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Northwestern Lehigh Pounds The Rock En Route to Decisive Victory over District 12 Champ Conwell-Egan

Tagged under: District 11, District 12, Gameday Hub, News, Playoffs

| November 16, 2024

New Tripoli-

The Tigers’ mantra of “POUND THE ROCK” was on full display last night as they racked up over 300 yards and 5 scores on the ground on their way to a victory over Conwell-Egan.

To start the game, Northwestern won the coin-toss and elected to defer.  Egan elected to defend the scoreboard end of the field.  Egan got off to a good start on their first possession with Monty Zoryea and Aubrey Kimbrough combining to get the Eagles and initial first down on the evening.  However, the Northwestern defense tightened up and forced a punt soon there-after.  Northwestern received the punt and started their initial drive of the night on their own 47.  Tiger running back Eli Zimmerman took the first offensive play for the Tigers 23 yards for a electric first down.  Then just like the Tiger defense, the Egan defense tightened up and forced a turnover on downs after Tiger quarterback Shane Leh was unable to find any open receivers on 4th down thanks in large part to some heavy pressure by the Eagle defense.  The Egan offense took the field looking to get something going on offense, but once again the Tiger defense was up for the challenge.  Northwestern linebacker Shane Hulmes recorded a sack on first down and then 2 incomplete passes later, Egan was forced to punt.  The punt was fair caught by Northwestern, however an Eagle player ran in to the returner and got called for kick catch interference which set up the Tigers at their own 39 for their next drive.  The Northwestern offense kept the ball on the ground and chewed up yards and a bunch of clock en route to their first score of the night. The Tigers opened the scoring thanks to an 18 yard run from Eli Zimmerman who found an opening around the outside of the Egan defense and after making a few defenders miss, found the end-zone just inside the pylon with 4:39 remaining in the opening quarter.

The Egan offense looked to respond and they sure did.  They went on a lengthy 10 play drive which crossed in to the 2nd quarter and ended with Monty Zoryea finding the endzone from 8 yards out via a nice cut-back up the middle of the Tiger defense to bring the score to 7-7 with 11:58 remaining in the half.

The ensuing kickoff saw a great return by the Tigers all the was to the Egan 46.  This drive saw the Tiger offense start off with their bread and butter ground game, then they finally took to the air after racking up 2 first downs on the ground.  The Egan defense however looked to keep them grounded and on first and 10 from the Egan 22, Chase Walters broke through the Tiger line a dropped Leh in the backfield for a big loss.  The quarterback did not take this setback lying down, he found William Tuner on a middle screen, and then on the next play found tight end Shane Hulmes open downfield after rolling out to his left for a big gain.  Hulmes then took the next direct snap up the middle for a 7 yard score bringing the score to 14-7 in favor of Northwestern with 8:20 remaining in the first half.

The Egan offense took the field looking to respond now being down a score.  The Tiger defense had other ideas and forced the Eagles to punt after picking up an initial first down.  The punt pinned the Tigers deep in their own end at their own 12 yard line.  The Northwestern offense went to work, keeping the ball on the ground and on the 3rd play of the drive Eli Zimmerman broke a big 34 yard run to break in to Eagle territory.  A few plays later, Hulmes once again lined up for the wildcat direct snap and this time found an opening around the right side of the Egan defense for a 9 yard touchdown run with 2:46 remaining in the first half.

The Eagle offense looked to respond on their next drive.  The Tiger defense forced a 3rd and long attempt and forced and incompletion.  However, they were called for a roughing the passer penalty which gave the Egan offense a first down.  The Egan offense was not able to do anything with the new chance and was forced to punt.  The Tigers started their next possession at their own 37.  This drive was all Zimmerman for Northwestern as he took the first hand-off of the drive for a 20 yard gain and then on the next play, Leh found him out of the backfield for a 32 yard touchdown to put the Tigers up 28-7 with 1:19 left in the first half.

Catastrophe struck on the ensuing kickoff for Egan as the Tigers forced a fumble and recovered at the Eagle 16 yard-line.  Northwestern wasted no time and on the first play of the drive, Shane Leh found Landen Matson on a deep crossing patter for the 16 yard touchdown strike to put the Tigers up 35-7 with 1:11 left in the first half.

The Eagles received the ensuing kickoff and thir offense ran out the clock to end the first half.

The 2nd half started with Northwestern’s Eli Zimmerman returning the kick all the way to the Egan 39 yard-line.  This great return an  field position were quickly squandered however.  On the first play of the drive the hand-off was fumbled, and then Zimmerman was stopped for no gain. On third down, Leh dropped back for a pass and on what seemed to be an obvious forward pass, got hit by Brian Shimp and the ball was deemed to be fumbled.  It was picked up by Dane Austerberry on the Egan defense and returned in to Tiger territory.

The Egan offense took over in Tiger territory, but the Northwestern defense put the clamps on the Eagles and forced a turnover on downs without the Egan offense picking up a single first down on the drive.  The next drive saw Northwestern go right back to the ground game and Zimmerman.  On the 2nd play of the drive he broke off a big 39 yard gain.  However, there was an unsportsmanlike penalty called on the Tigers after the play which backed them up.  The Egan defense tightened up and forced a Tiger punt 4 plays later.  The ball ended up right back in the hands of the Tigers 2 plays later however via a fumble which was recovered by Northwestern linebacker Brady Zimmerman.

The Tiger offense wasted no time and on their first play Eli Zimmerman took the hand-off 32 yards for the score with 4:01 left in the 3rd quarter.

The Egan offense took the field after the ensuing kickoff and turned the ball over once again on the first play of their next drive.  Kimbrough’s pass was tipped bye Shane Hulmes and then intercepted by Seth Kern who returned the pick to the Egan 39 yard-line.

The Tiger offense took the field and Mason Bollinger lined up at qb for the Tigers.  They continued to pound the rock and 8 plays later Seth Kern found an opening up the middle of the Egan defense for a 25 yard touchdown run.

The misfortune for the Egan offense continued on their next drive as Kimbrough was sacked on 1st down by Evan Wagstaff and then picked off on the next play by Brendan Miller.

The Tigers’ offense took the field and were unable to get anything going.  The Egan defense forced a turnover on down after stopping Tiger qb Chase Sukanick for no gain on 4th down.  The Egan offense took the field and on 4th down Tiger linebacker Braxton Lakatosh picked off the Egan pass to end the game.

With the victory, Northwestern Lehigh moves to 13-0 on the season and looks forward to their state quarter-final matchup vs Scranton Prep (12-1) next week who was victorious this week vs 28-6.

With the defeat, the District 12 3A Champ Conwell-Egan Eagles end their season with a record of 8-4.

After the game I was able to catch up with the Northwestern Tigers’ Eli Zimmerman and Shane Hulmes…

 

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