Northwestern Lehigh's Mason Bollinger, Shane Hulmes, coach Josh Snyder and Shane Leh pose during Colonial League Media Day at Pen Argyl HS (Photo by Leroy Boyer).

JIM THORPE — Strike early and strike often.

That’s exactly what Northwestern Lehigh did Friday night on the road against Jim Thorpe. The Tigers ripped off numerous explosive touchdown runs in the first half to come away with a 50-7 Schuylkill-Colonial Red Division victory over the Olympians.

Northwestern Lehigh established physicality along the line of scrimmage early, roaring out to a 21-0 advantage at the conclusion of the first quarter.

A 64-yard Braxton Lakatosh run setup his 13-yard score one play later on the Tigers first possession, which was followed up by a 85-yard Mason Bollinger sprint for six and a seven-yard touchdown reception by Shane Hulmes from Shane Leh to put Northwestern up three scores early on.

“We thought we had a decent matchup tonight in the trenches. And it wasn’t necessarily our game plan to come out and look to ground and pound the ball, but we were able to get the run game going early and we were really gashing them,” said Northwestern head coach Josh Snyder. “Our guys up front were able to create some big seams and we had some good kick outs, traps and counter plays that were springing our guys into the open field. Our lineman really did a phenomenal job tonight and then our guys made plays.”

The Northwestern run game continued to claw and tear through the Thorpe defense in the second quarter.

Chase Sukanick joined the party with a 45-yard speedy rushing score at the 8:15 mark and Lakatosh then found daylight on the Tigers second possession of the second on a shifty 72-yard scamper down the left sideline to make it 35-0 with 3:56 to go in the first half.

With just under two minutes to go in the first half, Northwestern was able to get the ball back again after forcing a turnover on downs and the Tigers dialed up a run play for offensive tackle Colton Popp from the JT 36. Popp took the handoff on the left side and it was clear sailing for the big man as he took it all the way to the end zone to up the Northwestern lead to 42.

“They were dominant up front for sure. They’re a great football team and they’re very well coached. Their overall team speed and team strength is really impressive,” said Jim Thorpe head coach Mark Rosenberger. “We have to figure some things out defensively and we will look at the tape and learn and get better. We also had some key injuries in the game tonight as well that we will need to monitor. We did some decent things at times tonight, but we just weren’t consistent in any phase. Again, that’s an outstanding football team and credit goes to them.“

Thorpe was finally able to put a score on the board in the mercy rule in the third quarter. Freshman Ben Remmel intercepted a Northwestern screen pass and raced 60 yards for the pick six.

The Tigers also tacked on another score with freshman Trey Snyder hitting Michael Mish over the middle for a 22-yard pitch and catch in the fourth quarter to put up a 50-spot after the successful two-point run by freshman Chase Kerschner.

“It was a great overall performance tonight for us in all three phases,” said Snyder. “The last couple weeks we’ve had a lot of explosive plays, which is a good sign. We have a bunch of guys who are dangerous when they get the ball and have space to use their speed.

“I’m also proud of the way our guys played defensively tonight. Our guys like to pin their ears back and get after people, but our game plan tonight was to stay in our rush lanes because of Lazorick’s ability to escape and extend the pocket. The focus was not to get deeper than him. He was able to make a few nice plays, but we had some sacks and forced a lot of throw aways. Just overall a good effort tonight.”

WHAT A RUSH… The Tigers rushing attack was impressive in this one, as they rushed for 376 yards in the first half on just 13 carries and five rushing scores. Braxton Lakatosh led the way with 177 yards and two touchdowns on six carries. Mason Bollinger also eclipsed the 100-yard mark with 104 yards and a touchdown on three carries.

LINE OF SCRIMMAGE… The Tigers defensive front shutdown Thorpe’s offensive attack. Northwestern held JT to 55 yards rushing at two yards per carry and held the Olympians passing offense to 88 yards.

NEXT UP… Northwestern improves to 8-0 and will host Tamaqua next week. Thorpe drops to 3-5 and will head on the road to Bangor.

Game Summary

Northwestern Lehigh 50, Jim Thorpe 7

NWL (8-0, 6-0)         21          21          0          8  —    50

JT (3-5, 1-5)          0          0          7          0  —    7

NW — Lakatosh 9 run (Sukanick kick)

NW — Bollinger 85 run (Sukanick kick)

NW — Hulmes 7 pass from Leh (Sukanick kick)

NW — Sukanick 45 run (Sukanick kick)

NW — Lakatosh 72 run (Sukanick kick)

NW — Popp 36 run (Sukanick kick)

JT — Remmel 60 interception return (Flyzik kick)

NW — Mish 22 pass from Snyder (Kerschner run)