman was his 18th career interception and makes him the Northwestern Lehigh all-time leader for career interceptions.  The Tiger offense then went on a 5 play drive highlighted by a long pass play from Shane Leh to Landen Matson which brought an end to the 1st quarter.

  The drive wascapped by a 2 yard touchdown run by Shane Hulmes to put the Tigers up 12-0 after a dropped 2-point attempt on the first play of the 2nd quarter.

The ensuing kickoff was returned by the Panthers to their own 30.  The Northwestern defense then forced a 3 and out, however the Saucon defense got the ball right back for their offense on the first play of their series as they forced an Eli Zimmerman fumble which was recovered by the Panthers’ Andrew Gilbert.  The turnover parade was just starting as the first play for the Panther’s resulted in another turnover as the Albano pass was intercepted by the Tigers’ Landen Matson.  The Tiger offense returned to the field and this time was able to move the ball down the field and add to their lead on an explosive 30 yard touchdown run by Eli Zimmerman with 8:01 left in the opening half.

The Panther offense took the field looking to respond, but a huge hit on Braden Rohn by the Tigers’ Jared Meck put that in doubt.  Three plays later, the Panther’s were punting.  The Tigers took over at their own 25 and started a methodical drive down the field looking for another score. The long, ten play drive came to an abrupt end as the Panthers’ Jack Robertson jumped in front of a Leh pass attempt and returned the interception all the way to just outside the Northwestern 20 yard line.  The Panther’s Braden Rohn was then able to find room on the outside of the Tiger defense on a broken play on 2nd down to get the ball down inside the Tiger 10 yard-line to give the Panthers their first goal-to-go opportunity of the night.

Senior running back Jared Rohn almost cashed in on the next play, but was ruled just short of the goal-line.  His brother Braden was able to get the Panthers on the board on the very next play as he crashed through the middle of the Tiger defense for the touchdown.  The extra-point try was no good and brought the score to 18-6 with 1:30 left in the half.

The ensuing Tiger offensive possession was unable to gain traction after an initial first down run by Eli Zimmerman.  The Panther’s Isaiah Checo sacked Leh on the next Tiger play to put them behind the sticks and the Tigers were unable to recover and punted 3 plays later.  The Panther offense took the field and looked to run their 2 minute offense.  Things seemed to be looking up after Albano was able to find Braden Rohn for a big 26 yard gain, but a holding call on the next play and then a sack by Jared Meck put the Panthers way behind the sticks and a short scramble on the following play by Braden Rohn took the game to halftime.

Northwestern received the 2nd half kick and immediately went to work “pounding the rock”.  Nine consecutive rushes by Zimmerman, Matson, and Leh would have the Tigers on the board once again.  This drive being capped by a 5 yard touchdown run by Leh right up the middle of the Panther defense.  The Tigers went for 2 once again, and this time Eli Zimmerman was able to find the end-zone to bring the score to 26-6 with 8:56 left in the 3rd quarter.

The Panther offense took the field after the ensuing kick-off, but were stymied by the Tiger defense and were forced to go 3 and out after being stopped for losses on 2nd and 3rd down.  Northwestern took over at their own 30 yard-line after the Robertson punt.  The Tiger’s first play of the drive would end up giving the ball back to the Panthers as a big hit by Robertson right on the ball carried by Eli Zimmerman popped the ball loose and was immediately pounced on by the Panthers Jared Rohn.  Braden Rohn took over on this Panther possession as he found Robertson 3 separate times for sizeable gains.  First, on 2nd down for a big 12 yard gain, then later in the drive on a 4th down attempt for a first down.  Finally, he found Robertson once again on a crossing route for a 14 yard Touchdown which brought the score to 26-12 after a missed 2 point try with 4:04 left in the 3rd quarter.

The Tiger offense took the field looking to respond to the Panther score.  The Panthers’ Checo had other ideas as he sacked Leh on first down to put the Tigers behind the stick and then eventually punt on 4th down.  The Tigers’ punt got a fortuitous bounce and was downed at the Panthers’ 2 yard-line.  Panther quarterback Braden Rohn got Saucon out of the shadow of their own end-zone of the very first play of the drive with a 20 yard gain on the ground.  He then found Roberson and Shane Kerosetz through the air to move the ball further down-field.  The 3rd quarter came to an end with the Panthers having a 3rd and short.  Rohn would convert with his legs, however 4 consecutive incompletions later would hand the ball back to the Tigers via a turnover on downs.  The Tiger offense went to work on the ground once again with runs by Eli Zimmerman and Seth Kern and on the 5th play of the drive, Kern found pay-dirt right up the middle to put Northwestern up 33-12 with 8:10 left in the game.

Saucon’s Checo returned the ensuing kick across midfield and in to Tiger territory.  However, the Panthers’ offense was unable to get anything going on this possession and would see Rohn being picked off on 4th down by the Tigers’ Michael Lagowy.

Northwestern went right back to pounding the rock with Zimmerman and Kern and after a time chewing drive, it would be Leh with the 14 yard scamper in to the end-zone to bring the score to 40-12 with 2:13 left in the game.

The Panthers returned the ensuing kick to their own 31 and would proceed to run out the clock on the game.

Following the matchup I was able to speak with the Tigers’ Eli Zimmerman who when asked about his team’s performance and their playoff push said, “A big thing about this team is that when we don’t have things going our way we have to stick together, rally together, and just play for each other.  The last 2 weeks things haven’t always gone our way all the time.  At practice this week we gotta work on the small things and get these things right”  When asked about being the new career INT record holder (18) at Northwestern Lehigh he said, “It’s really a team record, the line up front getting pressure, the guys doing their job in coverage allows me to be free over the top for those interceptions.

The Panthers end their 2024 campaign 8-3, a nice improvement over their 5-6 season in 2023.  With the victory, Northwestern Lehigh continues their undefeated season in search of a state title after being state runners-up last season in falling to Belle Vernon in the state title game.  Next week, the Tigers will match up with the Spartans of North Schuylkill who are fresh off a 26-23 OT victory over Notre Dame Green Pond at a site and time yet to be announced for the District XI 3A Championship.

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