There is nothing unusual about Northwestern Lehigh and Central Catholic meeting in the district playoffs, since this was the fourth straight season they matched up.

What was unusual was the fact that the Tigers turned the ball over three times, with one of them leading to what would be the winning touchdown for Central Catholic as the Vikings won the District 11 Class 4A championship 21-14 over Northwestern Lehigh.

The Vikings (9-3) were able to put together a sustained drive on their second possession of the game. The drive relied primarily on handoffs to Caiden Shaffer, who gained 47 yards on the drive, capping it with a one-yard jaunt into the end zone.

The only pass play of the drive was a big one, with Tamlin Ferguson hitting Griffin Patridge on a 41-yard strike. The Vikings continuously shot themselves in the foot with false start penalties, picking up four of them on the drive and six offensive penalties in the first half.

For the game, Central had eight penalties on its offense for either offsides or illegal motion, and two more on defense for encroachment.

Northwestern (11-1) coach Josh Snyder dialed up a little misdirection on the ensuing drive. On back-to-back plays, the snap went directly to Cade Christopher, who lined up next to quarterback Justin Holmes in the backfield. Christopher took off for 16 yards on the first play and went for another eight on the second.

Up next was more trickery when Holmes threw to Christopher, who threw back to the other side of the field to a wide-open Holmes, who went for 26 yards on the play. Holmes hit Taylor Wikert in the end zone to put the Tigers on the board and tie the game with 7:19 to play early in the second quarter.

The Tigers looked to go ahead late in the quarter when Holmes looked deep for Christopher, but the pass was picked off by Nasir Mclean in the end zone.

“The was my bad,” admitted Snyder of the play calling. “We took a shot in the end zone there with 50 seconds left and if we could have hit one down the middle and maybe settled for a field goal there. I might take that play call back.”

The Tigers came out on fire to open the second half and again used direct snaps to Christopher on back-to-back plays that culminated in him taking the second snap down the left side of the field into the end zone from 26 yards out. Luke Benvin added the extra point and the Tigers were up 14-7.

Central Catholic came right back to tie the game on their next drive. They kicked off and Christopher made the return, but the ball was stripped away and recovered by Griffin Patridge on the Northwestern 12-yard line. It took just three plays for the Vikings to cash in on the turnover to go up 21-14.

“He was fighting for extra yardage and I think it just popped out,” said Snyder of the uncharacteristic fumble.

The Tigers later worked their way down to the Central Catholic three-yard line, but a bad snap sailed over Holmes’ head and was recovered by the Vikings. Central mounted a long, sustained drive, but Northwestern forced a punt and started from its own 38 with 2:01 to play. Christopher again lined up as the QB and hit Wikert for a 43-yard play to move the Tigers into Viking territory at the 19-yard line. They moved down to the 15, and Christopher was sacked on a third and six.

“Holmes had banged up his thumb, so we had to move him around,” said Snyder about why Christopher took over as the quarterback late in the game. “He told me he thought that he could get the ball to the end zone, so we put a play in for him.”

On fourth down, Christopher handed to Holmes, who then threw for Wikert in the end zone and the ball fell incomplete to end the Tigers’ threat.

“The good thing is that we battled right to the very end,” noted Snyder. “That bad snap was a real turn of momentum, but it didn’t take us out of the game. Our guys never hung their heads and they kept pushing to get the score that we needed.”

WHAT A GROUP

… Snyder had high praise for the seniors on the team, who he called “special.” He noted their contribution to the program and their commitment to winning. “They made this a lot of fun because they worked hard and were always willing to change things up and do whatever we asked them to do. That has rubbed off on the younger players and it keeps our program strong,” stressed Snyder.