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Northwestern Lehigh Tigers three-peats as District XI 3A champions

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

| November 9, 2024

Tigers running game accumulated over 350 yards Friday night in a convincing win over North Schuylkill

Lehighton- Northwestern Lehigh Tigers won the coin toss and elected to defer, giving the Spartans of North Schuylkill a chance to take advantage of receiving the opening kickoff. The Spartans could not muster any kind of drive and was forced to punt the ball to the Tigers.

Unfortunately, the same couldn’t be said one Northwestern on too over at their own 27 yard line. Quarterback Shane Leh went end-around on the right side and sped down the sidelines for a 73 yard gallop to the end zone giving the Tigers up 7-0 and they rode that momentum to a convincing 37-7 victory capturing their third consecutive PIAA Distrct XI 3A championship Friday night at a wind-swept Lehighton Area Multi-sport stadium before a packed house.

North Schuylkill went without a first down on their next possession and punted back to Northwestern. Eli Zimmerman called for a fair catch inside the 5 but muffed the catch as ball rolled at the goal line , he picked up the ball and returned out past the 25, but the official ruled the ball dead at the Tigers one.

From there though a 99 yard drive ensued, all via the ground game, with Zimmerman capping off the drive with a one yard score with just two seconds left in the opening quarter to make it a 13-0 game as the point-after was blocked. The drive took eleven plays and consumed much of the quarter.

The Tigers defense, which was stellar all night, then forced a safety, after a excellent Tiger punt, with the wind was downed at the two yard line of the Spartans. North Schuylkill’s Angel Ortiz was tackled in the end zone by Jackson Huber, Jared Meck and Shane Hulmes to make it 15-0 at the 7:13 mark of the second quarter. That score would hold until intermission.

North Schuylkill could only muster 46 yards in the first half on 18 plays, all of which were on the ground.

North Schuylkill tried to catch the Tigers off guard on the second half kickoff as the attempted onside kick was recovered by the Tigers, and they went right to work, Zimmerman rushed for a 32 yard gain after a facemask call on the Spartans set Northwestern up the three, from the Mason Bollinger, playing quarterback sprinted in around left end to up the lead to 22-0 less than a minute into the half.

On the next North Schuylkill drive, they went for it on a fourth-and-five inside Tiger territory, the Spartans came up short at the 27. It only took one play to go the distance as Zimmerman on an end-around to the left side and making a couple of nifty cuts along the way scampered in from 73 yards out making a it 29-0 with 7:21 left in the third quarter.

Zimmerman finished with 218 yards and the three touchdowns on just a dozen rushing attempts in the contest.

“This puts us in some pretty elite company with elite schools in the District. I told the kids that you needed no other motivation. I am just so proud of these kids. It is hard not just win two, but to capture a third is pretty special.” A jubuliant Josh Snyder said after the game.

Northwestern’s defense got another three-and-out and after a 44 yard pass play from Shane Leh to Landon Matson set the Tigers up at the Spartan 31, Zimmerman took it in put the game into a running clock 36-0 with 4:28 left in the third quarter.

Backup quarterback for the Spartans Michael Mogish avoided the shutout by going in from 2 yards late late in the contest. Mogish came in for an injured Caden Megel, who got hurt in the first half. Running back Luke Miller missed this game. This was the second meeting between these two programs this season, Northwestern won the first time 49-7.

Northwestern (12-0) and ranked as top 3A team by pafootballnews.com will now face either Conwell-Egan or Simon Gratz in the opening round of the state playoffs tournament. The Tigers were runner-ups at Cumberland Valley last season.

Follow PA Football News on Twitter @PaFootballNews

 
 
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