MECHANICSBURG — Southern Lehigh’s game plan, like its goal for this season, never wavered.

Coach Phil Sam’s club wanted to run the ball until opponents forced you to do otherwise, play good defense, play hard, play together.

It was the formula the Spartans set after last season’s PIAA Class 4A semifinal loss. It was expected to lead them to somewhere no school boys’ program had ever been — a state championship.

The formula worked. Sean Steckert set a 4A finals record with 300 rushing yards and four touchdowns. Otto Young caught two touchdown passes from Colton Sams and Adam Fritts had two of Southern Lehigh’s three interceptions.

It added up to a goal accomplished after Thursday night’s 43-21 victory over District 3 Twin Valley at Cumberland Valley’s Chapman Field.

Though it was expected, Southern Lehigh coaches and players struggled to find the words to express after a 15-1 season.

“I can’t [put it into words,” head coach Phil Sams said. “It’s just awesome and amazing. The players did it by starting working in January. You don’t show up in August. You start that late, and you go home early.

“We started early and ended late. That was the goal.”

Southern Lehigh never punted and though it trailed twice in the first half, it rallied to regain the lead by the break. Then pulled away in the third quarter thanks to big plays on both sides of the ball.

Colton Sams’ 40-yard TD pass to Young less than three minutes into the third quarter extended the Spartans’ lead to 24-14.

Two plays later, Adam Fritts had the first of his two picks to give Southern Lehigh the ball back at the Twin Valley 31-yard line.

Steckert’s 15-yard run on third down kept the drive going. He scored two plays later for a 30-14 advantage midway through the third.

The Raiders responded with a Drew Engle 4-yard TD run to get within nine.

But the Spartans offense continued to grind up the opponent. Despite fourth-down illegal motion penalty, they converted on Sams’ 12-yard pass to Luke Kawczenski. Two plays later, Sams hit Young again for a 30-yard TD pass.

“It was an audible,” Young said. “Colton made an amazing read. He threw it right to me. I knew I had to get in the end zone somehow.”

A Twin Valley punt on its next series was following by a long drive that was sparked by a Steckert 70-yard run.

The teams exchanged interceptions, with the second Fritts pick leading to the game’s final score a 2-yard Steckert run with 2:06 left to seal it.

“These past few games have been a little rough,” Steckert said after a 37-carry performance on Thursday. “It’s taken my body time to recover. But we performed the way we needed to perform. That’s all that matters.”

Steckert’s 301 yards broke the previous mark of 292 set in 2018 by Erie Cathedral Prep’s Billy Lucas.

Southern Lehigh took a 17-14 halftime lead on Steckert’s 26-yard TD run on fourth down with 17 seconds left in the second quarter.

Twin Valley had taken a 14-10 advantage on a 64-yard touchdown pass from Maverik Foster to Dom Summers on a deep post pattern with 2:25 left in the half. It came two plays after the Spartans took a 10-7 lead on Declan Walsh’s 24-yard field goal, his first of the season.

The Raiders took the game’s opening kickoff and marched 69 yards on five plays to take a 7-0 lead on Lucas Myers’ 20-yard TD run two minutes into the game.

The Spartans responded with a six-play, 80-yard scoring drive capped by Steckert’s 11-yard TD run at the 7:07 mark of the first quarter.

Steckert reached 3,000 yards for the year in the first half when he ran for 156 yards on 19 carries. He ends with 3,212 yards and 45 TDs.

Sams broked his own single-season passing TDs record with 36.

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

SOUTHERN LEHIGH 43, TWIN VALLEY 21 

Twin Valley; 7; 7; 7; 0 — 21

Southern Lehigh; 7; 10; 13; 13 — 43  

ORDER OF SCORING

First quarter

TV: Lucas Myers 20 run (Nate Shaffer kick), 10:01

SL: Sean Steckert 11 run (Declan Walsh kick), 7:07

Second quarter

SL: Declan Walsh 24-yard FG, 3:17

TV: Maverik Foster 64 pass to Dom Summers (Shaffer kick), 2:25

SL: Steckert 26 run (Walsh kick), 0:17

Third quarter

SL: Colton Sams 40 pass to Otto Young (Walsh kick), 9:49

SL: Steckert 6 run (kick failed), 6:10

TV: Engle 4 run (Shaffer kick), 2:44

Fourth quarter

SL: Sams 30 pass to Young (run failed), 10:21

SL: Steckert 2 run (Walsh kick), 2:06

TEAM STATISTICSTV; SLFirst downs; 21; 00Rushes-yards; 40-301; 34-235Passing yards; 145; 87Comp-Att-INTs; 13-18-1; 5-11-3Punts-avg.; 0-0; 1-36.0Fumbles-lost; 0-0; 0-0Penalties-yards; 5-50; 7-57

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICSRushing: (Southern Lehigh) Sean Steckert 37-301, 4 TDs; Colton Sams 1-2; team 2-(-2); (Twin Valley) Drew Engle 22-171, TD; Lucas Myers 11-55, TD; Maverik Foster 1-9.

Passing: (Southern Lehigh) Sams 13-18-1, 145 yards, 2 TDs; (Twin Valley) Foster 5-11-3, 87 yards TD.

Receiving: (Southern Lehigh) Luke Kawczenski 6-48; Darius Roman 2-18; Otto Young 3-78, 2 TDs; Jacoby Jacobs 2-1; (Twin Valley) Ben Grundy 2-1; Chase Reilly 1-8; Patrick Shanahan 1-14; Dom Summers 1-64, TD.

https://www.mcall.com/2025/12/04/piaa-football-4a-championship-southern-lehigh-defeats-twin-valley/