Josh Snyder was watching film Wednesday, a day after Northwestern Lehigh’s scout team offense carved up the first-team defense during the first day of install, when he saw something he liked that was run by Scranton Prep, the Tigers’ PIAA Class 3A quarterfinal opponent two days later.
Snyder liked it so much that he stole it.
Yes, Snyder is a thief, and he’s proud of it.
The Tigers head coach put in two pages of new plays for Friday night’s playoff game against the Cavaliers, including a play he stole from coach Terry Gallagher’s club.
With Northwestern Lehigh facing a fourth-and-7 from the Scranton Prep 40-yard line and leading 35-14 in the fourth quarter, Snyder called the stolen play.
Quarterback Shane Leh, who already had four touchdown passes in the game, dropped back to pass, turned and looked to the right before coming back to the left to find a streaking Brady Zimmerman more than 10 yards behind the nearest Cavaliers defensive back.
The 40-yard touchdown pass with 4 minutes, 37 seconds left sealed the Tigers’ third consecutive trip to the state semifinals.
“I saw that particular play [on film],” Snyder said. “[Scranton Prep] does a lot of things that we do. I said to myself that we’re putting that play in and going to call it ‘Cavaliers.’ The play that we ran, we had the perfect coverage for it. It hit home. I know a lot of teams steal our stuff when we play them, so it feels pretty good stealing someone else’s stuff and using it against them.”
Snyder and his staff have become well known for unique game planning. It has helped the team during a three-year run of 45 wins in a 46-game stretch entering Friday night’s PIAA 3A semifinal against District 3 champion Trinity.
It was the second year in a row that Northwestern Lehigh used a stolen play against Scranton Prep.
“It’s kind of a recurring theme,” Leh said. “Last year, we picked a play [from North Schuylkill] where [Michael] Lagowy faked like he was on the sideline and scored by throwing it to him to beat [Prep]. That was all Coach Snyder right there.”
Northwestern Lehigh has not always been the best team on the field during the program’s record-setting stretch. It does not always have the best player on the field.
But the Tigers coaches and players consistently find ways to neutralize other teams’ strengths and make the most of what they have.
A big part of Friday’s victory was the defensive game plan against Scranton Prep standout quarterback Will McPartland, who broke more tackles and eluded more defenders than Northwestern Lehigh would have liked. But the Tigers did a stellar job minimizing McParland’s effectiveness.
They produced three sacks and limited him to 14 rushing yards on his final 12 carries.
Northwestern installed a new defense for the previous week’s District 11 championship game against Notre Dame-Green Pond’s unique offense. It limited the Crusaders to 14 points, their lowest total in seven years.
The Tigers have a talented group with a high football IQ. Their coaches also know the players are committed to the program and one another.
“Our kids, a lot of them are going both ways,” Snyder said, “so you go two pages of defensive install and two pages of offensive install. It’s just incredible what they can absorb.”
It is impressive trying to take in all that Northwestern Lehigh has done the last four years. Its 56-4 record is the best mark of any District 11 team since the start of the PIAA playoffs in 1988. Liberty was 52-7 from 2005-07. Parkland was 48-10 from 2014-17.
Northwestern Lehigh is only the third District 11 team to reach three consecutive state semifinals (Bethlehem Catholic from 1988-90 and Central Catholic from 2010-12) and third team from the district to win at least four consecutive district titles (Central Catholic from 2009-12 and Parkland from 2012-17).
The Tigers can become the district’s only team to reach three consecutive state finals with a victory over Trinity. Only Pottsville (2005-06), Liberty (2005-06) and Wilson (2005-06) have reached consecutive state title games.
No District 11 team has ever won consecutive state titles.
Senior writer Tom Housenick can be reached at thousenick@mcall.com.