Senior night is always a special night on the football schedule. It’s the last regular season game for the seniors on their home turf and coaches work to get action for all the seniors on the roster. Northwestern Lehigh coach Josh Snyder had no trouble doing that and even got extended playing time for some seniors and younger players as the Tigers rolled to a 35-8 win over Wilson.

Snyder’s plan was to get his mainstay players some time on the bench and a bit of a breather before next week’s matchup against Southern Lehigh. Of course, he still needed a win over Wilson (0-9) and with a quick start from the offense, the Tigers (7-2) were up 14-0 after their first two possessions and never looked back from there. The quick start and 14 more points before halftime made it possible for players like Cade Christopher, Dalton Clymer and the big players on the offensive and defensive lines to become spectators over the final two quarters of the game.

Evan Anderson intercepted a Jeramy Cressman pass on the second play of the game to set the Tigers up at the Warriors 30-yard line. A perfectly executed end around to Christopher went for 18 yards into the end zone on the third play of the drive for the first score. On the second drive, Christopher hit Landon Matson on a 38-yard connection and the game already felt out of reach.

Anderson followed up his earlier interception with a seven-yard touchdown through the middle of the Wilson line early in the second quarter to make it 21-0.

“We wanted to come out and put some points on the board early,” Snyder said. “After last week (a disappointing loss to Bangor), our guys wanted to get back on the field. Coming out with a couple quick scores just set the tone for us.”

Wilson’s passing game appeared in complete disarray with Cressman having little time to find any open targets. When he did find someone, he struggled to zero in on the target. He completed a four-yard pass to Rodney Bronson in the first and then hit Ian Feckete for 21 yards in the second as part of Wilson’s longest drive of the game.

Unfortunately for the Warriors, the drive started and ended with Cressman being sacked.

Christopher hit Hildebrand on back-to-back passes on the next drive with the second catch going down the middle for 30 yards and into the end zone for a 28-0 lead. Northwestern Lehigh surprised Wilson with an onside kick after the TD and recovered the ball at the Wilson 45, but was unable to score before the end of the first half.

Sensing that it could put the game away and allow some of the understudies to get playing time, the Tiger offensive line opened sizable holes for the backs on the first drive of the second half as the Tigers marched 60 yards in six plays, ending with Clymer going in from 13 yards out to kick in the mercy rule at 35-0.

“Dalton (Clymer) and Cade (Christopher) have been banged up a little and we wanted to get them a bit of a breather, so they were able to take most of the second half off,” Snyder noted. “Everybody gets a little banged up late in the year, so it was good to get them on the sidelines a little and not add to the bumps and bruises.”

From there, it was all names like Josiah Gornicz, Carter Zentz and Shane Leh for Northwestern Lehigh. While they were unable to get the ball into the end zone, the fresh players did show some of what the future may look like for the Tigers as they marched the ball down the field before seeing drives end with turnovers on downs.

“Our JV team was undefeated this season and it was nice to give some of the guys from that team a little time on the field tonight,” said Snyder. “It’s kind of a reward for the season that they had and they serve as our scout team in practice and are supposed to know what to do when they get in there and they showed that they were able to do that tonight.”

With under 7:00 to play, Wilson got the ball at the Northwestern Lehigh 41 and Rodney Bronson opened the drive with a 31-yard run to the 10 and two plays later, Cressman ran over the right side, dragging a couple defenders along for a seven-yard TD run. With kicker Anderson Luis-juene injured, the Warriors went for two and Feckete ran the ball over the right side for the lone score of the night for Wilson.