Joe Tout was concerned about Schuylkill Haven’s size up front but thought his Northern Lehigh defense could handle the speed.

Hurricanes standout tailback Colton Reber proved his speed — and that of his teammates — is as dangerous as his size and strength.

The junior ran for 395 yards and five touchdowns on just 10 carries to lead Schuylkill Haven to a 60-7 victory in Saturday night’s District 11 Class 2A semifinal at Rotary Field.

“Their speed,” Tout said, “I thought we could match up speed wise. Their speed got us tonight. I was hoping for a track meet. But we couldn’t get any stops and they got stops when they needed to.”

Schuylkill Haven (12-0) faces Williams Valley (11-1) in next weekend’s district final at Blue Mountain’s Eagles Nest. Northern Lehigh’s season ends at 8-4. Williams Valley beat Minersville for a second time this year, 56-35 in the other semifinal.

Schuylkill Haven ran 10 plays in the game’s first 13 minutes. The Hurricanes had seven first downs, four touchdowns and 260 rushing yards.

After stopping the Bulldogs on the game’s first series, the Hurricanes needed only six plays to score, a Reber 5-yard TD run and two-point conversion for an 8-0 lead with 7 minutes, 25 seconds left in the first quarter.

That was their longest scoring drive of the game.

Northern Lehigh responded with a seven-play, 78-yard touchdown drive. Garrett Smoyer hit Colin Karetsky on a 14-yard scoring pass on fourth down with 4:36 on the clock get within 8-7.

It took one play for Schuylkill Haven to respond, a 76-yard touchdown run by Reber, who wasn’t touched.

“You have to tackle low,” Tout said. “We made that a point of emphasis. That’s what we saw on film, how Williams Valley had success with that. We didn’t do that. But a lot of teams didn’t do that this year.”

After a Blake Rossi interception stopped Northern Lehigh’s next drive, Niko Castillo scored on a 44-yard TD run for a 24-7 Schuylkill Haven lead.

Northern Lehigh had its only 3-and-out of the half on the following series before Schuylkill Haven scored on Reber’s 69-yard touchdown run for a 32-7 cushion with 10:59 left in the first half.

The Bulldogs then drove 18 plays to the Hurricanes’ 2-yard line but came up empty.

The Hurricanes then needed only four plays to score again on a Max Heim 26-yard TD pass to Castillo for a 40-7 advantage with 48 seconds left.

Northern Lehigh again drove into Schuylkill Haven territory but were stopped on downs as time expired in the first half.

Reber took it 80 yards for a touchdown on the first play of the second half to put the game in the mercy rule.

“Our linebackers got sucked in and we don’t know why,” Tout said, “because it’s something we repped all week. It’s something we talked about all week.”

The Bulldogs got in the red zone again on their first drive of the third quarter, but couldn’t finish. They had 224 yards and 15 first downs, but were 3 of 15 on third down, 4 for 8 on fourth down and committed two turnovers.

“They sent the house,” Tout said. “I thought we didn’t do a great job with the edge blitz. We had it accounted for when we started doing max protection. But they were able to blow it up, and I don’t think [Smoyer] could get comfortable.”

Schuylkill Haven head coach Mike Farr said the success of this year’s team including Reber, who is District 11’s leading rusher with 2,663 yards and 36 touchdowns, has not come easy.

The massive offensive line has matured as a group, which has provided Reber and Co. the opportunity to show off their speed as much as their power.

“It’s been a lot of hard work,” Farr said. “Niko Castillo is 6-2, 237 pounds and runs a 4.6/40. It’s just ridiculous. He’s 17 years old. I’ve been coaching a long time. I’ve had some really good backs and some really good lines.

“This line is just phenomenal. They just go to work. They don’t complain. They do their job. They know know that if they make a hole, these guys are going to hit and all of our guys have breakaway speed.”

Notes: The teams last met in the 2020 Class 2A playoffs, a 49-19 Northern Lehigh victory. … Northern Lehigh won the last of its five district titles in 2022. Schuylkill Haven, a district runner-up the last two years, have 10 titles, the last in 2018. … Northern Lehigh returns 10 starters on offense and nine on defense, losing only Grady Newhard and Kaden Quinones.

Senior writer Tom Housenick can be reached at thousenick@mcall.com

SCHUYLKILL HAVEN 60, NORTHERN LEHIGH 7 

Northern Lehigh; 7; 0; 0; 0 — 7  

Schuylkill Haven; 24; 16; 13; 7 — 60

ORDER OF SCORING

First quarter

SH: Colton Reber 5 run (Reber run), 7:25

NL: Garrett Smoyer 14 pass to Colin Karetsky (Anthony Hanna kick), 4:36

SH: Reber 76 run (Reber run), 4:22

NL: Niko Castillo 44 run (Reber run), 1:52

Second quarter

SH: Reber 69 run (Reber run), 10:59

SH: Max Heim 26 pass to Castillo (Reber run), 0:48

Third quarter

SH: Reber 80 run (Grayson Fessler kick), 11:40

SH: Reber 69 run (pass failed), 2:47

Fourth quarter

SH: Logan Goad 19 run (Fessler kick), 4:54

TEAM STATISTICSNL; SHFirst downs; 15; 13Rushes-yards; 40-47; 24-542Passing yards; 177; 26Comp-Att-INTs; 14-26-1; 1-1-0Punts-avg.; 3-36.0; 1-29.0Fumbles-lost; 1-1; 2-0Penalties-yards; 1-10; 6-63

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICSRushing: (Northern Lehigh) Grady Newhard 10-6; Mason Rothrock 8-19; Garrett Smoyer 14-4; Keith Lectora 7-9; Ryan Zambo 1-9; (Schuylkill Haven) Colton Reber 10-395, 5 TDs; Niko Castillo 4-76, TD; Chase Yoder 3-7; Logan Goad 4-67, TD; Bode Hinnershitz 1-0; Bradyn Diehl 1-(2); team 1-(-1).

Passing: (Northern Lehigh) Smoyer 14-26-1, 177 yards, TD; (Schuylkill Haven) Heim 1-1-0, 26 yards.

Receiving: (Northern Lehigh) Zambo 4-31; Colin Karetsky 1-14, TD; Lectora 7-90; Chris Vargas 2-42; (Schuylkill Haven) Castillo 1-26, TD.

https://www.mcall.com/2025/11/08/northern-lehighs-season-ends-with-loss-at-schuylkill-haven/