Northwestern Lehigh and North Schuylkill are both playing their best football of the season.

It’s no secret that the Tigers have been on a heater, winning 27 consecutive games, while the Spartans last defeat came at the hands of Northwestern all the way back on Sept. 26, as they have won five in a row.

In last week’s District 11 3A quarterfinals, the Tigers bested Palmerton 42-0, while the Spartans took care of business against Panther Valley with a 53-27 victory.

Northwestern (11-0) will host North Schuylkill (8-3) at Tiger Stadium Friday night at 7 p.m. with a spot in the District 11 3A championship on the line. The Tigers are vying for their fourth straight District 11 title.

In the first matchup between the teams, it was the Spartans who jumped out to an 18-6 lead early in the second quarter. But just as they always seem to do, the Tigers responded, scoring the final 43 points of the contest.

“When we played them earlier in the season, I felt like it was one of our first big tests against a team that wants to run the football and has the weapons to do it. And traditionally, we run an odd front, so what we wanted to do, was to match their front with an even front, and we had some issues there early on in that game doing that. But fortunately we figured it out at the half,” said Northwestern head coach Josh Snyder. “Since then, I think we’ve settled into being able to play both an even and odd front, and I think we’re definitely more equipped to match their formations this time around. Looking at them since we last played them, they have made some adjustments as well and they have added some different sets, but their game plan really hasn’t changed. They want to run the football.”

It’s no secret who the Northwestern defense is going to be focused on come Friday evening.

North Schuylkill’s Luke Miller has been the most explosive back in all of District 11 this season, rushing for 2,454 yards and 29 touchdowns. Miller had a big game against the Tigers in the first meeting, rushing for 269 yards and two touchdowns. Miller rushed for 205 yards in the first half in that game, but after the Tigers’ defense made a few adjustments, they did a much better job defending the run in the second half. Northwestern also did an exceptional job of thwarting the North Schuylkill passing attack in the game, giving up only 74 passing yards and forcing three interceptions. On the season, Northwestern is giving up just 96 rushing yards per game.

“We’re going to need to mix and match our looks, and we’re going to need to play disciplined football,” said Snyder. “Gap responsibility is going to be huge. We have to own our gaps and make tackles at the line of scrimmage. You’re not going to win a foot race against Miller. We have to get as many black helmets to the ball as we can on every play. It’s also important that we make those type of plays to put their offense in uncomfortable situations.”

Although the Tigers offense got off to a slow start the first time around against the Spartans, they certainly made up for it as the game moved forward. Northwestern went on to score on seven consecutive possessions after trailing 18-6.

Northwestern’s run game got its offense going in that one, as Chase Sukanick led the way with 161 yards on just 10 carries and two touchdowns. Braxton Lakatosh also eclipsed the 100-yard mark, rushing for 119 yards and a rushing score.

As usual, Northwestern senior quarterback Shane Leh held up his end of the bargain, going 11-of-15 for 150 yards and two touchdowns. Wideout Michael Lagowy had a productive night against the Spartans, hauling in seven catches for 85 yards and a touchdown, and also intercepting two passes on the defensive side of the ball.

On the season, Lakatosh leads the team in rushing with 998 yards at 12.02 yards per carry and 12 touchdowns. Sukanick has been terrific as well, as he’s rushed for 710 yards at 9.47 yards per carry and 12 scores. Brady Zimmerman (604 receiving yards, 7TDs), Lagowy (478, 4TDs) and Mason Bollinger (475, 5TDs) have been an impressive three-headed monster for Leh to spread the ball out to, while Leh has been one of the most efficient signal callers in the state, as he’s thrown for 1,860 yards with 20 touchdowns and two interceptions with a 70.6 completion percentage.

The Northwestern offense is averaging 46.5 points per game and 435.5 total yards per game.

“I felt like offensively we were kind out of sorts early because we didn’t have the ball much, but we still scored on two of the three possessions that we did have the ball,” said Snyder. “Then after that, we were able to score every time we touched the ball. I think it’s key for us to score early and score often. We want to play with a lead early on to get them feeling anxious. We also did a good job in that first game, I thought, of wearing them down a little bit, and that’s when we were able to start gashing them in the run game.”

The Tigers have had the upper hand against the Spartans since 2022. Northwestern is 4-0 against North Schuylkill during that span, including two wins over the Spartans in district finals.