HELLERTOWN - Northwestern Lehigh coach Josh Snyder believes in taking what a defense will give you. On Saturday night, the Saucon Valley defense wasn’t in a mood to give anything on the ground, so Snyder went to the air. While quarterback Deven Bollinger racked up yardage with his arm, it wasn’t enough as the Panthers took revenge for a regular season loss to Northwestern that knocked Saucon Valley from the ranks of the undefeated.

In the end, Saucon Valley downed the Tigers 42-21 to advance to its fifth straight District 11 championship game.

The Tigers came out with their usual quick start, scoring on their frst possession. Bollinger had plenty of time in the pocket and hit Justin Rodda for a 62-yard catch-and-run that put Northwestern on the scoreboard first. Connor de Wit nailed the extra point and the Tigers were up 7-0.

While the Tigers were going to the air, the Panthers stuck to the ground with Ian Csicsek, who would finish the night with 256 yards rushing to leave him 236 yards shy of the 3,000-mark on the season. Csicsek would also strike for five touchdowns and run for a two-point conversion for Saucon Valley.

“I thought early on we had him pretty well boxed in and they went to a couple other guys to run the ball,” said Snyder. “Eventually though, their line wore us down a bit, and he started to find some holes, and we just couldn’t stop him.”

Csicsek had touchdown runs of 14, 7, 20, 6 and 31 yards on the night for the Panthers.

On a key fourth-and-three late in the first quarter, the Tigers stopped Saucon Valley and took over at their own 42-yard line. On the first play, Bollinger again had time to spare in the pocket and found Ryan Haas for a 58-yard touchdown strike as the Tigers went up 14-7. On the Panthers next possession, Northwestern would again shut down Saucon Valley on fourth down, but couldn’t take advantage of the situation and wound up punting the ball away.

After Haas’ touchdown catch, the Northwestern offense generated just one first down and 15 total yards of offense over the final seconds of the first quarter and into the second quarter. Mean-

while, Saucon Valley kept riding Csicsek and the Panthers led 21-14 at halftime.

“The wheels just kind of came off for us in the second quarter and our offense was out of sync. I don’t know what happened there for us, but we couldn’t generate any offense and it wound up being our downfall,” Snyder explained.

Saucon Valley came out and took the opening drive of the second half methodically down the field, capping it off with a 20-yard gallop from Csicsek, but missed the point after to go up 27-14. On the opening play of the fourth quarter, Saucon Valley again got on the board and relied on Csicsek to run in for the two-point conversion and go up 35-14.

Bollinger would cap a 12-play drive with the Tigers only rushing touchdown of the night on the first of just two Northwestern possessions in the final 12:00 of the game.

“You hate to see it end and I feel bad for our seniors, because it’s the last time they get to play high school ball,” said Snyder. “I can honestly say that this team always had me looking forward to every practice and every game, because it’s a phenomenal group of guys and I always had a great time coaching them. I’m proud of this team, especially the seniors, and they have nothing to hang their heads about.”

WHERE DO WE GO FROM HERE?

... Saucon Valley faces Bethlehem Catholic for the District 11 championship Saturday night at Nazareth High School. For the Tigers, their season ends at 9-3, but next year will open with a lot of promise. They lose just two starters from their offense – tackle Hayden Bobbyn and tight end Derek Holmes – and could be the team to beat coming into next season.

GAMESMANSHIP

... The Tigers have a tradition of bringing a sledge-hammer onto the field during warm-ups and leaving it near the 50-yard line. As Csicsek ran past the hammer prior to the game, he picked it up and carried it to the Northwestern bench and tossed it onto the track. Connor Snyder retrieved the sledge and promptly planted it business end first into the Tigers 49-yard line where it stayed until Northwestern left the field.