Southern Lehigh wins 4A District 11 Title Beating Bethlehem Catholic 28-7

CATASAUQUA – The say defense wins championships. It did Thursday night.

A dominant display of defense by the Spartans helped ignited the charge Thursday night. Southern Lehigh’s defense forced three, first-half turnovers and four overall. Two of the turnovers resulted in touchdowns.

“Our defense stepped up tonight and that was huge,” said Head Coach Phil Sams. “We almost had a shutout tonight. The kids played their hearts out tonight.”

The defense helped lead the offensive attack. Leading the way, who else, but Sean Steckert. He rushed for three touchdowns and caught one pass for another score to lead the Spartans (11-2) over Bethlehem Catholic (6-7) 28-7 for the District 11 4A title.

“It feels awesome and it’s only the second time we have won a District title,” said Phil Sams. “We beat Bethlehem Catholic to win the title tonight and to beat a storybook program like them who won several District titles says a lot about our kids.”

On Bethlehem Catholic’s first drive they fumbled, and Noah Hoppel recovered the ball on the Golden Hawks’ 24. A big pass play by Colton Sams downed the ball inside the five . He finished the drive off with a one-yard touchdown run. Noah Tapler’s kick was good and the Spartans led 7-0 with 9:30 left in the first quarter.

After a punt by the Spartans, the Golden Hawks were on the march. They got down the Southern Lehigh’s one. But a bad snap and fumble by Caden Vassa was recovered by Lucas Sutyak who rumbled to their 26.

A few plays later, Steckert took the hand off, made his move and went right up the middle for the 61-yard touchdown run. It was 14-0 Spartans with 9:48 left in the half.

Right before halftime the Spartans were on the march again. Sams threw to Luke Kawczenski down to Bethlehem Catholic’s five. This set up the touchdown run.

With that pass, Sams broke the record held by Blake Livengood, which was back in 2015. Colton now has 2,504 yards. The previous record was 2,417.

With 21 seconds left in the first half, an eight-yard touchdown pass to Steckert put Southern Lehigh up 21-0 going into halftime. Southern Lehigh started the third quarter the way they ended the first half, putting together another scoring drive.

The Spartans extended their lead to start the third quarter. Steckert would not be denied and got his fourth touchdown of the night. This time it was from eight yards out.

“I remember mid-season he wasn’t getting as many carries and we gave him more carries each game as the season went on,” said Phil Sams. “He seems to get stronger and stronger as the game goes on.”

Bethlehem Catholic finally put together a nice drive ending in a touchdown. Justin Martinez broke several tackles and spun into the end zone for the 14-yard touchdown run. The score was 28-7 Southern Lehigh with 1:38 left in the third quarter.

The Spartans were looking to go up 35-7, but Sams’ pass was tipped and intercepted by Bethlehem Catholic’s Ethan Roman to end the drive.

But the Golden Hawks turned the ball over for the fourth time in the game. Vassa’s pass was intercepted by Darius Roman. That was his second interception of the night.

Southern Lehigh ran out the clock and won their second District Title and first for Head Coach Phil Sams. They now await the winner of the Danville (District 4) vs. Juniata (District 6) game Friday night.

“It feels amazing and we have been working for this since last year ended,”said Steckert. “Our offensive line is the heart and core of the team. No one can do it without them. They don’t get enough recognition.”

Southern Lehigh 28, Bethlehem Catholic 7

Scoring Summary:
1st Quarter
SL: Sean Steckert 1-yard run (Noah Tapler kick) 9:30

2nd Quarter
SL: Steckert 61-yard run (Noah Tapler kick) 9:48
SL: Colton Sams 8-yard pass to Steckert (Noah Tapler kick) 0:21

3rd Quarter
SL: Steckert 8-yard run (Noah Tapler kick) 6:44
BC: Justin Martinez 14-yard run (Ethan Wiles kick) 1:38