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Whitehall Blows Past Southern Lehigh En route to District XI 5A Championship

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

| November 11, 2023

  • Story updated 11/12/23

Catasauqua-

On this cold November evening, The Zephyrs of Whitehall and the EPC proved to be too much for the Spartans of Southern Lehigh and Schuylkill Colonia League to handle.  The game would begin with  Whitehall receiving the opening kick and after getting an initial first down, being turned away by a gritty Spartan defense on a fake punt attempt on the first drive of the game. This would set up Southern Lehigh with great field position to start their first offensive series.  It wouldn’t take them long to cash in on that field position.  On the Spartans’ 3rd offensive play from scrimmage, Southern Lehigh running back Cade Sawyer ( 16 rushes, 56 yards, 2 TD) would find a hole right up the middle of the Zephyr defense and rumble for a 30 yard touchdown to open the scoring for the evening with 8:53 left in the first quarter.

The following drive by the Whitehall offense would use a heavy dose of running backs Dalton Wickel ( 30 rushes, 152 yards, 2 TD)  who on six straight rushes accumulated over 30 yards and then followed by a big 12 yard gain by running back Carter Troxell, pushed well in to Spartan Territory.  This drive would be capped off by a 23 yard touchdown pass from Trey Dogmanits to Jack Kocher ( 6 rec, 105 yards, 2 TD, 1 INT Return for TD) to tie the game up at 7 with 5:17 left in the opening quarter.

The following kick-off would be returned by the Spartans’ John Inglis all the way out to the Spartan 45 yard line.  The Zephyr defense would stiffen up and not allow Southern Lehigh to take advantage of this great starting field position as they would force them to go 3 and out on this drive.  On the ensuing Whitehall possession, the Zephyrs would go on a time chewing 11 play drive that would take them in to the 2nd quarter.  Zephyr running back Dalton Wickel would have his name called many more times on this drive as Whitehall attempted to impose their will on the Spartan defense.  And impose their will they would, as Wickel would cap off this lengthy drive with a 6 yard touchdown run to put the Zephyrs up 14-7 with just over 11 minutes to play in the first half.

The following Southern Lehigh possession would see freshman Colton Sams take the reins of the offense and proceed to lead his offense on a scoring drive of his own.  The drive almost came to an abrupt end due to a fumbled snap which was quickly fallen on by Sams who then two plays later would find John Inglis on 4th down in  the back of the end-zone over the top of 3 Whitehall defenders to tie the game back up at 14 with just under 7 minutes to play in the first half.

Whitehall would be stopped on 4th down on their next offensive drive and would hand the ball right back to the Spartan offense.  The Spartans would waste no time getting in to Zephyr territory as Spartan QB Christopher Fritts (18-29, 322 yards, 2 TD, 1 INT) would find Inglis for a huge gain of 71 yards on the first play of their drive and set the Spartans up at the Whitehall 13 yard line.  Three plays later Southern Lehigh’s Cade Sawyer would take a sweep around the outside of the Zephyr defense and in to the end-zone for a 12 yard score.  This  score would put the Spartans up 21-14 with 3:09 left in the half.

Not to be outdone, on the ensuing Whitehall posession, Zephyr Quarterback Trey Dogmanits would complete 5 passes of his own to help drive the Whitehall offense in to scoring position and with 2 seconds remaining in the first half, kicker Andrew Deutsch would come on and nail a 29 yard field goal to bring the score to 21-17 in favor of Southern Lehigh as we headed in to halftime.

The 2nd half would being with the Spartans driving the length of the field on the arm of their QB Fritts who would complete 5 passes on this drive and cap it off with a pump fake and beautifully placed ball to a streaking Andrew Olesh (11 rec, 194, 2 TD) for a 31 yard score to put the Spartans up 28 – 17 with just under 8 minutes left in the 3rd quarter.

Whitehall would not go quietly in to this chilly night as they would respond quickly as Dogmanits would go through the air to Kocker for a 21 yard reception and then Braden Bashore (6 rec, 66 yards, 1 TD) for a 28 yard touchdown right down the middle of the field to bring the score to 28-24 with 4:56 left in the 3rd quarter.  The following Spartan drive would get blown up right off the bat as the first rushing attempt by Inglis would see him take a huge hit from Zephyr defensive back Brandon Bird which would cause him to fumble the ball which was quickly jumped on by the Zephyr defense.  This set up the Whitehall offense deep in Southern Lehigh territory with a fantastic opportunity to take the lead for the first time in the 2nd half.  The Zephyrs would go back to their ground attack and the tandem of  Dalton Wickel and Carter Troxell who would compile 7 rushes between them on the drive and then have it capped off by a 5 yard run by Wickel to put Whitehall ahead 31 – 28 with 1:11 left in the 3rd quarter.

The following Southern Lehigh drive would see their freshman QB Sams back out on the field leading the offense.  He would engineer a quick first down for the Spartans but then a few plays later would be picked off by Whitehall’s Jacob Hannis.  The Zephyrs would waste little time and in 5 plays would find the end-zone once again, but this time via a Dogmanits to Koeher 15 yard connection on 4th down to put Whitehall up 38-28 with 9:30 left in the game.

Southern Lehigh’s next drive looked to be very promising as they maneuvered down field only to have Fritts be sacked twice after they were able to get in to the Whitehall redzone and then on 4th and forever were unable to convert.  The Whitehall offense took over right where then left off as they pounded the Southern Lehigh defense with run after Wickel run down the field.  However, all was seemingly not lost as Cade Sawer would find a way to punch the ball out of Wickel’s hands as he was headed for then end-zone and forced him to fumble in to the end-zone where it was recovered by the Spartans’ defense for a touchback.  The ensuing drive would see Southern Lehigh go to the air in an attempt to save clock, however on their third pass of the drive, Whitehall’s Jack Kocker would step in front of a Fritts pass and take it to the house for a pick-6 to seal the game for the Zephyrs.

The following Southern Lehigh drive would be a much more successful endeavor which would see Fritts complete 5 consecutive passes and then find the end-zone via a 3 yard TD pass to Darius Roman to bring the score to 34 – 45 with 24 seconds left in the game after a blocked extra point attempt.

The Spartans would be able to recover their onside kick, but there was just not enough time left to mount the comeback required and Whitehall would ensure there was no comeback as Talon Dogmanits would pick off Fritts to put the final nail in the coffin and seal the victory for Whitehall.  With the loss, Southern Lehigh ends their season with a record of 10-2.  Whitehall captures the District XI 5A Championship and awaits Delaware Valley in the next round of the Pennsylvania 5A playoffs.

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