DUNMORE - Feast Week?

Northern Lehigh knows a little something about that.

For the second straight year, the Bulldogs ensured that they will be playing beyond Thanksgiving, picking apart Lackawanna Trail 40-7 in the first round of the PIAA Class 1A tournament on Saturday at Dunmore High School.

Northern Lehigh controlled the line of scrimmage on both sides of the ball, rushing for 367 yards while stifling a Lackawanna Trail offense that had been averaging 35.8 points per game in its five previous contests.

“We just stayed on course, and started to wear on them a bit,” said Bulldogs head coach Joe Tout. “They stayed in it. That’s a very good program that’s used to being in the state tournament, and they’re probably a year or two away from having a veteran team. It was a good win.”

The Bulldogs (12-1) took advantage of a bad snap during a punt attempt on the Lions’ first possession, setting up at the Lackawanna Trail (8-5) 32-yard line.

A 19-yard run by Nick Frame and a 13-yard scamper by AJ Jimenez moved the ball down to the 3-yard line. Izaiah Ramos cashed in on first-and-goal, punching it in from three yards out to make it 6-0 with 2:06 to play in the first quarter.

Ramos raced 49 yards on a reverse on the first play of the Bulldogs’ next series to move the ball to the Lions’ 24-yard line. Frame cashed in with a 10-yard run for a score five plays later, and Jimenez added the two-point conversion to make it 14-0 with 9:16 to play in the second quarter.

Trail, champions of District 2, needed just one play to go 55 yards on the next series, with Hunter Patterson racing for a score to trim the deficit to 14-7 with 8:58 to play in the first half.

The Bulldogs answered with an eight play, 60-yard drive, taking over four minutes off the clock and ending with the second score of the day from Ramos, this time from 21 yards out, to push the advantage to 21-7 with 4:30 to play in the first half.

Northern Lehigh ended the Lions’ next drive with an interception by Bailey Smith, which came two plays after a huge tackle by Jackson Van Norman and a big play by Sam Frame Jr., who caused a fumble but was recovered by Trail.

A 20-yard pitch and catch from Frame to Ramos put Northern Lehigh at the Lions’ 1-yard line, and John Abidelli punched it in one play later to make it 27-7 with 0:36 remaining in the first half.

Ramos had eight carries for 104 yards and two scores in the first half. Frame carried the ball six times for 48 yards and a score in the first half, while Jimenez had 10 carries for 52 yards as the Dawgs chunked their way to over 200 yards before the break.

“You get that short yardage, and that’s where AJ’s so good. He’s a bull,” said Tout. “And then Izaiah complements that so well with that speed, because you try to lull teams, and it makes it tough. AJ’s going to hit A-gap, B-gap, and then you have Izaiah that can get outside on the toss. It’s tough (to defend), it really is. They really complement each other well.”

Outside of the 55-yard touchdown run by Patterson, Northern Lehigh allowed just 40 yards in the first half. In the second half, the Bulldogs surrendered just 31 yards and allowed one first down.

The Bulldogs capped their first series of the third quarter with a 37-yard touchdown run from Frame to make it 34-7 after Chase Moffitt’s extra point.

Frame and Ramos both finished with over 100 yards rushing and two scores. Frame carried the ball 10 times for 116 yards, while Ramos totaled 113 yards on 11 carries.

It was an especially satisfying day for Ramos, who missed time this year due to injury.

“I’m grateful for God, because coming off a seven-week injury, it is tough,” Ramos said. “And getting your conditioning back, and my shoulder mobility back, it was tough, but having such good guys around me, I wanted to work for them at all times and they wanted to work for me. You can’t ask for a better team.”

Jimenez finished off a 14 play, 86-yard drive that took 8:02 off the clock with a 3-yard score to make it 40-7 in the fourth quarter.

Bailey Smith made a pair of big plays to stop the Lions’ final drive, sacking QB Stephen Jervis for a 4-yard loss on third-and-one near midfield before deflecting the quarterback’s pass on fourth-and-five to give the ball back to the Bulldogs.

Now they’ll get ready to celebrate Thanksgiving in fitting fashion.

“It’s really fun for us, because now we know we have another Thanksgiving to practice on, which everybody would think it’s awful to practice on Thanksgiving,” said Nick Frame. “But it’s actually one of the most fun practices of the year.”

MOVING ON ... Northern Lehigh will travel to District 3 champion Steelton Highspire on Saturday for a quarterfinal contest that is set to begin at 1 p.m. Steelton topped Windber in the first round.

LAST YEAR ... The Bulldogs downed Lackawanna Trail 35-14 in the PIAA Class 2A tournament a year ago on their way to the state semifinals.