What you need to know about Northern Lehigh’s playoff opponent
Lackawanna Trail is no stranger to the PIAA football playoffs, but the Lions are new to Class 2A.
They bumped up to 2A after consecutive state playoff runs in 2018-19. Coach Steve Jervis’ club made the cutoff right on the number.
Lackawanna Trail pounded Riverside before rallying last Friday night to beat Dunmore 14-10 for its most recent District 2 championship. That victory also ended Dunmore’s run of seven consecutive district titles.
Northern Lehigh (9-3) hosts Lackawanna Trail (8-3) at 7:05 p.m. Friday in the state’s 2A opening round at Bulldog Stadium in Slatington. The winner faces the District 3 York Catholic vs. District 12 West Catholic survivor in the following weekend’s state quarterfinals.
The Lions run the Wing-T offense and have attempted only 16 passes the last three weeks. Kody Creswell (1,069 yards, 13 TDs), Hunter Patterson (804, 11) and Lukas Gumble (467, 7) lead the attack. Owen Lisk and Stephen Jervis have combined for seven touchdown passes and 514 passing yards.
It has been a while since the Bulldogs faced a true Wing-T attack.
“Salisbury gives you a little bit of the concepts,” Northern Lehigh coach Joe Tout said. “It’s a lot of read your keys, read the guards. We used to see it with Southern Lehigh and coach [Bob] Mitchell at Northwestern ran it
forever.
“They are going to be content having 10-play drives, 12-play drives. Even if they don’t necessarily score, if they can drive the ball, slow the game down, that’s not what we want to have happen.”
Seniors Cole Choplosky and R.J. Schirg are the top linemen for Lackawanna Trail, a borough of about 1,200 in Wyoming County 15 miles northwest of Scranton.
Lackawanna Trail reached the 2019 PIAA Class A semifinals with victories over Williams Valley and Muncy before losing 11-7 to Bishop Guilfoyle.
It beat Tri-Valley, Halifax and Juniata Valley to reach the 2018 state final, where it lost to Farrell.
The Lions have been in the state playoffs 11 times the last 22 years. The Bulldogs won their fourth District 11 title with a 64-34 win over Palmerton.
Lackawanna Trail plays in the Lackawanna Football Conference’s Division 4. It lost during the regular season to Lakeland, Mid-Valley and Old Forge, the state’s top-ranked Class A team according to PennLive.com.
“What they do, they do well,” Tout added. “Their line is physical. I don’t know if they have that one standout player, but they are solid. They are physical kids.
“They are used to being [in the state playoffs]. They’ve had a nice run. They were here [at Northern Lehigh] in 2018 [in the state quarterfinals]. They have that pedigree.”