Northwestern Lehigh’s defense reinvented itself again in preparation for Friday night’s District 11 Class 3A championship game against Notre Dame-Green Pond’s unique, skilled offense.
The Tigers bent at times, but by game’s end, forced the Crusaders into more mistakes than game-changing plays.
Shane Hulmes scored touchdowns on both of his carries, but his leadership and play on defense that included three sacks, was vital to Northwestern Lehigh not yielding a touchdown pass and pulling away late for its fourth consecutive title, 35-14 at Catasauqua’s Alumni Field.
“We put in a new defense this week to try to slow down their passing game,” Hulmes said. “They have a really good air attack, a great quarterback who threw for a ton of yards and a lot of great wide outs.
“It took a lot of preparation. Our coaches did a great job. There was a lot of thinking. We kind of came out slow a little bit but I think our defense got better as the game wore on.”
Northwestern Lehigh (13-0) travels to a District 2 site next weekend for a PIAA quarterfinal against District 2 champion Scranton Prep (7-6), which rallied to beat District 4 champion Mifflinburg (12-1) in Friday’s state first-round game. It will be the third year in a row that the Tigers and Cavaliers meet in the state quarters.
Notre Dame-GP (12-1) walks away wondering, ‘What if’ after having many chances to either get even in a game it never led.
“They had a good plan for us defensively,” Crusaders coach Phil Stambaugh said. “They were putting pressure on us with four guys. That can’t happen, especially when they they’re dropping everybody on the back end because that makes it really difficult [on the offense].
“I thought we were executing well early on. The effort was there. We turned the ball over. We let them convert in certain situations. It wasn’t as sharp as it needed to be against a team that’s won 28 games in a row.
“It’s not rocket science to know that you can’t hurt yourselves.”
Notre Dame-GP’s offense had chances from the second quarter on. Trailing 14-7, the Crusaders fumbled in the red zone only to stop the Tigers on fourth down from their own 27.
But Northwestern Lehigh’s defense got incompletions on third and fourth downs after a Notre Dame-GP holding call on third-and-1.
The Tigers then drove 76 yards to build a two-score advantage.
The Crusaders scored late in the third quarter to get within 21-14, got a three-and-out then to the Tigers’ 35. But, again, they had incompletions on third and fourth downs to end the drive.
Northwestern Lehigh then drove 65 yards in 12 plays to restore a two-touchdown cushion.
The Tigers then got interceptions from Brady Zimmerman and Shane Leh on consecutive possessions. They got a Mason Bollinger 19-yard TD run after Zimmerman’s pick and ran out the clock after Leh’s INT.
“In our division, it’s heavy run,” Tigers coach Josh Snyder said. “That’s what we’re geared for, to stop the run. Other than Southern Lehigh and a little bit of Lehighton who want to run the ball, you’re playing a Notre Dame team that is so well-coached. [Stambaugh] does an excellent job.
“It’s a different animal. It’s tough to practice. … The scheme, we’re playing different defenses than we did all year. Two safety look. We were playing a five-man box. They were running the ball a little bit on us but weren’t scoring in chunks. We made them work for it.”
Northwestern Lehigh led 21-7 at halftime after scoring on the game’s first drive and its last series of the second quarter.
After Mason Bollinger’s fumble recovery, Notre Dame-GP’s defensive stop and Northwestern getting consecutive incompletions in a series of offensive futility by both teams, the Tigers drove 76 yards in six plays to built a two-touchdown lead.
Shane Leh’s 30-yard keeper around the right side with 1:05 left in the half gave Snyder’s club the momentum. A 36-yard pass from Leh to Zimmerman set up the score.
Northwestern Lehigh’s first drive, an eight-play, 80-yarder, was finished off by Hulmes’ 2-yard TD run with 8:51 left in the first quarter.
After an exchange of punts, Notre Dame-GP got even on Jonathan Striba’s 5-yard touchdown run on the first play of the second quarter. A 51-yard screen pass from Matt Bodnar to Tommy Murphy was the momentum-changing play on the series.
But Northwestern Lehigh responded immediately after Notre Dame-GP’s two scores.
The Tigers needed only five offensive plays to rebuild the two-TD lead. A kick return to the 38-yard line plus a 15-yard late hit set them up at the Crusaders’ 47. Braxton Lakatosh’s 22-yard run led to Chase Sukanick’s 11-yard TD run with 9:36 left in the first half.
Senior writer Tom Housenick can be reached at thousenick@mcall.com
NORTHWESTERN LEHIGH 35, NOTRE DAME-GP 14
Northwestern Lehigh; 7; 14; 0; 14 — 35
Notre Dame-GP; 7; 0; 7; 0 — 14
ORDER OF SCORING
First quarter
NWL: Shane Hulmes 2 run (Chase Sukanick kick), 8:51
Second quarter
NDGP: Jonathan Striba 5 run (Clemente Cintron kick), 11:55
NWL: Sukanick 11 run (Sukanick kick), 9:36
NWL: Shane Leh 30 (Sukanick kick), 1:05
Third quarter
NDGP: Striba 2 run (Cintron kick), 1:57
Fourth quarter
NWL: Hulmes 1 run (Sukanick kick), 5:47
NWL: Mason Bollinger 19 run (Sukanick kick), 4:39
TEAM STATISTICSNWL; NDGPFirst downs; 20; 16Rushing-yards; 47-274; 29-80Passing yards; 86; 202Comp-Att-INTs; 6-11-0; 15-25-2Punts; 2-43.5; 2-48.5Fumbles-lost; 1-0; 2-1Penalties-yards; 7-49; 8-78
INDIVIDUAL STATISTICSRushing: (Northwestern Lehigh) Braxton Lakatosh 12-93; Chase Sukanick 15-82, TD; Mason Bollinger 8-66, TD; Brady Zimmerman 5-1; Shane Leh 3-33, TD; Shane Hulmes 2-3, 2 TDs; (Notre Dame-GP) Jonathan Striba 5-16, 2 TDs; Aaron Gordon 4-11; Matt Bodnar 9-(-11); Tommy Murphy 6-27; Jason Frederick 2-13; Faustie Capobianco 3-24.
Passing: (Northwestern Lehigh) Leh 5-10-0, 80 yards; Bollinger 1-1-0, 6 yards; (Notre Dame-GP) Bodnar 15-25-2, 202 yards.
Receiving: (Northwestern Lehigh) Zimmerman 2-47; Hulmes 2-25; Michael Lagowy 1-8; Leh 1-6; (Notre Dame-GP) Striba 1-4; Gordon 2-20; Alex Clark 1-11; Drew Boyd 8-103.
