Winters’ wonderland: Senior leads the Pirates to a title
Defense held Nolehi to only 77 rushing yards in the district championship
Austin Winters is generously listed at 5-foot-9 on the Palisades roster.
But to measure his value to the Pirates based on height and weight would be an injustice to the senior lineman.
“He’s the toughest kid I know,” fellow senior Ben Haubert said. “He’s unbelievably strong and unbelievably bullheaded.”
Northern Lehigh learned that the hard way during Saturday night’s District 11 Class 2A championship game at Whitehall’s Zephyr Stadium.
Winters was in on a slew of tackles, including three for loss (two sacks), and helped the Pirates limit the Bulldogs to a season-low 77 rushing yards in a 31-14 victory.
It was Palisades’ second district title in the last four seasons and fourth overall. It also was the Pirates’ second win this season over the Bulldogs.
MasonSmeland, the Colonial League’s leading rusher, gained 148 of his 173 yards in the second half. He caught an 11-yard touchdown pass midway through the third quarter, and his 41-yard scoring run on fourth down in the fourth quarter secured the win.
However, Winters’ stellar defensive effort and Jon DeNato’s again proving to be in the right spot at the right time were as important as anything tonight.
Leading 3-0 in the second quarter, Palisades caught a break whenNorthern Lehigh had a bad punt snap and Pirate Marcus Yearwood blocked it after Bulldogs punter Matt Frame tracked it down. DeNato picked it up near the 10-yard line and scored.
Several Pirates had chances to grab the ball before DeNato arrived.
“He’s just a magnet,” Haubert said of DeNato, who leads the Colonial League with five interceptions and four fumble recoveries. “I don’t know if that’s his football IQ or just straight luck, but it’s awesome for us.”
Palisades also got a great catch and a great break on the last play of the first half.
Northern Lehigh scored on the first of two Dylan Smoyer-to-Trevor Amorim touchdown connections with 15 seconds on the clock to pull within 10-7.
But Palisades needed only two plays to respond. Quarterback Jaden Newton hit Nick Petrillo with a 48-yard pass play to the Northern Lehigh 24 with seven ticks showing.
Newton then hit Kyle McGrath in the left corner of the end zone for a touchdown. McGrath made a tremendous adjustment, then leaped to make the two-handed grab.
“We make the special teams error and they capitalize,” Bulldogs coach Joe Tout said. “Then we score and feel good about ourselves. We’re going to get in and regroup, and then they come right back. That was tough to overcome.”
Blue Ridge TV-13 replay showed that McGrath’s left elbow came down out of bounds and neither of his feet touched the ground.
The Pirates took the second-half kickoff and drove 62 yards in nine plays to build a 24-7 lead.
The Bulldogs cut the lead to 10 points early in the fourth quarter then recovered a fumble at the Pirates’ 22. But they coughed it up two plays later and Danny Kelleher recovered.
“It’s hard to beat a team twice in a season; that’s not an easy task,” Palisades coach Ramie Moussa said. “I’m proud of our seniors, who hung in there, and our progression. We got better as the season went on. You can’t ask for more. Andthis is where you get 10 weeks later.”
Offensive life
After being unable to finish its first three drives, Northern Lehigh put together a 15-play drive culminated by Smoyer’s 15-yard TD pass to Amorim after the tandem nearly connected twice earlier on successive drives. Amorim finished with six catches for 80 yards.
TheBulldogs converted three times on third downtokeep that possession going.
Frame’s 16-yard carry was the big play on the drive, but he was limited to 51 yards on 15 carries.
“Weplayed amazing, stepped upto the challenge,” Winters said. “We stopped Frameandoverall just played really good. We had to contain him. I was just working moves, coming off [the line] hard and playing my last game as hard as I could.”