Northwestern Lehigh football dominates showdown with Southern Lehigh

Dalton Clymer ran for a career-high 249 yards for an offense that never punted and scored on every possession that did not lead into halftime.

It was a dominant offensive performance for Northwestern Lehigh in a 42-14 rout of fellow unbeaten Southern Lehigh in a battle for the Colonial-Schuylkill League Gold Division championship.

But a defensive play less than three minutes into Friday night’s game turned the momentum around for good.

The Spartans had first downs on the game’s first two plays before the Tigers forced a third down. Eli Zimmerman then perfectly timed his route to the ball. The Tigers safety returned his league-leading seventh interception 60 yards to the Spartans’ 8-yard line.

Two plays later, Shane Leh gave Northwestern a 7-0 lead with a 4-yard TD run.

Southern Lehigh never recovered.

“A lot of this win goes to that pick,” Clymer said. “A momentum shift like that to keep them out of the end zone, that’s everything. That hurts a team. It’s hard to come back from that.”

The Spartans went 3-and-out on their next series before the Tigers’ relentless ground game went back to work.

The first of Clymer’s three touchdowns, a 1-yarder, capped a 10-play, 71-yard drive for a 14-0 lead.

“We’re sort of on our heels,” Tigers coach Josh Snyder said of the game’s opening series, “and then Eli comes up with that huge interception and takes it down the sidelines. Two plays later, Shane pops one in there and a little bit of doubt probably crept in [the Spartans’] heads.

“They get the ball, we get a stop and pop another one in to go up two scores, and we’re off and running and settled in offensively and defensively.”

Zimmerman picked off another pass on Southern Lehigh’s third series of the first quarter, but it was called back after Northwestern was hit with a roughing-the-passer penalty.

The Spartans used the penalty to score on a 48-yard TD pass from Chris Fritts to Jack Inglis. Inglis made two big cuts after making the catch down the left sideline to cross the goal line just inside the right sideline.

Northwestern didn’t panic, though. It drove 66 yards in 13 plays, 11 on the ground, to push the cushion to 21-7 on Leh’s second rushing TD.

Bryer Reichard’s fourth-down sack stopped Southern Lehigh’s last possession of the first half deep in the red zone.

The Tigers then marched 70 yards in 11 plays, nine on the ground, to start the third quarter. Clymer’s 6-yard TD run put a dagger in the Spartans.

“They always do an excellent job coaching over there,” Southern Lehigh coach Phil Sams said. “They have excellent players. They obviously deserve it. They kicked our butts.”

Change of course

Once Southern Lehigh fell behind by three touchdowns in the third quarter, it charted a new course offensively.

The Spartans, who averaged 195 rushing yards in their first nine wins, managed only 29 Friday night on 19 carries. They were forced to pass.

Sams also changed quarterbacks in the final minute of the third. Freshman Colton Sams, the coach’s son, replaced Chris Fritts, who completed seven of 14 passes for 149 yards with one TD and one interception.

Sams directed an 11-play scoring drive that was capped by his fourth-down TD pass to Jack Inglis.

But Northwestern counted with a drive capped by Devon Hildebrand’s 4-yard touchdown run.

“I don’t think [Northwestern] punted,” coach Sams said. “But you have to score more than 14 points to even compete with a team like that.”

Repeat customer

Clymer’s 12-yard run midway through the second quarter gave the Tigers senior his second consecutive 1,000-yard season.

Clymer has 1,162 yards and 18 touchdowns this season. His 3,374 career yards is third in school history behind Harry Hall (5,065) and Brett Snyder (4,281), coach Snyder’s brother.

Up next

Northwestern (10-0) will host a District 11 Class 3A quarterfinal on Thursday. Southern Lehigh (9-1) will host a 5A semifinal on Friday.

It was the Tigers’ second unbeaten regular season in the last three years.

Morning Call reporter Tom Housenick can be reached at 610-820-6651 or at thousenick@mcall.com

NORTHWESTERN 42, SOUTHERN LEHIGH 14

Southern Lehigh: 0; 7; 0; 7 — 14  

Northwestern: 14; 7; 14; 7 — 42

ORDER OF SCORING

First quarter

NWL: Shane Leh 4 run (Seth Kern kick), 8:50

NWL: Dalton Clymer 1 run (Kern kick), 1:40

Second quarter

SL: Chris Fritts 48 pass to Jack Inglis (Inglis kick), 11:46

NWL: Leh 2 run (Kern kick), 5:36

Third quarter

NWL: Clymer 6 run (Kern kick), 6:53

NWL: 1 run (Kern kick), 0:32

Fourth quarter

SL: Colton Sams 9 pass to Inglis (Inglis kick), 8:49

NWL: Devon Hildebrand 4 run (Kern kick), 3:29

TEAM STATISTICSSL; NWLFirst downs; 16; 19Rushes-yards; 19-29; 54-312Passing yards; 222; 44Comp-Att-INTs; 16-29-1; 3-5-0Punts-avg.; 1-38.0; 0-0Fumbles-lost; 0-0; 0-0Penalties-yards; 3-15; 5-58

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICSRushing: (Southern Lehigh) Cade Sawyer 12-35; Jack Inglis 1-1; Sean Steckert 1-0; Colton Sams 2-(-7); Chris Fritts 3-0; (Northwestern) Dalton Clymer 34-249, 3 TDs; Devon Hildebrand 3-8, TD; Eli Zimmerman 5-13; Landen Matson 2-2; Mason Bollinger 3-6; Shane Leh 6-39, 2 TDs; team 1-(-5).

Passing: (Southern Lehigh) Fritts 7-14-1, 149 yards, TD; Sams 9-15-0, 73 yards, TD; (Northwestern). Leh 3-5-0, 44 yards.

Receiving: (Southern Lehigh) Andrew Olesh 5-60; Inglis 4-80, 2 TDs; Darius Roman 2-29; Bryan Tobin 1-19; Otto Young 1-15; Talan Hite 2-16; Elian Gonzalez 1-3; (Northwestern) Bollinger 3-44.