Chris Frame suffered a season-ending leg injury early in Northern Lehigh’s Week 8 game against Catasauqua on a seemingly harmless play in front of the Bulldogs’ sideline.
Many thought the loss of Northern Lehigh’s most athletic and dynamic player would spell the end of the Bulldogs’ season.
Instead, it has served as a rallying cry for coach Joe Tout’s team.
Northern Lehigh finished off Catasauqua before beating Salisbury and Saucon Valley to finish the regular season, then reversed a regular-season loss to Palisades with a thrilling 29-28 overtime victory in Saturday’s District 11 Class 2A quarterfinal.
The Bulldogs have done so with a committee of skill players few knew before the season including Colin Karetsky, Ryan Zambo and Mason Rothrock, as well as Keith Lectora, Chris Vargas and Chase Gall.
“It’s been really fun as a coach to see our guys all rallied,” Tout said. “They’ve had that attitude that, ‘All right, we might have lost our best player for the rest of the year, but what do we need to do?’ All those skill guys have rallied. If you ask me, that’s what I’m proudest of with this group.”Northern Lehigh spent all Saturday night rallying. Palisades built a 14-0 lead early in the second quarter before the home team tied it with 23 seconds left before halftime.
The Pirates took a 21-14 lead, forced a turnover and had a second-and-5 at the Bulldogs’ 29-yard line. But Tout’s club held, then drove 71 yards in 12 plays for the game-tying score with 3:42 left in regulation. Northern Lehigh converted a fourth-and-7 play and scored on third-and-goal.
Palisades scored on its first play in overtime before Northern Lehigh responded with a touchdown and the game-winning two-point conversion on a trick play it had been practicing for more than a month even though the Pirates defended it well.
“Give [Palisades] credit,” Tout said. “They covered it. [Smoyer] was the primary. He was covered. Give [Karetsky] credit. He has such a high football IQ. I thought their coverage was good. Their kid had his hand on the ball. Give [Zambo] credit with the catch.”
It would have been easy for Northern Lehigh to quit several times. Many of these players starting now were sophomores last year when Pen Argyl came to Slatington, jumped up early and Northern Lehigh never responded in a district quarterfinal loss.
But maturity and the rallying cry of the team after Frame’s loss made a difference Saturday.
“That speaks to this group,” Tout said. “It tells me what next year will be like. We’ll have a really special group. I’m glad we can get to these more meaningful games. We’re focused on now but also know we have a ton back next year.”
Almost no one expects Northern Lehigh to have a chance against top-seeded Schuylkill Haven in Saturday’s district semifinal. The unbeaten and state’s top-ranked Hurricanes have obliterated most of their foes to this point.
They are averaging 54.8 points per game, have scored 55 rushing touchdowns and averaged 10.4 yards per carry in 11 games.
But as the last four weeks have shown, Northern Lehigh won’t go down without a fight.
Karetsky, a junior, joked that he was so “horrible” two years ago as the Bulldogs’ JV quarterback that he plays out wide now as a receiver.
“Coach Tout had to be insane to let me throw,” Karetsky said.
On Saturday’s decisive play, however, Karetsky proved himself wrong with a solid pass under duress.
Perhaps, the Bulldogs can prove most everyone else wrong one more time this weekend.
“We pride ourselves on being a tough team,” Karetsky added. “I think it showed tonight. We were down 14-0 and it could have been ugly. But we came back.”
Northern Lehigh was one of 10 District 11 teams to get a second shot at an opponent this season in the first weekend of the playoffs. The Bulldogs were one of only three to get redemption. Tri-Valley over Marian Catholic in Class A and Nazareth over Northampton in 6A were the others. Those three winners advanced by a combined five points.
There are six rematches in Week 12: Williams Valley vs. Minersville (43-30 WV in Week 4); Northwestern Lehigh vs. North Schuylkill (49-18 NWL in Week 6); Southern Lehigh vs. Blue Mountain (28-0 SL in Week 2); Bethlehem Catholic vs. Central Catholic (28-24 BC in Week 5); Easton vs. Liberty (23-20 Easton in Week 8); and Parkland vs. Nazareth (42-6 Parkland in Week 5).
District 11 football playoffs
(at 7 p.m. unless noted)
DISTRICTS 2-11 CLASS A SUBREGIONAL FINAL (FRIDAY)
No. 3 Tri-Valley (7-4) at No. 1 Lackawanna Trail (10-1)
CLASS 2A SEMIFINALS (SATURDAY)
No. 4 Northern Lehigh (8-3) at No. 1 Schuylkill Haven (11-0), 6
No. 3 Minersville (9-2) at No. 2 Williams Valley (10-1), 6
CLASS 3A SEMIFINALS
No. 5 Tamaqua (4-7) vs. No. 1 Notre Dame-GP (11-0), 7:10 Friday at Lafayette College
No. 3 North Schuylkill (8-3) at No. 2 Northwestern Lehigh (11-0), 7:10 Thursday
CLASS 4A SEMIFINALS (THURSDAY)
No. 4 Blue Mountain (7-4) at No. 1 Southern Lehigh (10-1), 6:30
No. 3 Central Catholic (6-5) at No. 2 Bethlehem Catholic (7-4), 6:35
CLASS 5A FINAL (SATURDAY)
No. 2 Pocono Mountain East (8-3) vs. No. 1 Whitehall (9-2), 6 at Catasauqua
CLASS 6A SEMIFINALS (FRIDAY)
No. 4 Liberty (8-3) at No. 1 Easton (11-0), 7:05
No. 3 Nazareth (8-3) at No. 2 Parkland (11-0)
Senior writer Tom Housenick can be reached at thousenick@mcall.com
