Redemption and relief.

As Northern Lehigh celebrated Saturday’s 64-34 victory over Palmerton in the District 11 Class 2A title game, it marked another milestone for a program that was in the same situation a year ago.

And another monster performance for a player who simply wouldn’t be denied.

Matt Frame rushed for over 300 yards and five touchdowns, helping the Bulldogs claim their fourth district title and first since 2010.

“It’s very special, working in the offseason toward this,” said Frame. “That was in my head the whole entire offseason going in. This was our goal.”

A year after falling to Palisades in the district title game, Northern Lehigh put together a championship performance against the Bombers.

“It’s just a lot of happiness,” said Frame. “I feel relief. This whole week, I just had something on my chest, and I just feel so happy that it’s gone and I can turn last year’s silver medal into gold. It just feels great.”

While the outcome was the same, Saturday’s contest didn’t play out like Northern Lehigh’s 43-14 win over Palmerton in the regular season finale two weeks ago.

Two of the areas top offenses traded scores and big plays throughout, combining for 98 points and 909 yards of total offense.

Frame scored twice in the first quarter to give the Bulldogs a 14-0 lead. Northern Lehigh (9-3) forced a three and out on the Bombers’ first two drives, the second of which nearly ended with an interception by Aiden Parvel that would have put Northern Lehigh deep in Palmerton territory with a chance to make it a three score game.

The Bombers (9-3) battled back, with sophomore Zack Anthony blocking a punt on the Bulldogs’ next possession, which was recovered by Lucas Heydt.

Matt Machalik cashed in on fourth and goal from the 1-yard line to put Palmerton on the board and make it 14-6 late in the first quarter.

The teams combined for three turnovers on the next four possessions before a six-yard touchdown run from Trevor Amorim pushed Northern Lehigh’s lead to 21-6.

Machalik answered, going 69 yards on the first play of the Bombers’ next drive to make it a 21-12 game with 8:36 left in the first half.

The back and forth continued as Frame plunged in from a yard out on the Bulldogs’ ensuing series to push the advantage to 29-12, which is where it remained at halftime.

“We knew initially we weren’t going to jump out, and it wasn’t going to be a mercy rule like it was in the first half (of the first game),” said Northern Lehigh head coach Joe Tout. “We knew they were going to come out with a lot of fight and they did. Machalik, he kept them in today, he made some nice runs.”

The sophomore standout, who finished with 146 yards rushing, scored his third touchdown of the game on Palmerton’s first drive of the second half, going in from 28 yards out and converting the two-point conversion to bring the Bombers’ within 29-20 at the 10:24 mark of the third quarter.

Then the Bulldogs dug in, scoring on five straight possessions to blow the game open.

“We felt we were going to be able to grind,” said Tout, whose team finished with 514 yards of offense. “At halftime - we tried to throw one or two (in the first half) - and we had one, but we could just see the wind kill it. And I just told our coaches, ‘I’m not being cute this second half. We’re sitting goal line set, we’re going to feed Matt, we’re going to feed Trev (Amorim). We’re going to trust at some point they’re going to break one.

“We lined up in the full house set, and started to go our double power set, and that started to pop, and that set up everything else. But a lot of it’s our line. Those guys picked up the assignments in the second half, and it’s tough when teams are going to line up and blitz and put nine in the box; they’re going to blow some stuff up. But our guys just stuck with it, stuck with it, and were awesome today.”

Amorim (11 carries, 70 yards) and Frame scored twice in the second half, with AJ Jimenez also finding the end zone.

Frame’s last touchdown was a 70-yard burst in the fourth quarter that put the exclamation point on a 19 carry, 334-yard performance, a score that made it 64-26.

“Frame is a very good running back,” said Palmerton head coach Chris Walkowiak. “He run over us, ran through us there. They deserved to win with their performance today.”

After being held to under 100 yards rushing in the first meeting when they trailed 36-0 at halftime, the Bombers had 395 yards of offense Saturday, including 202 on the ground.

“We definitely played, we played longer and harder than we did last time,” said Walkowiak. “I’m proud of their efforts. We came out strong in the second half and got a score; we just didn’t have enough firepower up front there, and Frame kept on running through us there, and credit to them.

“But this is a building block. They sprung board off where they were at last year. They kids fought their butts off, and we’ll use it as motivation for next year.”

AIRING IT OUT

... Machalik also added a 56-yard touchdown pass to Daniel Lucykanish in the second half.

RUNNING MAN

... Frame had three long touchdown runs of 72, 54 and 70 yards in the game.

BACK HOME

... Northern Lehigh will host District 2 champion Lackawanna Trail (8-3) next Friday at 7 p.m. in the first round of states.