Twin Valley opponent Soutern Lehigh has made a habit of pulling out close ones
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No one can say Southern Lehigh isn’t battle-tested heading into its PIAA Class 4A championship game Thursday against Twin Valley.
The Spartans needed last-minutes scores in the quarterfinals against Shamokin and in the semifinals vs. Cardinal O’Hara to reach their first championship game.
“We’ve put ourselves in some tough situations – self-inflicted at times – and we rose to the occasion,” said Southern coach Phil Sams. “We’ve been able to convert third downs when we needed to, get stops when we needed to.”
Last week the District 11 champion Spartans (14-1) saw all of their 21-0 lead erased. They needed a 4-yard run by All-State tailback Sean Steckert with 31 seconds left to win 28-24.
The week before, against unbeaten Shamokin, they trailed 27-14 in the third quarter before
Steckert saved them again. He rushed for 260 yards and three TDs, the last with 1:00 left. He followed with a two-point conversion for a 30-28 lead, then sealed the win a few moments later with an interception.
“The way we came back two weeks in a row . . . it’s really cool to see the kids not give up, and to battle through,” said Sams. “The past few years, we’ve learned to overcome any kind of panic.”
Southern Lehigh is no stranger to big games. It won the District 11 Class 4A championship last year and reached the Class 5A title game in each of the previous four seasons.
Southern has gone 36-6 over the last three seasons; its senior class is 45-9.
The one team it can’t seem to beat is Colonial/Schuylkill League rival Northwestern Lehigh, which went unbeaten last season in winning the PIAA Class 3A championship and which takes an unbeaten record into Saturday’s championship game.
“We just can’t find a way to beat those guys,” Sams lamented.
This season, in a Week 10 battle with the league championship on the line, Southern Lehigh fell behind 22-0 early in the second quarter. It trailed by that same margin with 5 ½ left before scoring a pair of late TDs to close the gap to 36-28.
For what it’s worth, that’s been Northwestern Lehigh’s closest game.
Steckert has been Southern’s biggest weapon. He’s rushed for 2,911 yards and 41 TDs, among the fattest stats of any running back in the state. Steckert ran 40 times for 210 yards and three touchdowns against Cardinal O’Hara.
Quarterback Colton Sams, son of the head coach, triggers a lethal passing game that makes the Spartans difficult to defend. He’s thrown for 2,543 yards and 34 touchdowns, with just five interceptions. He passed for 216 yards and four TDs against Northwestern Lehigh and clicked on 14-of-18 passes for 149 yards and a touchdown last week.
“He can throw it a mile,” said Twin Valley coach Brett Myers, “and he’s hitting a lot of different guys.”
Two receivers, Darius Roman and Luke Kawczenski, have more than 40 receptions; three have seven or more TD catches.
The Raiders (14-0) have had their hands full the last two weeks trying to stop Division I quarterbacks. They chased Susquehanna Township’s Torin Evans all over the field in their district championship game. After absorbing some early damage they picked him off twice, sacked him a couple of times late in the game and shut ’Hanna out in the second half for a 41-21 win.
It was more of the same last week against strong-armed Aliquippa quarterback Marques Council Jr. He threw for 198 second-half yards and a pair of TDs to lead a huge comeback but the Raiders also picked him off twice, sacked him three times in the final minutes, then knocked down his final pass in the end zone to hold on for a 28-24 victory.
“Those two quarterbacks were really good, and they helped set (us) up for each other,” said Twin Valley linebacker Lucas Myers. “(Sams) is just another really good quarterback that we have to play.”
Southern Lehigh and Twin Valley appear to be well-matched. They play similar offensive and defensive styles. They protect the football: Twin Valley has turned it over just six times, Southern Lehigh seven times. Neither is stocked with Division I talent.
Until last week the Raiders hadn’t been forced to make big plays at the end of a one-possession game. The Spartans have made a habit of it.
They needed to stop a two-point conversion by Lehighton with 4:31 left, then run out the clock to preserve a 21-20 Week 3 victory on the road.
“We’ve had some obstacles along the way,” Phil Sams said. “It hasn’t been easy.”
