Northern Lehigh’s Adams, Reitz: Spectators to starters
Seth Adams’ football memories trace back to kindergarten when he sat with his father, Chris, in their Slatington home after church on Sunday afternoons to watch the NFL.
“It was fun and I grew to love the game,” the Northern Lehigh senior said.
Adams also starting playing the sport at that age. Fellow senior Ben Reitz tried football a couple years later. The two linemen suited up ever since.
They were never considered starter material since they were freshmen on the Bulldogs’ varsity team. But head coach Joe Tout had an idea after Northern Lehigh won the 2021 District 11 Class 2A championship and reached the PIAA semifinals before losing to eventual state champion Southern Columbia.
The former standout lineman at Panther Valley told the two that if they dedicated themselves in the offseason, they would get a chance to start on the offensive line as seniors. Tout said that despite returning all five starters on the line.
“We played them last year with that in mind,” Tout said. “We tried to rotate them in a lot during the regular season.”
Adams and Reitz were motivated by that opportunity. They hit the weight room hard in the offseason, did other training and came to preseason camp prepared to take their best shots.
Both started at offensive tackle in the season opener against Catasauqua and remain there as two-time District 11 champion Northern Lehigh prepares for another PIAA playoff run that begins Saturday afternoon against District 2 champion Lackawanna Trail.
“I never started before [at any level],” Reitz said. “Things were shaky at times in middle school. I thought that maybe [football] wasn’t for me. But I fell in love with the game.”
Reitz and Adams joined returning starters Jackson VanNorman,
Landon Moll and Brody Dye to form a strong unit that has allowed Northern Lehigh’s offense to rack up 3,435 rushing yards and 50 touchdowns on its way to an 11-1 record.
The two not only worked hard to improve their technique and understanding of their assignments, but got themselves in better shape.
Like many of their teammates, they joined Snap Fitness in Walnutport.
“You could go to the gym any hour of the day and there would be a teammate in there,” Reitz said.
Reitz dropped 40 pounds and weighs in now at 210. Adams lost about 20 pounds. He tips the scale at 290 and has improved his footwork and agility.
Players run the width of the field and back several times at the end of practice. Adams walked that drill as a freshman. He began running that drill last season.
“We as coaches looked at each other and asked, ‘Would you have ever thought Seth Adams would start for this program?’ ” Tout recalled. “All of us said no. It’s a credit to him, sticking with it, working hard.”
Adams battled his nerves in the season opener against Catasauqua, but settled in as the game wore on.
Reitz’s nerves really hit him after the Week 5 home loss to North Schuylkill. He worried that he’d lost his starting spot after struggling so much against one of the region’s best defensive lines.
“I had a hard time going to sleep that night,” he said. “Something I worked so hard for, I thought it slipped out of my fingertips after one bad game.”
But that wasn’t the reality according to Tout, his staff and Reitz’s teammates. All that was asked of any player was to respond to in-game mistakes and other challenges by working hard and accepting coaching.
That was no problem for Reitz.
“That was the turning point for me,” Reitz said, “realizing the coaches did trust me. After I didn’t have a good game, Coach Tout didn’t turn away. It felt good to be trusted.”
Two weeks later after its only loss, Northern Lehigh racked up 357 yards and five touchdowns in a 40-33 win over Notre Dame-Green Pond.
The Bulldogs ran for 404 yards and seven touchdowns in the regular-season finale against Palmerton. And they maintained that run-first mentality in their two convincing district playoff victories.
Northern Lehigh faces a familiar foe Saturday in Lackawanna Trail, a run-first offense that also possesses a solid run defense.
Reitz, Adams and Co. know the challenges get stiffer as the postseason goes on. But they are confident in one another and bring last year’s experience with them.
That team chemistry was tested many times, including when returning starters Jayden Krempasky and Sam Frame were told they were only going to start on defense because Tout believed the more one-way players, the better.
“We looked at what could get us to pass where we were last year,” Tout said. “That was one of the things and it’s what stood out Friday night [in the District 11 final against Tri-Valley]. They were fast and physical, but even with the momentum shifts in the second half, you saw our line washing down.
“We thought going down in classification, it would be to our advantage to have more guys go one way. It was the difference last year with North Schuylkill, their ability to platoon.”
Krempasky and Frame have rotated in for a few series on the offensive line just to stay in two-way shape. Krempasky even shifted to tight end for the entire Notre Dame-GP game.
With the win-or-go-home season here, every one of the 40-plus healthy players and their coaches know there is no resting for tomorrow.
Adams and Reitz earned their starting positions the old fashioned way: They worked for it through sweat and tears. There were bumps in the road, but their determination and motivation never wavered.
“I have a lot of pride in what I’ve done,” Reitz said. “But I can’t let pride overtake me. The fact that I went from a little kid who never really played, who was just there, to now a kid who gets his name announced on Friday nights as a starter and the kids know who you are, that’s special.”
Milestones
Saucon Valley’s Ty Pfizenmayer finished his career with 328 tackles. … Notre DameGP’s Danny Darno reached the 100-point mark with two rushing TDs against Northwestern. Tigers linebacker Blaine Snyder hit the 100-tackle plateau after registering 12 against the Crusaders. … Northwestern’s Cade Christopher and Dalton Clymer are District 11s only teammates with 1,000 rushing yards each. They are the second Tigers tandem to accomplish the feat. Head coach Josh Snyder and Jon Suter did it in 1997. Dalton is the second Clymer to rush for at least 1,000 yards. Ben Clymer ran for 1,136 yards in 2007. … Quarterback Eric Striba became the second Bangor player to get 1,000 rushing and 1,000 passing yards in the same season. Scott LaValva (1,662 rushing yards, 1,137 passing yards in 2008) was the first. … Palmerton’s Daniel Lucykanish finished the season with 11 TD catches, which tied the mark set by Austin Cseh in 2008.