BERWICK - Setting the tone up front.

Northwestern received the ball first on Friday night in its PIAA 3A state semifinal match-up against the Danville.

The Tigers didn’t waste time establishing physicality along the line of scrimmage, going 64 yards on eight plays to take an early 7-0 lead, with all eight plays coming on the ground.

Northwestern’s first drive was a sign of things to come. The Tigers dominated in the trenches and are back in the 3A state final, as they came away with an impressive 31-14 victory.

Strong running from Eli Zimmerman got Northwestern offense going early. Zimmerman rushed for almost 40 yards on the opening drive with quarterback Shane Leh capping it with a 17-yard run around the right side.

“We don’t often start with the ball,” said Tiger head coach Josh Snyder. “But they won the toss and deferred. We talked to the guys before the kick and we knew we were getting the ball first and we were into the wind. The message was, ‘We’re going to the run the ball right down the field and we’re going to set the tone with a touchdown.’ And that’s exactly what our guys were able to do. And I think that did really set the tone mentally and physically that we could dominate in the trenches.”

After forcing a punt on Danville’s first possession, Northwestern was pinned at its own three-yard line.

It took only take a few plays for the Tigers (15-0) run game to come up with a big play when Zimmerman took a handoff from the five. He followed a few blocks then cut all the way to the left hashes, taking it the distance for a 95-yard score to make it 14-0 with 6:46 left to go in the first.

Zimmerman rushed for over 150 yards in the first frame.

“You have to be patient and wait for stuff to develop sometimes,” he said. “And when I have been patient, I have been able to burst through those openings. That’s been a recipe for success for us when running the football, find those little gaps and get through them, get eight or nine yards a clip and then eventually break a big one.

“I always have to give a shout out to the boys up front that block for me. They’re amazing.”

A 43-yard connection from Madden Patrick to Cole Duffy got Danville back in the game with just under 40 seconds to go in the first..

Penalties stifled a few promising Tigers’ offensive drives in the second quarter, but their defense held strong, forcing two Danville punts. Northwestern tacked on a 19-yard field goal by Seth Kern right before the end of the half to give the Tigers a 17-7 lead at the intermission.

A Zimmerman punt return touchdown broke the state quarterfinal game open for Northwestern against Scranton Prep, and it was another Zimmerman dynamic play that broke the game open for the Tigers last Friday.

It came in the form of a 79-yard pick-six to up the Northwestern lead to 24-7 at the 9:50 mark of the third.

“That was a play that we saw on film and they ran it, and I knew what was coming,” said Zimmerman. “I waited a little bit to see if the quarterback would throw it and then I saw the ball in the air and I was able to make the play. Then all I saw were our boys out in front forming that wall and I was able to take it down the sideline for the score.”

The Danville offense was finally able to get a few things going after the interception, but Northwestern kept coming up with big stops.

The Tigers stopped a fake field goal attempt from the Northwestern 16-yard line at the 5:31 mark. Shane Hulmes and Michael Lagowy beat the Ironmen runner to the right pylon, forcing him out at the one to keep it a 17-point game.

The Ironmen put together a drive on their ensuing possession, getting all the way down to the Northwestern one. The drive was sparked by a nice 34-yard Bo Sheptock, who had 119 rushing yards and surpassed the 2,000-yard mark on the season, making him the first player in Danville history to do so.

But an exchange from the Danville quarterback to the running back on a read play wasn’t clean and the ball ended up on the ground with Brady Zimmerman jumping on the fumble for the Tigers at the three-yard line.

Northwestern’s offensive line and Zimmerman put the game away.

Zimmerman runs of 13 and 11 yards gave the offense some breathing room and after a few tough rushes from Mason Bollinger, Zimmerman broke one more explosive run - a 45-yard sprint down to the Danville two-yard line. One play later Seth Kern bullied his way in for the score for a 31-7 lead with 4:25 remaining in the game.

“It’s not easy getting to a state final the first time,” said Snyder. “And it’s even tougher getting there the second time, especially when you have the high expectations like we did coming into this season. But I would be lying if I didn’t think it was both our mission and our destiny to get back there this season.

“We didn’t talk a lot about getting back there, but we talked about taking it one game at a time and we knew if we did that enough times the possibility was there for us. You need a lot of things to happen. You need to avoid injuries. You need to practice hard and you need leaders. And we have all that. And you also need a kid like Tucker Wessner sitting on our shoulders and looking over us like he has all season long as well.”

Zimmerman finished the game with 346 rushing yards, crushing his previous single-game rushing record of 271 yards. Zimmerman also broke the Tigers’ single-season rushing yards mark, previously held by Brett Snyder as he has now tallied 2,557 rushing yards this season. Zimmerman also tied Dalton Clymer’s single-season touchdown mark with his two on the night, making that 35 total scores on the season.

Northwestern will take on District 7 champion Avonworth (12-3) on Saturday, Dec. 7 at 1 p.m. at Chapman Field at Cumberland Valley High School. Avonworth was a 16-6 winner over Penn-Cambria.

SATURDAY SEND-OFF, RECEPTION

Members of the Northwestern Lehigh School District and the surrounding community are planning a send-off and reception for the team Saturday before and after the state title game.

The team will depart the stadium parking lot on Saturday at 8:30 a.m. It will proceed on Northwest Road to 309 North to 143 South to 78 West.

All are welcome to meet on campus or along the route to wish the team good luck. Signs and noisemakers are encouraged.

After the contest, the team will depart Cumberland Valley and travel 78 to 100 to 309 and return to the lower middle school parking lot where the community is invited to welcome it back home and witness the medal ceremony in Tiger Stadium. According to the news release sent by athletic director Jason Zimmerman, there could be “some special surprises along the route to show our teams how proud we are of them.”