HS Football: Northwestern Lehigh dominates Lehighton to stay unbeaten
Lehighton's Jayse Lawrence (Photo by Leroy Boyer)
LEHIGHTON — After last week’s close win over Blue Mountain, one could have wondered if reigning state champion Northwestern Lehigh might be vulnerable to losing its first game since the 2023 season.
Don’t tell that to the Lehighton Indians.
In a dominating display of offensive firepower and a rock-hard defense, the Tigers blanked the Tribe 50-0 on Friday night in a Schuylkill-Colonial Red Division game.
Coach Josh Snyder preaches to his team the importance of a quick start and that’s exactly what they gave him at Lehighton Stadium. Northwestern scored on every possession in the first half in building a 35-0 lead.
On their first drive, which followed a three-and-out by the home team, the Tigers had great field position at the Lehighton 36. On a third-and-4 from the 30, Braxton Lakatosh broke through a hole off right tackle and ran the distance for a 7-0 lead with only a little over two minutes gone in the game.
Following a punt by the Indians (2-3) — one of seven they had in the game — quarterback Shane Leh led a 49-yard scoring drive that ended with a 28-yard TD run by Brady Zimmerman, who broke three tackles on his way to paydirt.
“We emphasized execution and finishing drives this week, something we didn’t do well enough last week,” said Snyder.
Ahead 14-0 with just under five minutes to go in the first quarter, the Tigers (5-0) gassed up their engine again.
Leh found Mason Bollinger for a 20-yard pass-and-run play to the Tribe 29. On the next play, Leh passed to Michael Lagowy for nine yards to the 20. Two plays later, Leh connected with Zimmerman on a swing pass and the junior all-purpose back carried the ball down to the 3 where Ley blasted up the middle for a three-touchdown Tiger lead.
Leh ran for one TD and passed for two more in completing 16 passes for 177 yards to four different receivers. He also intercepted a pass.
“My offensive line was terrific, giving me time to make my reads,” he said. “If the playside wasn’t open, I made my progressions until I found somebody open.”
Northwestern put up two more scores in the second quarter.
Leh led his troops on an 80-yard drive in four plays, with a big gainer coming from Chase Sukanick on a 43-yard burst up the middle. Shane Hulmes finished the march on a 4-yard run. With 5:45 left before the intermission, the Tigers scored their fifth touchdown of the half on a 70-yard drive, capped by a 3-yard pass to Bollinger.
The first-half statistics proved how dominating Northwestern was on both sides of the ball. The Tigers totaled 277 yards in offense and moved the chains 14 times. Lehighton managed 61 yards in their run-and-pass game with only three first downs.
Tribe coach Tom McCarroll was a bit perplexed by his team’s performance after their 35-0 win over Palmerton last week and a one-point loss to unbeaten Southern Lehigh the week before.
“This game leaves us with more questions than answers,” he said. “I did a poor job of preparing us to play tonight. There’s a couple of ways we can go from here. Either we let this loss define us or we get back to work and challenge ourselves to be more competitive.”
Playing under the mercy rule throughout the second half, Northwestern scored twice more in the fourth quarter. Leh passed to Lagowy for a 15-yard TD and with time running down, while Jesse Yenser bolted across the goal line from two yards out.
“We needed to improve our special teams and cut down on penalties,” said Snyder. “Shane had a great game and our receivers were able to make big yards after the catch. We took what the defense gave us. We are always a run-first team, but when they loaded up the box, we were able to hit some big pass plays.
“After last week, we didn’t push the panic button. We had better discipline tonight and our guys geared up and responded in a big way.”
Tribute Flag
Northwestern continues to carry a flag with No. 53 on both sides of the cloth to commemorate the memory of Tucker Wessner, a Tiger teammate who died unexpectedly before the start of last season.
Lucky Seven
Northwestern scored seven touchdowns by seven different players. Leading the ground game was Lakatosh with 103 yards. Bollinger caught five balls for 46 yards to edge Lagowy by one yard as the team’s leading receiver.
Up Next
Northwestern hosts North Schuylkill next Friday while Lehighton entertains Pottsville.
