One of the things about high school football is the opportunity for players to get experience in various different aspects of the game.

They play offense and defense, special teams, and essentially do whatever is needed of them, rather than having just one assigned role.

Perhaps no school has taken advantage of dual roles quite like Northwestern Lehigh, who has had several key players excel in many facets of the game and contribute to the Tigers unbeaten start to the season.

This week’s OVERTIME column will look at how a small school can maximize it’s talent by keeping its best athletes on the field as much as possible

“That’s small school football,” explained coach Josh Snyder. “We don’t always have as many kids, so we look for a lot of them to play various roles for us. Some of the bigger schools have players who can focus on just one position or two at most, but we have a number of guys playing both ways, and some who also play on special teams and are almost always on the field.”

Northwestern’s tag team of Cade Christopher and Justin Holmes are never hard to find at a Northwestern Lehigh football game. Both have been big consumers of yardage for the Tigers, and aren’t limited in how they pick up yards. Neither is concerned about how they pick up yards either, as long as they’re helping the team win.

Against Bangor, both had over 300 all-purpose yards. Holmes had 346 yards, picking up 219 passing, 95 rushing, 27 on kickoff returns and five receiving. Christopher had 307 total yards, with 100 receiving, 99 rushing, 92 on kickoff returns, 11 on punt returns and 5 passing. For the season, Holmes has 1,346 all-purpose yards, and Christopher 942.

Part of the reason they both fit well into whatever role that Snyder puts them into is that they have both changed positions in recent years. Christopher was a quarterback when he was younger, before moving to wide receiver. While the roster says he’s a wide receiver, the numbers say he’s a jack-of-all-trades, as he often lines up in different spots on the field on consecutive plays.

For Holmes, his high school career started when he put up big receiving numbers in 2019 as a wideout when he caught 31 passes for 811 yards and 12 touchdowns when Devon Bollinger was quarterbacking the Tigers. The two grew up together, and have remained friends since Bollinger graduated NW and now plays at the University of Delaware.

When Bollinger graduated after the 2019 season, the question didn’t become ‘who is going to get the ball to Holmes?’ it became ‘who is Holmes going to throw to?’ Holmes adapted well to the quarterback position, and has signed a letter of intent to play college football at Kent State University.

“They’re both so athletic, that they allow us to do some different things with them,” Snyder explained of the talented duo. “Cade has played quarterback when he was younger, and Justin was a receiver until last season, so that allows us to have them switch roles in some sets and show something different.”

Even with both players on the field so much, Snyder dismisses any concerns that it’s too heavy of a workload for them to carry.

“We give Justin a breather on some defensive series, but both want to be out there all the time. They’re not the type of guys who are easy to pull out of the lineup for any reason,” said Snyder. “When you watch them play, there aren’t any signs that they’re wearing down either late in a game or as the season has gone along.”

Figure on the pair continuing to work their magic as Northwestern Lehigh comes down the stretch in a season they believe could be an extremely successful one for the team.

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TAMAQUA COMEBACK ... After Salisbury’s Chase Fenstermaker scored on a 62-yard run in the third quarter last Friday against Tamaqua, the Blue Raiders were faced with a 21-8 deficit.

Two touchdowns from Zander Coleman and one from Nate Gregoire, however, rallied Tamaqua for a 27-21 victory.

That marked the first time since Nov. 3, 1989 that the Blue Raiders trailed by double digits in the second half and came back to win. In that game, Shenandoah Valley held an 18-7 advantage in the third frame, but two scores from Jim Hope and a TD pass from Micah Gursky to Joe Coleman helped Tamaqua rally for the victory.

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FISHING FOR RECEPTIONS ... In Jim Thorpe’s loss to Notre Dame on Monday, Derryl Fisher caught 11 passes from quarterback Brett Balliet.

The last time an Olympian player snared that many passes in a game was Aug. 31, 2012 - exactly 100 games ago - when Khaaliq Lynch had 11 against Tamaqua.

Over the last 30 seasons, Fisher is just the ninth area player to have that many catches in a single game.

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POINT PRODUCER ... Northwestern’s Cade Christopher had quite the game last Friday against Bangor.

The junior ran for 99 yards, and collected 99 yards receiving. He also scored two touchdowns on the ground and two through the air, and ran in a two-point conversion.

Over the last 30 years, only three other Tigers have scored more points in a game than the 26 points Christopher recorded versus the Slaters.

Cam Richardson (Oct. 3, 2014) and Brett Snyder (Sept. 29, 1995) both tallied 30 by virtue of five touchdowns. Ben Clymer (Nov. 9, 2007) put up 28 points thanks to four TDs, 2 PATs and a two-point conversion.

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PV PICKS ... Pleasant Valley posted its third win of the season last week with a 28-12 decision over Dieruff.

In the contest, the Bears intercepted four passes, including three of them by Ryan Blass.

The last time PV had four picks in a game was Sept. 20, 2013 - 79 games ago - against Lehighton.

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COLTS WORKHORSE ... Marian fell to Shenandoah Valley last Friday, but in the game the Colts’ Matt Martin ran the ball 30 times for 206 yards.

Since 1992, Martin is just the sixth Marian player to carry the ball that many times in a game.

He joins a list that includes Matt Doherty, Matt Rizzo, Seth Paluck, Brad Petritsch and Paul Martin.

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DOUBLE TROUBLE ... Pleasant Valley’s Robert Papaleo and Marian’s Matt Martin both topped the 200-yard rushing mark during their games last Friday.

Two Times News area players reaching that total on the same day seems like a rarity, but in reality it’s not.

Over the past 25 years, that feat has surprisingly now happened a total of 18 times. Included in that total is one day (Sept. 19, 2008) when three players - Panther Valley’s Kyle McAvoy, Palmerton’s Jeff Noyes and Northern Lehigh’s Cody Remaley - all topped the 200 mark.

Another noteworthy duo to accomplish the feat was Cody Scherer and TaQuan Bradley-Chambers. What makes their effort special is the fact they were teammates when they did it - twice - during the 2017 season for Lehighton.