Chase Sukanick played in a lot of games last season similar to Thursday night’s game against Bangor.
He was part of Northwestern Lehigh’s second-team offense as the freshman quarterback.
A year later, he is among the reasons the Tigers are sending out their second teams in the second half to finish up lopsided games.
Sukanick, now a sophomore running back, ran for a career-high 128 yards and two touchdowns as Northwestern scored on all eight possessions in the first half en route to a 54-14 victory in the home opener at Tiger Stadium.
“My goal is to always be on the field,” he said, “so I’m always standing next to coach [Josh Snyder]. Honestly, this has been my dream.”
Sukanick had touchdown runs of 6 and 15 yards in the first half for the Tigers (3-0), who have outscored their first three foes 152-41 in three mercy-rule games.
Shane Leh added a 28-yard TD run and threw for 175 yards and three TDs for Northwestern, which has won the last three meetings with Bangor, six of the last seven.
Northwestern ran just 13 plays to score 28 points in the game’s first 12 minutes. It started with Leh’s 18-yard TD pass to Michael Lagowy. Leh had his rushing TD on the next series before hitting Brady Zimmerman with a 56-yard scoring pass on the Tigers’ third series. Leh hit Braxton Lakatosh for a 9-yard TD pass for a 28-0 advantage with 3 minutes, 15 seconds left in the first quarter.
Bangor struggled offensively in the first half. It didn’t have a positive yardage play until its third series and was outgained 224-12 in the first quarter.
“We felt pretty comfortable coming into tonight and it led to complete domination on all sides of the ball,” Leh said. “Our guys were just getting open. They were playing a lot of man coverage. Our guys got open, beat them in coverage.”
Northwestern showed great offensive balance again with 226 rushing yards and 230 passing in a game in which it didn’t punt. The Tigers have punted twice total in three games.
Sukanick’s development gives Snyder another reliable weapon for opposing defenses to worry about.
“We’ve seen flashes,” Snyder said. “For him, it’s just consistency. He’s only in 10th grade. He’s just at the tip of the iceberg as far as learning the offense. Once he masters the offense, he’s going to be a lot better than he is now.
“I think it’s his ability to make plays. He is a tough runner. He’s squirmy. He can hit things with speed and some power. You could see that was on display tonight. He’s going to make a lot of plays for us in his career, and he’s only going to get better from here.”
Sukanick had 103 yards and three rushing touchdowns in the Tigers’ first two games this season. His 12 carries also were a career high as he appears to be getting more comfortable and confident.
“He’s got some moves on him like Eli [Zimmerman, who graduated last year after setting several school records],” Leh said. “It’s real nice to get him in. We’ve got three running backs who get in. It shows how much depth we have. It’s unbelievable the job he’s doing as a sophomore.”
Braxton Lakatosh, a senior who was playing alongside Sukanick in the second half of games last season, had a 4-yard TD run and leads the Tigers this season with 236 rushing yards.
Up next
Northwestern Lehigh (3-0) hosts Blue Mountain on Friday, Sept. 12. Bangor (0-3) visits Pottsville, also Sept. 12 at 7.
NORTHWESTERN LEHIGH 54, BANGOR 14
Bangor: 0; 0; 7; 7 — 14
Northwestern Lehigh: 28; 26; 0; 0 — 54
ORDER OF SCORING
First quarter
NWL: Braxton Lakatosh 4 run (Chase Sukanick kick), 9:20
NWL: Shane Leh 28 run (Sukanick kick), 7:47
NWL: Leh 56 pass to Brady Zimmerman (Sukanick kick), 7:26
NWL: Leh 9 pass to Lakatosh (Sukanick kick), 3:15
Second quarter
NWL: Leh 52 pass to Mason Bollinger (kick failed), 10:39
NWL: Sukanick 6 run (Sukanick kick), 6:57
NWL: Michael Lagowy 55 punt return (kick blocked), 5:08
NWL: Sukanick 15 run (Sukanick kick), 1:06
Third quarter
B: Lucas Hurd 8 run (Brayden Mueller kick), 5:11
Fourth quarter
B: Eziah Cartagena 4 run (Mueller kick), 11:20
TEAM STATISTICSBan; NWLFirst downs; 7; 17Rushes-yards; 25-42; 29-226Passing yards; 63; 230Comp-Att-INTs; 7-18-1; 11-16-0Punts-avg.; 6-24.7; 0-0Fumbles-lost; 0-0; 1-1Penalties-yards; 1-5; 6-35
INDIVIDUAL STATISTICSRushing: (Bangor) Riley Waldron 8-10; Eziah Cartagena 5-14, TD; Lincoln Rehrig 2-(-5); Lucas Hurd 8-11, TD; Quinn Black 1-12; Brayden Mueller 1-0; (Northwestern) Braxton Lakatosh 2-23, TD; Chase Sukanick 12-128, 2 TDs; Brady Zimmerman 3-21; Shane Leh 2-28, TD; Mason Bollinger 1-8; Jesse Yenser 4-8; Trey Snyder 1-1; Kendall Wikert 1-(-1); Tripp Sell 1-4; Kollin Stringer 2-6.
Passing: (Bangor) Cartagena 5-14-1, 49 yards; Rehrig 2-4-0, 14 yards; (Northwestern) Leh 7-8-0, 175 yards, 3 TDs; Snyder 4-8-0, 55 yards.
Receiving: (Bangor) Jacob Hillis 4-49; Parker Robinson 1-(-1); Hurd 2-14; (Northwestern) Michael Lagowy 1-18; Bollinger 3-81, TD; Zimmerman 2-67, TD; Sukanick 1-9; Lakatosh 1-9, TD; Kollin Stringer 2-22; Wikert 1-24.
Senior writer Tom Housenick can be reached at thousenick@mcall.com
