Making him proud
Josh Snyder says his brother, Brett, would have loved how this year’s Tigers resemble ’95 Colonial champs
The Northwestern Lehigh football team lost its first game but has regrouped to win six straight and put itself in position to get a share of the final Colonial League championship after Friday night’s 36-34 win over Southern Lehigh.
No one would be prouder of what the team has done so far than Brett Snyder.
In fact, the 1995 Tigers team led by Snyder lost its first game of that season 21-19 to Bangor and then ran the table to win the school’s first Colonial League championship.
More than two decades later, Northwestern has a chance to duplicate the feat of the 1995 squad and no one would have been more delighted to see it than Snyder, one of the most beloved athletes in school history, who lost his long battle with ALS on March 31 at age 41.
Even as his health deteriorated in recent years, Snyder still got out to the games and offered his support to his alma mater and the team coached by his younger brother, Josh.
Brett Snyder may no longer be around in person, but his spirit, passion and determination are still felt in the community and embodied by the Tigers, who find themselves on the path to doing some special things after some early bumps in the road.
Josh Snyder believes Brett is smiling down on his team and would be proud of what the Tigers have done and excited about they can still do.
“What I found comforting is that I know Brett is proud of me for doing what I love to do and that’s coach the Tigers football team,” Snyder said. “I do it because I love the kids and I love the
“We’re just trying to build on the foundation that he helped to set. We have a good thing going.” —Josh Snyder, Northwestern Lehigh coach on his late brother, Brett
community. He’d be right alongside of me, helping me, and [he] would be one of my assistants if he was here with us.”
Going through the first season without his brother around has been tough for Snyder.
“It’s a tough deal because he meant a lot to me and everybody in this community,” Snyder said. “But I know he’s happy and he knows we’re doing good things up here. We’re just trying to build on the foundation that he helped to set. We have a good thing going.”
Josh Snyder was a sophomore on the 1995 team and he remembers how that team pulled together after initial disappointment.
The same thing has happened this year.
Northwestern was picked to win the Colonial League, but a return for a touchdown, six turnovers, and a nearly unstoppable Notre Dame team proved too much to overcome in a 42-35 loss on opening night.
While it hasn’t been perfect or easy over the last six weeks, Northwestern has found a way to meet all challenges.
“We didn’t play as well as we wanted to, but we were still only a touchdown away at Notre Dame,” Snyder said. “It would have been easy for the guys to go into a little bit of a shell after that, but they didn’t do that. We’ve played better and better each week, and I think we played our best game of the season at Southern Lehigh. We knew we’d have to play pretty close to perfect and we didn’t make many mistakes.”
While senior quarterback Deven Bollinger is setting records almost every week and has become the face of the Tigers, Snyder said many others have stepped up their game and made significant contributions.
Derek Hebelka is one of those guys. He played fullback as a sophomore and moved to center as a junior and is now a key figure at middle linebacker.
He had 13 tackles against Southern Lehigh.
Nick Henry is a two-way standout. Conner Snyder, Dom Harding, Robby Goldberg, Hale Trotter and Joey Shorts are among the many unsung heroes.
“They all play their part,” Josh Snyder said. “One person doesn’t make the team. There’s a spot for all 44 of them to make an impact on a weekly basis.”
Delaware-bound Bollinger, though, is a special player who sets the tone.
“Deven’s a selfless guy,” Snyder said. “He never talks about himself. He’d rather talk about his teammates.”
With big games against Saucon Valley and Northern Lehigh in the next two weeks, no one is taking anything for granted.Even before the team got on the bus after beating Southern Lehigh, the Tigers were talking about the need to be focused for Saucon Valley.
Last year, Northwestern and Saucon split a pair of late-season games with the Panthers prevailing in the District 11 4A semifinals.
No matter what happens, Snyder knows that his team will be supported.
“It’s a great community,” he said. “My boys play youth football, so I spent a lot of time in the community last weekend after that big win and a lot of people came up to me and the rest of the staff and said congratulations. They said they’re proud of us.
“That’s the way it is here. It’s a tight-knit place, like family.”