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Southern Lehigh Outlasts Blue Mountain in Wild Contest

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

| September 5, 2026

We’re going to talk a lot about Colton Sams and Cohen Kirby dueling it out at the quarterback position. We’re going to highlight Brody Foose’s ground efforts and some big nights for several wideouts. But before all that–in a game that featured 11 touchdowns, the play of the night may have been Dylan Gretz’s fsack of Cohen Kirby with 4:30 to play. That first down loss of eight yards let the Spartans defense pin their ears back and finish off a 45-36 home victory over the upset minded Eagles from Schuylkill County.

On to the madness. The game got out to a clunky start in the first quarter. Blue Mountain controlled the ball for nearly the first six minutes due largely in part to an inadvertent whistle. On a third down and long call, Cohen Kirby dropped back and threw over the middle. The ball was initially caught and then jarred free by Seiler Hummel. Declan Walsh fell on it and the Spartans had the ball on their own 30. Except they didn’t. After a lengthy discussion from the officials, they ruled that there had bene an inadvertent whistle on the play. Therefore, the play didn’t count. The home crowd didn’t like the call, but Blue Mountain was able to keep the drive rolling. The Eagles crossed into Southern territory aided by a pass interference call, but then did themselves in with a personal foul facemask. After all that, Blue Mountain punted it into the end zone.

Southern Lehigh didn’t take long to get the offense going. Jack MoDavis and Colton Sams were in the backfield. Sams faked the handoff and MoDavis threw a huge block on Landon Daubert to free Sams to go over the right side. He juked Chase Guers and cruised 68 yards to the house. The Spartans led 7-0.

On Blue Mountain’s next offensive play, Cohen Kirby hit Kole Luckenbill out in the flat. His defender slipped trying to get over to him, allowing Luckenbill to slide by and race to the house. The extra point was blocked, but we were off to the races in a 7-6 Spartans lead with 5:48 to go in the first.

The Spartans faced 3rd & 15 on their next drive, but Sams, scrambling for his life in the backfield, kept his eyes downfield and connected with Otto Young for 36 yards. A couple of plays later, Sams scrambled to his left and connected with Jack Pavis who was all by himself. He ran it the last 12 yards into the end zone for the score and 13-6 Southern Lehigh lead.

Cohen Kirby wasn’t phased. On successive plays, he hit Guers for 23 and then Luckenbill for a 42-yard touchdown. Blue Mountain trailed 13-12 with 3;07 to go in the opening stanza.

Southern Lehigh then wen three and out and punted for the first time. However, the ball was touched but not secured; Evan Przyuski pounced on it and the Spartans’ offense went right back to work. Omar Romero banged his way in for a 3-yard touchdown just two plays later and the Spartans took a 20-12 first quarter lead.

Nut the first half fireworks were far from over. Cohen Kirby and the Eagles had 3rd & 9 on the Southern 43. Kirby dropped back and fired a 50-50 ball that was hauled in by Luckenbill over the outstretched hands of Layton Shook. Two plays later, Chase Guers beat Walsh on a corner route in the end zone for a 9-yard touchdown. Sonny Amato ran the two-point conversion in to tie the game at 20-20 with 9:19 still to go in the half.

But, you guessed it, the Spartans had another response in them and the tie didn’t last long. Jack MoDavis took off for a 42-yard gainer. That flipped the field position and put Southern Lehigh on the Blue Mountain 38. Two plays later, Sams hooked up with Jack Fistner, who tapped both feet in the back of the end zone and beat out coverage by Nate Driscoll for the score.

The Eagles then engineered a ten play drive. Luckenbill nearly got another touchdown catch, but was dragged down short of the end zone. Kirby capped the drive with a 1-yard plunge and Amato took it in for the 2-point play, giving Blue Mountain their first and only lead of the night at 28-27.

Southern Lehigh stole that lead back immediately. On their very next play, MoDavis went 75 yards to the house. Romero scored the two point conversion and Southern Lehigh was back up 35-28. The half nearly had one more bit of drama, as the ensuing kickoff was fumbled, but Blue Mountain got on it at their own 8 and the second quarter came to a close.

Southern Lehigh received to open the third and it took just five plays for Sams and Adam Fritts to hookup for a 23-yard touchdown. Sams was excellent all night throwing on the run, this time rolling to his right and threading the needle chest-level between defenders to Fritts. For the first time all night, Southern Lehigh had a multi-score lead at 42-28.

Brody Foose had an answer, exploding through the middle of the line and taking it 27 yards for another Blue Mountain score. Kirby threw to Amato for two points and the Eagles were right back within 42-36 midway through the third.

But then Southern Lehigh finally put a damper on things for the road team. Chewing up nearly the next eight minutes, the Spartans strung together 15 plays, culminating with a Declan Walsh 39-yard field goal that didn’t clear the crossbar by a whole lot. Along the way, Otto Young hauled in a key fourth down pass. The Spartans again led by two scores at 45-36.

The teams then exchanged turnovers on downs, as Kirby’s 4th & 7 fell incomplete and a 4th & 2 run by Romero was stopped for no gain. Blue Mountain got the ball back with 4:55 to play from their own 45. Kirby dropped back to pass and couldn’t find anyone open. Meanwhile Dylan Getz closed in and spun him down for a loss of eight and put the dagger in any Blue Mountain hopes of mounting the late comeback. On 4th & 2, Kirby had an open Driscoll, but the ball was low and Driscoll could not scoop it up before it hit the turf. The Spartans kneeled it out for the victory.

In that second half, the Southern Lehigh defense limited Blue Mountain to 19 plays from scrimmage. By contrast, the Eagles ran 39 in the first half.

 

Southern Lehigh(2-0) will next be in action at Jim Thorpe. Blue Mountain(1-1) will travel to Schuylkill Haven.

Southern Lehigh 45, Blue Mountain 36

Score by Quarters

Blue Mountain – 12 16 8 0 – 36

Southern Lehigh – 20 15 7 3 – 45

Scoring Summary

First Quarter

S – Colton Sams 68-yd run(Walsh kick), 6:07 2-80

B – Kole Luckenbill 75-yd pass from Cohen Kirby(kick blocked), 5:48, 1-75

S – Jack Pavis 27-yd pass from Colton Sams(Sams INC pass), 4:06 5-56

B – Kole Luckenbill 42-yd pass from Cohen Kirby(kick missed), 3:07, 3-68

S – Omar Romero 3-yd run(Walsh kick), 1:06 6-77

Second Quarter

B – Chase Guers 9-yd pass from Cohen Kirby(Foose rush), 9:19 9-70

S – Jack Fistner 27-yd pass from Colton Sams(Walsh kick), 8:24 5-73

B – Cohen Kirby 1-yd run(Amato run), 1:25 11-70

S – Jack MoDavis 75-yd pass from Colton Sams(Romero run), 1:07 1-75

Third Quarter

S – Adam Fritts 23-yd pass from Colton Sams(Walsh kick), 8:58 6-59

B – Brody Foose 26-yd run(Amato catch), 5:37 7-80

Fourth Quarter

S – Declan Walsh 38-yd FG, 10:06 14-59

Passing: Blue – Kirby 18-26-316 3TD Solehi – Sams 16-22-313 4TD

Rushing: Blue – Foose 15-110-1; Amato 3-13; Russo 1-10; Kirby 8-22-1; Solehi – Romero 10-37-1; MoDavis 9-87; Sams 10-83-1

Receiving: Blue – Guers 5-73-1; Luckenbill 9-196-2; Foose 1-5; Pritiskutch 2-19; Russo 1-23; Solehi – Pavis 4-84-1; Young 6-86; MoDavis 2-80-1; Fritts 1-23-1; Shook 1-7; Fistner 2-33-1

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