Scranton Prep loaded up the box and stuffed Northwestern Lehigh’s running game for most of Friday night’s PIAA Class 3A quarterfinal.

The Tigers turned to quarterback Shane Leh, who completed 17 of 19 passes for 222 yards and five touchdowns.

Northwestern Lehigh’s defense settled in after a shaky first quarter and took care of the rest in a 42-14 victory at Berwick’s Crispin Field.

Northwestern Lehigh (14-0), winner of 30 games in a row, plays in its third consecutive state semifinal next weekend against District 3 champion Trinity, which rallied to beat District 12 champion Neumann-Goretti 26-22 with a touchdown in the final seconds.

“They loaded the box and we couldn’t get the run game going as smoothly as we wanted,” Leh said. “We’re used to 10- or 12-yard carries. But we had to go to the pass game. We relied on our weapons Michael Lagowy, Brady Zimmerman, Mason Bollinger and Shane Hulmes. They were excellent in the pass game. They were awesome.

“We watched last week’s film against Mifflinburg, which they had something like 291 passing yards against them. We had to take advantage of that.”

The Tigers, leading 28-7 at halftime, put a dagger in the Cavaliers by marching 60 yards in eight plays for a score, a 6-yard TD pass from Leh to Zimmerman, who caught three of Leh’s five TD passes, with 7:45 left in the third quarter.

Northwestern Lehigh’s defense did the rest, containing the dangerously athletic and physical Will McPartland, Scranton Prep’s senior quarterback who managed 68 rushing yards and a first-half touchdown and 95 passing and a score on only 9-of-22 attempts.

“We just needed to see [Prep’s offense], get used to it,” Tigers coach Josh Snyder said. “Our linebackers got used to their reads and adjust. From that particular point, we made it tough for them. They had some penalties that didn’t help them, and I thought our defensive line was relentless in the second half getting after it, chasing [McPartland] snap after snap. They all did an admirable job.”

Northwestern Lehigh’s defense put up the game’s first score when Braxton Lakatosh intercepted a screen pass and returned it 36 yards for a touchdown less than three minutes into the game. It was his second pick of the season.

Scranton Prep responded with a six-play, 69-yard scoring drive capped by Will McPartland’s 2-yard TD run three minutes later to tie the game.

The Tigers controlled the rest of the half.

They drove 67 yards in seven plays on the ensuing possession to retake the lead when Leh hit Brady Zimmerman for an 11-yard touchdown pass with 3:57 left in the first quarter.

A Cavaliers punt was followed by another Tigers scoring drive, this one a nine-play, 62-yarder finished off by Leh’s 11-yard TD pass to Shane Hulmes with 8:10 remaining in the first half.

Scranton Prep punted on its next series after consecutive sacks by Ethan Steigerwalt, who had two sacks in Northwestern Lehigh’s first 13 games.

But Northwestern Lehigh came up short on four downs in Scranton Prep territory.

The Tigers got a fourth-down stop on the Cavaliers’ next series when Zimmerman tracked down the elusive McPartland a yard shy of extending the series with 1:38 left in the half.

Northwestern Lehigh then needed only five plays to move 54 yards for another score, a Leh 19-yard pass to Michael Lagowy on a post patter with 18 seconds remaining before the break.

Leh completed his first 10 passes and 12 of 13 in the first two quarters for 124 yards and three scores. That was key because Scranton Prep held Northwestern Lehigh to 50 rushing yards on 12 carries.

The Tigers’ final score of the game came on a 40-yard pass from Leh to a wide-open Zimmerman with 4:37 left in the game.

Senior writer Tom Housenick can be reached at thousenick@mcall.com

NORTHWESTERN LEHIGH 42, SCRANTON PREP 14

Northwestern Lehigh; 14; 14; 7; 7 — 42  

Scranton Prep; 7; 0; 0; 7 — 14

ORDER OF SCORING

First quarter

NWL: Braxton Lakatosh 34 INT return (Chase Sukanick kick), 9:15

SP: Will McPartland 2 run (Tyler Bianchi kick), 6:07

NWL: Shane Leh 11 pass to Brady Zimmerman (Sukanick kick), 3:57

Second quarter

NWL: Leh 11 pass to Shane Hulmes (Sukanick kick), 8:10

NWL: Leh 19 pass to Michael Lagowy (Sukanick kick), 0:18

Third quarter

NWL: Leh 6 pass to Zimmerman (Sukanick kick), 7:45

Fourth quarter

SP: McPartland 4 pass to Sean McCormack (Bianchi kick), 11:20

NWL: Leh 40 pass to Zimmerman (Sukanick kick), 4:37

TEAM STATISTICSNWL; SPFirst downs; 15; 15Rushes-yards; 25-74; 34-161Passing yards; 222; 95Comp-Att-INTs; 17-19-0; 9-22-1Punts-avg.; 1-36.0; 3-22.3Fumbles-lost; 1-0; 0-0Penalties-yards; 4-30; 7-47

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICSRushing: (Northwestern Lehigh) Braxton Lakatosh 6-17; Chase Sukanick 7-24; Brady Zimmerman 5-2; Shane Leh 4-26; Shane Hulmes 1-4; Michael Lagowy 1-3; team 1-(-2); (Scranton Prep) Will McPartland 16-68, TD; Anthony Prince 4-13; Noah Kryzwiec 6-28; Braedon McPartland 8-52.

Passing: (Northwestern Lehigh) Leh 17-19-0, 222 yards, 5 TDs; (Scranton Prep) McPartland 9-22-1, 95 yards, TD.

Receiving: (Northwestern Lehigh) Zimmerman 7-96, 3 TDs; Bollinger 4-22; Hulmes 1-11, TD; Lagowy 5-86, TD; (Scranton Prep) Braedon McPartland 2-12; Kryzwiec 1-5; A.J. Croom 3-40; Sean McCormack 1-4, TD; Mackey Lynett 2-34