Northwestern Lehigh and Palmerton both had successful seasons on the field this past season, but neither could do it without a couple of standout players.

The District 11 2A champion Tigers had two players, while the Blue Bombers had their first since the 2008 season when the Pennsylvania Football Writers' Class AA All-State team was announced on Tuesday.After a drought of six straight seasons without a player on the Pennsylvania Football Writers' Class AA All-State team, Northwestern has now had two players in each of the past two seasons make the team. Taylor Breininger was named to the team as a defensive specialist and Cam Richardson, after making the team as a defensive specialist last season, was named to the team as a wide receiver. Mac Storm also made it as a lineman last year. Both Richardson and Breininger are seniors.Palmerton, on the other hand, had senior Tre Nelson named as a first team linebacker. The last two Blue Bombers to be named to the first team were Matt Falcone in 2008 as a punter and Justin Petersen in 2007 as a linebacker.Northwestern Lehigh head coach Josh Snyder was pretty sure that Richardson would make the team, but wasn't sure where he would be placed, since his defensive numbers weren't as impressive as they were in 2013. The main reason for the drop in his defensive numbers was because teams had learned their lesson and didn't challenge him as often. Richardson was still a strong defensive player, but his offensive importance to the Tigers was undeniable."He had a great offensive season and I was thinking that he might be the offensive specialist, but he turned out to be the receiver. I would have been extremely disappointed if he wouldn't have landed on that all-state team again this year," admitted Snyder.Against Salisbury, Richardson pulled in four touchdown passes, something no other Northwestern player had ever accomplished. He also rushed for a touchdown, tying the school record of five touchdowns in one game. A week earlier, Richardson burned Saucon Valley when he ran for a touchdown, completed a touchdown pass and also caught a touchdown pass, something else that no other Northwestern Tiger had ever done.Breininger scored a touchdown in almost every conceivable way this season, including returning two fumble recoveries, three interceptions, a punt return and a kick return for touchdowns. Throw in five receiving touchdowns and Breininger didn't miss many ways to score. More than the numbers though, Breininger was a proven leader and had a way of coming through when it was most needed."When you sit back and look at stats, Taylor's stat line is just incredible, but when you step outside of the stats, whenever we needed a big play, it was only a matter of time before Taylor provided us with that big play," said Snyder.Snyder also pointed out the contribution that both players made in being team leaders, including Richardson taking a younger player to task for missing workouts. Both are considering various college options, with a number of schools pursuing both players."They'll leave a huge hole to fill," Snyder pointed out. "They're just great all around kids who made our program better and they're both very deserving of being all-state. We wouldn't have had the season that we did without their contributions."Palmerton head coach Chris Walkowiak was glad to see all of the hard work that Nelson has done since he donned a Blue Bomber uniform pay off."I'm thrilled for Tre," said Walkowiak after hearing the news. "It's been a work in progress for him playing four years of varsity football for us."His play on the field was outstanding. In his four years, he finished with 413 career tackles and led the team again this year."Tre's a class act, very humble and a great listener. I remember back when he was an underclassmen and I told him what he was doing, his reply always was, 'Don't worry coach, this will be fixed'."His defensive stats this season helped him gain the honor. Nelson had 124 tackles (62 solo; 62 assisted), six tackles for loss, two quarterback hurries, one forced fumble, three fumble recoveries, three pass deflections, one interception and one interception returned for a touchdown.Nelson was also chosen as a 2014 pre-season All State Small School Inside Linebacker by

www.easternpafootball.com, a Mini Maxwell Award Recipient, first team Colonial League inside linebacker, Colonial League honorable mention running Back and was voted team captain by his teammates.Nelson will further his education and football career at Monmouth University.