Regular season records don’t matter in the postseason.

Neither do previous head-to-head matchups.

Pen Argyl proved that fact Saturday night when the Green Knights traveled to Slatington and pulled off a 32-14 upset over Northern Lehigh in the quarterfinal round of the District 11 Class 2A playoffs.

“We believed in ourselves,” said Green Knight head coach Brady Mutton, whose team entered 4-6. “We knew we could do it. We knew we had them earlier in the year (leading by 14 points before Northern Lehigh came back). We had a wishy-washy season, but we knew our potential, and I think our potential came out tonight. I’m really proud of how they played and practiced this week.

“That’s what we told them all week, that everybody is 0-0 now. We’re still in districts, and our goal is a district title. The record didn’t matter once we’re in, and we’re in now and we can keep rolling with it.”

The visitors were rolling early against the third-seeded Bulldogs, scoring on the game’s opening drive to grab momentum. Pen Argyl built on that momentum and led 25-0 late in the second quarter.

“They came out excited to play,” said Northern Lehigh mentor Joe Tout. “They came out fast. I thought we got whooped tonight (on the line), especially early on. And then the other big (factor) was third downs in the first half. I think they had three three-and-longs, and when they convert that you’re not going to win games.”

One of those third-down conversions came on the Knights’ first possession. Facing a third-and-17, Mason Soos connected with Lucas Lerch on a 41-yard pickup. Five plays later, Soos powered in for a 1-yard touchdown run.

After a quick three-and-out, in which Pen Argyl knocked down two pass attempts at the line of scrimmage, the sixth-seeded Green Knights were on the scoreboard again.

A nine-play drive stalled at the Bulldog 20, but Reid Kotulka booted a 37-yard field goal to make it 10-0.

Pen Argyl’s defense came through with another three-and-out while its offense continued to move the ball. The Knights marched 75 yards in 11 plays, aided by a pass interference call on a fourth down, to reach the end zone again.

Caiden Faust had a big 24-yard run to the Bulldog 1-yard line, and Faust punched it in from there.

Up to that point, Pen Argyl had run 28 offensive plays to Nolehi’s six and outgained the hosts 167-2.

“We love ball control,” said Mutton. “We love keeping the ball. It’s something we do weekly. This week, we were finally able to punch it in each time we had it. There’s been weeks where we hold the ball like that, but can’t get in (the end zone when we’re) in the red zone and it hurts a lot, but tonight they finished the drives.

“(Defensively), we thought we did a good job against them Week 3, and we tried to stick to the same kind of plan. We just took care of the mistakes and the big plays they got on us. We worked on that all week and made sure they were taken care of and that was the result.”

That defense also accounted for the Knights’ next score when Lerch picked off a pass and returned it 44 yards for a TD and their 25-point advantage.

In that Week 3 contest Mutton referred to, the Bulldogs rallied for 26 fourth-quarter points to pull out a victory.

They tried again on Saturday.

Tout’s club cut into the lead at the end of the first half by driving 65 yards. NL quarterback Garrett Smoyer had a key 22-yard scramble and also connected on two passes before Grady Newhard powered into the end zone from two yards out.

After receiving the second-half kickoff, Northern Lehigh went 89 yards to trim the deficit to 25-14. Smoyer, who tossed a 22-yard completion to Reese Lipsky during the march, scrambled for the touchdown from 32 yards out.

“They bounced back,” said Tout. “I thought we had a shot there coming out after getting the first score, but they were able to take the momentum right back from that as well.”

As Tout said, Pen Argyl regained momentum. On its ensuing possession, Faust took a screen pass for 25 yards and also ran four times for 25 yards — including a 6-yard touchdown that made it a three-score game again on the final pay from scrimmage in the third quarter.

“They outplayed us,” said Tout. “We didn’t play like we were capable.

“It’s going to sting tonight, but we went from 3-7 (last year) to 7-3. And we’re starting 10 sophomores and a bunch of juniors. We do have some senior starters, and we told our seniors they got us to a playoff. We’re just disappointed because we thought our aspirations were district semifinals and possibly a district final.”

STAT SHEET ... Smoyer threw for 107 yards and ran for 65 yards to pace the Bulldog offense. Lipsky caught three passes for 54 yards. Pen Argyl received 85 yards rushing from Faust, while Soos threw for 85 and ran for 56.

WELCOME BACK ... The Knights’ Terrell Estes, who was hurt in his team’s first game of the season, returned to the lineup and ran for 50 yards.

Pen Argyl 32, N. Lehigh 14

Pen Argyl 10 15 7 0 - 32

No. Lehigh 0 7 7 0 - 14

PA - Soos 1 run (Kotulka kick)

PA - Kotulka 37 FG

PA - Faust 1 run (Kotulka kick)

PA - Lerch 44 interception return (Thomas run)

NL - Newhard 2 run (Hanna kick)

NL - Smoyer 32 run (Hanna kick)

PA - Faust 6 run (Kotulka kick)