The Panther defense getting their hands on Northwestern Lehigh’s Deven Bollinger.

Last week, the Saucon Valley high school football team lost in the final seconds against the Wilson Warriors. Friday night, the Panthers fell hard to Colonial League preseason favorite Northwestern Lehigh. The Tigers overcame a sluggish start to dominate the Panthers. Northwestern eventually hit their stride to cruise to a 36-0 victory.

The game was a defensive struggle for the first 20 minutes. It wasn’t until 4:18 was left in the second quarter that Northwestern Lehigh finally got on the scoreboard to break the ice. Three plays after the Panthers threw an interception, the Tigers scored on Jayden Allen’s 20-yard touchdown catch from quarterback Deven Bollinger. With the extra point Northwestern took a 7-0 lead.

There was limited space available for the Panther offense against Northwestern.

On the following series the Panthers were forced to punt giving the ball back to the Tigers at midfield. Five plays later Bollinger found Nick Henry down the middle of the field for a 29-yard touchdown pass. The Tigers’ decision to go for a 2-point PAT was successful and Northwestern Lehigh closed out the first half scoring with a 15-0 lead.

After playing well for most of the first half, the Panthers trailed and fell to the Tigers.

Northwestern returned the second-half kickoff out to midfield and found the end zone seven plays later with another Bollinger touchdown pass. This time the Tiger quarterback went play-action to hit tight end Domenick Harding for a 7-yard scoring strike. The extra-point was good and with 8:40 remaining in the third quarter Northwestern extended their lead to 22-0.

The Panthers found a little groove on their next possession and picked up a couple of first downs as they moved the ball down to the Tiger 18-yard line. However, on 1st & 10 the Tigers recovered a fumble in the Panther backfield. Seven plays later Northwestern running back Nick Henry found a seam in the middle of the Panther defense and sprinted to the endzone for a 30-yard score. With the PAT the Tigers held a 29-0 lead with under a minute remaining in the 3rd quarter.

Braydyn Lugardo (#20) picking up a few yards for the Panthers.

On their next possession, Saucon Valley was able to pick up a first down on Brayden Lugardo’s 22-yard run out to near midfield, but the Panthers were again forced to punt.

The Northwestern Lehigh offense took control at their own 27-yardline and went on a methodical, 12-play march down the field for the final score of the game. The Tigers’ Conner Snyder took the plunge from one yard out. The point-after ended all scoring, giving the Tigers a 36-0 victory.

Panther Flash Stats:

Saucon Valley had 132 total yards of offense.
Braydyn Lugardo led the Panthers with 15 carries for 75 yards.
The Panthers threw two interceptions and lost a fumble to the Tiger defense.
Saucon’s Nick Warnke and Jiziah Davis led the Panther defense with 7.5 tackles each.
Northwestern never punted and had 370 yards of total offense.
Deven Bollinger threw for 209 yards and 3 TD’s against the Panthers.
The young Panthers played without five starters who were out due to injury.