Tigers power past Panthers
Northwestern Lehigh coach Josh Snyder and his assistants saw a few things on film they thought they could exploit in Saucon Valley’s 30 defense.
The Tigers players did plenty of exploiting.
Dalton Clymer ran for 181 yards and four touchdowns in little more than a half to lead Northwestern to a dominant 43-15 victory Friday night at Tiger Stadium.
The Tigers ran for 369 yards and put the game in the mercy rule one offensive play into the second half to improve to 6-0 this season.
The offensive line led by senior captain Blaine Snyder gave Clymer and other runners plenty of space to move in.
“The offensive line just really meshes together,” Snyder said. “Everyone has their own responsibilities and know what they’re doing. We knew they were going to run a 30 [defense]. We practice all week against it and came out executed all day.”
Ben Walters, Bryer Reichard, Jeremiah Gornicz and Jared Meck are among the other offensive linemen
Saucon Valley coach Anthony Brinkley and his staff saw on film what it’s like when Northwestern’s offense gets in a rhythm — which has happened often this season. It is not pretty for the opponent.
Brinkley and Co. saw it live Friday night.
The Tigers’ first drive lasted five plays. The first four netted first downs on running plays of 20, 11, 18 and 18 yards. Clymer’s 7-yard touchdown run finished it off for a 7-0 lead two minutes into the game.
Northwestern needed only 31 plays on its first four drives to amass 287 yards and score 29 points.
“It’s never easy going against Northwestern as a defensive coach,” Brinkley said. “They definitely saw something they like, were getting to the edge. It was hard to slow them down.
“Once they get going, we’ve seen how it goes on film.”
Meanwhile, the Panthers failed on fourth down on their first two drives, the second of which was compromised by a penalty.
Shane Leh capped Northwestern’s second drive with 23-yard TD pass to Shane Hulmes late in the first quarter.
Clymer finished off the next two drives with runs of 3 and 6 yards. He also had a two-point run.
“All the credit goes to [the offensive linemen],” he said. “As a back, it is a very nice feeling to not get touched at the line of scrimmage and five yards beyond the line of scrimmage sometimes, so credit for those rushing yards and touchdowns I had tonight, it’s all on them 100%.
“They performed really well tonight.”
Things got a little sloppy late in the second quarter when the teams exchanged turnovers.
Hulmes recovered a fumble at the Saucon Valley 47-yard line. Northwestern drove to the 12 in four plays, but then Landon Beckowski’s 38-yard interception return prevented the mercy rule from kicking in.