Sean Steckert and his Southern Lehigh teammates talked about getting a big play on the opening kickoff or the first offensive play as they came onto the field leading up to Thursday’s District 11 Class 4A semifinal against Blue Mountain.
The opening kickoff didn’t go well, but virtually everything after that did for the Spartans.
Steckert’s first carry went for a 90-yard touchdown, the first of his four TD runs in the game. Colton Sams threw for three more scores, the Southern Lehigh defensive allowed only 17 total yards on Blue Mountain’s first 13 snaps and never let up in a 55-14 rout.
“That’s what got us the victory,” Steckert said, “the energy we came out with, the energy we played with. We buried them right away.”
Southern Lehigh (11-1) plays Bethlehem Catholic (8-4) in next Thursday’s district final likely at Catasauqua’s Alumni Field. It will be a repeat of last year’s final in which the Spartans won.
Steckert ran for 261 yards on 13 carries. Sams completed five of eight passes for 162 yards, with two of his scores going to Luke Kawczenski and the other to Otto Young as the Spartans kept the Eagles’ defense off balance all night.
“They beat us in all facets of the game,” Blue Mountain coach Chuck Kutz said. “The thing about them is that they are very balanced. Yeah, you can load the box, which we tried to do. Then they went three wides. We’re in man and they hit the open receivers. [Sams] certainly put the ball on the money and they caught the ball. They have you on your heels.
“Once we got down, they were able to pin their ears back and come after us offensively.”
Steckert and Sams reached 2,000 yards, respectively, for the season.
Southern Lehigh needed only nine plays to score three touchdowns on its first three possessions.
Steckert broke through the left side on the game’s first offensive play, broke a tackle near the 45-yard line and sprinted the rest of the way for a 90-yard touchdown 21 seconds into the game.
After the first Blue Mountain 3-and-out, Southern Lehigh drove 75 yards in five plays for its second score, a 24-yard touchdown pass from Sams to Kawczenski.
Following another Eagles 3-and-out, the Spartans scored three plays later on Sams’ 53-yard TD pass to Young for a 21-0 lead. That pass put Sams over the 2,000-yard mark for the season.
The teams exchanged punts before the Spartans stopped the Eagles on fourth-and-1 from the Blue Mountain 39.
Two plays later, Steckert went 37 yards for a touchdown on the first play of the second quarter for a 28-0 lead.
Blue Mountain, which lost the Week 2 meeting 28-0, scored on Carter Smith’s 3-yard TD run on fourth down. It capped a 12-play, 66-yard drive. The series was extended when Southern Lehigh was called for defensive holding on fourth down.
The Spartans responded with Steckert’s 3-yard TD run to cap a six-play drive with 1 minute, 59 seconds left in the first half.
Southern Lehigh outgained Blue Mountain 234-17 in the first quarter. Steckert had 222 of his yards in the first half.
Up 35-7 at half, the Spartans got an Adam Fritts interception on a third-down halfback option pass. Steckert scored on a 39-yard run on the next play to put the game in the mercy rule.
Sams hit Kawczenski for a 43-yard touchdown pass to finish the Spartans’ first-team offense for the night.
Declan Walsh’s 20-yard TD run capped the second-team offense’s drive early in the fourth quarter.
Southern Lehigh’s defense was impressive throughout, stopping the run and not giving up any big plays in the passing game. Blue Mountain was 1-for-10 on third down, converting only against the second-team defense midway through the fourth quarter.
Dariuz Lightner had four tackles for loss to lead the Spartans. Jacoby Jacobs had seven tackles in the first half.
“That’s an excellent football team,” Southern Lehigh coach Phil Sams said of Blue Mountain. “They are well coached every year. Their defense flies around. It was really impressive to do what we did tonight.
“Those 3-and-outs, getting good field position after the first one. It’s tough offensively when you’re on the offensive side of that. I’ve been there when you’re down and going 3-and-out and trying to get something started. This game proved that we’re getting better.
“This was probably the best we played this year in all three phases.”
Senior writer Tom Housenick can be reached at thousenick@mcall.com
SOUTHERN LEHIGH 55, BLUE MOUNTAIN 14
Blue Mountain; 0; 7; 0; 7 — 14
Southern Lehigh; 21; 14; 13; 7 — 55
ORDER OF SCORING
First quarter
SL: Sean Steckert 90 run (Declan Walsh kick), 11:39
SL: Colton Sams 24 pass to Luke Kawczenski (Walsh kick), 8:27
SL: Sams 53 pass to Otto Young (Walsh kick), 6:30
Second quarter
BM: Carter Smith 3 run (Josh Hoover kick), 4:07
SL: Steckert 3 run (Walsh kick), 1:59
Third quarter
SL: Steckert 39 run (Walsh kick), 10:09
SL: Sams 43 pass to Kawczenski (kick blocked), 6:13
Fourth quarter
BM: Smith 3 run (Hoover kick), 11:56
SL: Walsh 20 run (L.J. Martinkick), 7:48
TEAM STATISTICSBM; SLFirst downs; 12; 15Rushes-yards; 38-150; 22-335Passing yards; 55; 162Comp-Att-INTs; 10-16-1; 5-8-0Punts-avg.; 5-39.8; 1-34.0Fumbles-lost; 0-0; 0-0Penalties-yards; 3-19; 2-10
INDIVIDUAL STATISTICSRushing: (Blue Mountain) Carter Smith 21-115, 2 TDs; Reese Miller 1-0; Brody Foose 3-23; Cohen Kirby 8-5; Sonny Amato 3-10; Nathan Driscoll 1-1; Matt Kamarousky 1-(-4); (Southern Lehigh) Sean Steckert 13-261, 4 TDs; Colton Sams 1-0; Declan Walsh 2-51, TD; Jayson Stock 3-26; team 3-(-3).
Passing: (Blue Mountain) Kirby 9-14-0, 59 yards; Smith 0-1-1; Matt Kamarousky 1-1-(-4); (Southern Lehigh) Sams 5-8-0, 162 yards, 3 TDs.
Receiving: (Blue Mountain) Chase Guers 5-52; Kole Luckenbill 1-(-1); Smith 3-8; Nathan Driscoll 1-(-4); (Southern Lehigh) Luke Kawczenski 2-67, 2 TDs; Otto Young 2-60, TD; Jacoby Jacobs 1-35.
