Hollywood’s Cutting Room Floor-District XI 5A Clash Edition.

Tagged under: District 11, News, pfn, Playoffs

Brian Ptashinski | November 7, 2022

6-5 Whitehall Zephyrs vs 9-2 Southern Lehigh Spartans Friday 7pm at Catasauqua HS.

This will be the third straight meeting in the playoffs for these two teams. Whitehall won the last two by scores of 42-34 in 2020 and 43-14 last season. The Zephyrs coming off a dominate 49-14 performance against EPC North’s Pleasant Valley on the road in Brodheadsville. Workhorse running back Nigel Linton picked up 87 yards on 10 carries and found the end zone three times versus the Bears. QB Trey Dogmanits was nearly perfect throwing the ball completing 5 of 6 passes for 110 yards and two touchdowns as the Zephs jumped out to a 27-0 first quarter lead and pushed it to 42-7 at intermission. Jermel Mumford added a 40 yard second half touchdown run for good measure. The defense forced four turnovers on the night.

Meanwhile, the Spartans took care of business by downing Pocono Mountain West 29-14. Cade Sawyer led the way with 70 yards rushing and three touchdowns. Starting QB Avery Kosar was injured and Sophomore Christopher Fritts took over the signal-calling duties and completed 8 of 11 passes for 43 yards with two interceptions.

Southern lehigh lost its’ opener against Quakertown 48-28 but the ripped off eight straight wins including wins at Notre Dame Green Pond 29-28 in week two. The Spartans also had impressive wins against Bangor 29-12 at Palisades 39-0 before a devastating loss to Northwestern Lehigh 45-7 in the last game of the regular season.

Whitehall has been another team that had it’s ups-and-downs this season a sthey opened the season at 4-2 with wins over Parkland 32-31 and Easton 37-14 after opening the season dropping a 35-7 shellacking to Bethlehem Catholic. The Zephs also gave Emmaus a tough game before dropping a 27-19 decision to the Hornets. The closed the season going 2-3 with losses to Freedom 33-17, Nazareth 35-7 and against rival Northampton 42-7 for the Slate Belt Trophy. Their two wins were against Allentown Cerntral catholic 37-6 and a shutout of Pocono Mountain West 35-0.

What’s At Stake: The winner of this game will face the champion of District 2 in the PIAA State 5A Playoff 6-5 Del Val Warriors will be at 8-3 Scranton Knights Friday night at Scranton Memorial Stadium. The Warriors defeated the Knights 28-14 on October 21st

Hollywood’s Take: Whitehall has had the Spartans number the past few meetings. The strength of the grind of being in the EPC South is a definite advantage against their Colonial/Schuylkill League opponents. The team that can establish the line of scrimmage and the run game should decide the outcome as Nigel Linton has gone over the 1,000 yard mark with 1,068 yards on 182 rushes for an average of nearly 6yds/attempt and 12 touchdowns. QB Trey Dogmanits has completed 130 of 237 passes for 1,390 yards and 14 touchdowns but does 12 interceptions. Cade sawyer leads the Spartans in rushing with 1,224 yards on 191 tallies with 17 scores on the season. A healthy Avery Koser threw for 1,169 yards and 14 touchdowns with just 3 picks on 65 of 110 passing. Fritts in relief threw for 110 yards on 12-26 passing. Whitehall advances 24-14.