Colin Karetsky called himself “a bad JV quarterback.”
Two years ago as a freshman, Karetsky said he had more rushing touchdowns than pass completions.
Head coach Joe Tout’s emergency varsity quarterback was called upon in Saturday night’s District 11 Class 2A quarterfinal to throw Northern Lehigh’s most important pass in recent program history.
Karetsky took a pitch from teammate Grady Newhard on the Bulldogs’ version of the Philly Special, looked off intended target quarterback Garrett Smoyer who was covered and found Ryan Zambo sitting just across the goal line for the game-winning, two-point conversion pass for a 29-28 overtime victory.
Karetsky’s game-winning throw came after Smoyer’s 5-yard touchdown run on second down.
It was the only time the Bulldogs led. They trailed 14-0 before tying it by halftime, then scored late in the fourth quarter to tie it again at 21.
“That play, we’ve been practicing it in our pre-game practice for something just like this,” Zambo said of the game-winning play.
During a timeout before the last play, Karetsky told Zambo to get open because he might be throwing it to him as the second option. Zambo told Karetsky that he was going to stop in a soft spot in the Pirates secondary after running his crossing route.
Both did what they said and made Tout look like a genius.
“We stole [that play],” Tout, an Eagles fan, admitted. “Northwestern [Lehigh], [head coach Josh Snyder] is doing that all the time, so that kind of opened my eyes to the fact that you have to have a couple [trick plays] prepped. We’ve had that play in at least since the midway point of the season.”
Northern Lehigh won the toss and opted to play defense first in overtime. Tout told his staff that he was going for two points if the situation arose on the first overtime series.
In overtime, each team gets four downs from the 10-yard line. The game continues if the score is still tied.
Northern Lehigh (8-3), which lost 28-14 in Week 4 to Palisades, travels to No. 1 seed Schuylkill Haven (11-0) in next Saturday’s district semifinals. Schuylkill Haven, the state’s top-ranked Class 2A team, beat Catasauqua in one of Saturday’s other quarterfinals.
Palisades’ season ends at 7-4.
Coach Bobby Smith’s Pirates killed themselves with 11 penalties totaling more than 100 yards, including a pass interference call in overtime that turned what would have been a third-and-11 for the Bulldogs into second-and-5.
Smoyer scored on the next play.
“Sometimes, it’s a problem and kids get amped up,” Smith said. “Sometimes, we get amped up and lose our minds a little bit. We do stupid things.”
Northern Lehigh hurt itself with four turnovers, but Palisades only converted those miscues into seven points.
Three of the Bulldogs’ touchdown drives, however, were aided by Pirates penalties.
Senior writer Tom Housenick can be reached at thousenick@mcall.com
NORTHERN LEHIGH 29, PALISADES 28 (OVERTIME)
Palisades; 7; 7; 7; 0; 7 — 28
Northern Lehigh; 0; 14; 0; 7; 8 — 29
ORDER OF SCORING
First quarter
P: Max Woerner 51 run (Blake Oglialoro kick), 10:05
Second quarter
P: Jack Trickel 34 pass to Silas Day (Oglialoro kick), 10:29
NL: Garrett Smoyer 6 pass to Chris Vargas (Anthony Hanna kick), 6:35
NL: Mason Rothrock 16 run (Hanna kick), 0:23
Third quarter
P: Trickel 52 run (Oglialoro kick), 4:01
Fourth quarter
NL: Smoyer 1 run (Hanna kick), 3:42
Overtime
P: Trickel 10 run (Oglialoro kick)
NL: Smoyer 5 run (Karetsky pass to Zambo)
TEAM STATISTICSPal; NLFirst downs; 12; 20Rushes-yards; 20-201; 42-186Passing yards; 143; 126Comp-Att-INTs; 11-22-1; 11-22-2Punts-avg.; 3-30.0; 2-32.5Fumbles-lost; 1-0; 3-2Penalties-yards; 11-122; 2-25
INDIVIDUAL STATISTICSRushing: (Palisades) Ashton Fitzgerald 6-51; Max Woerner 2-53, TD; Jack Trickel 11-98, 2 TDs; team 1-(-1); (Northern Lehigh) Grady Newhard 11-46; Garrett Smoyer 19-72, 2 TDs; Colin Karetsky 1-0; Keith Lectora 5-12; Ryan Zambo 3-22; Mason Rothrock 3-34, TD.
Passing: (Palisades) Trickel 11-22-1, 143 yards, TD; (Northern Lehigh) Smoyer 11-22-2, 126 yards, TD.
Receiving: (Palisades) Lincoln Cook 3-34; Fitzgerald 4-20; Silas Day 2-46, TD; Mason Schultz 2-43; (Northern Lehigh) Zambo 6-58; Karetsky 1-36; Lectora 1-9; Chris Vargas 1-6, TD; Chase Gall 2-17.
