Quick starts were not something that Northwestern Lehigh (9-2) was very good at early in the season. Late in the year and into the district playoffs, that trend changed dramatically.

In each of the past two weeks, the Tigers had the ball to open the game and used most of the first quarter with long drives that led to touchdowns. Friday night at Tiger Stadium, their initial drive opened the scoring in a 31-7 win over Jim Thorpe (3-8) in the quarterfinals of the District 11 3A playoffs.

The Tigers used up 7:44, driving 80 yards on 21 plays to take an early 7-0 lead. There was nothing fancy about the drive, mostly just running straight ahead through holes opened by the offensive line. A couple of their widely-used end around plays and three short passes by senior quarterback Cade Christopher got he Tigers down the field before the senior QB capped the drive with a three-yard touchdown run off the left side.

Jim Thorpe looked to do the same thing, but on the third play of their opening drive, Sal Capria fumbled and Ty Meck wrapped up the ball to give the Tigers the ball at their own 41. This time, the drive went for just 12 plays and stalled at the Olympians 15-yard line, where Kian Osborne came on to kick a 32-yard field goal, putting Northwestern up 10-0, wrapping up the scoring for the first half.

After Thorpe had to punt on its first drive of the second half, Northwestern had another long, patient drive going before Christopher used a keeper play and went 33 yards to the end zone and a 17-0 lead after Osborne’s extra point.

“We just went tackle to tackle and got downhill pretty hard, running our different trap schemes and getting first downs. The play action game worked for us a little and we were able to get a lot of open wide receivers and Cade hit a lot of them and that really hurt them,” said Tiger head coach Josh Snyder.

The Tiger defense was a thorn in the side of Jim Thorpe all night. Just when it appeared that the Olympians offense had things going their way, a stop on a third-and-five left Jim Thorpe with a decision to make and they elected to go for the first down.

Brett Balliet delivered a pass to David Fiorito that looked like it would be enough for the first down, but Seth Kern, who had missed the last eight games with a thumb injury, put a big hit on Fiorito to jar the ball loose for a turnover on downs. It was the second broken pass play created by Kern on the night.

“It felt great to be back out there,” said the sophomore cornerback and wide receiver. “I had time to practice with them and get back out there and contribute tonight.”

Left with a 47-yard-long field, Northwestern quickly went up 24-0 when Christopher hit Mason Bollinger with a five-yard pass play to the end zone and one drive later, Clymer broke to the outside, poured on the speed and raced 20 yards to increase the lead to 31-0. The junior running back finished with 150 yards rushing.

“Cade (Christopher) and I feed off each other on offense and Blaine (Snyder) and I do the same on defense; success breeds success,” said Clymer of his big night on the ground. “Most of this game goes to the offensive line tonight. They did a fantastic job opening holes for us to run through and giving us blocking down field.”

On their final drive of the night, Capria broke a run down the right sideline for 56 yards and the only score of the night for the Olympians.

The win moves Northwestern Lehigh into the district semifinals where they will host Notre Dame Green Pond (9-2). The two teams used to meet annually, but have not played since 2019 and the Tigers have not hosted the Crusaders since 2018. In fact, Notre Dame’s last trip to New Tripoli was when the field had natural grass and none of the current players for either team were playing varsity ball yet. The Crusaders downed Saucon Valley 49-14 Friday night.