SHAMOKIN – Last Friday, on the same field that Saturday’s Class 4A quarterfinal was being played, Juniata’s Jasper Shepps caught three touchdown passes, hauled in an interception on defense, and was almost a one-man wrecking crew as the Indians benefited from five turnovers in a 27-7 upset of previously unbeaten Shamokin.
This week, with Southern Lehigh the opponent at Shamokin’s Kemp Memorial Stadium, Juniata found itself in the same situation that it put Shamokin in a week ago.
The Indians committed three turnovers, while Shepps was held to just 43 all purpose yards, and the Spartans’ Sean Steckert was the one-man wrecking crew as he ran for 219 yards and four touchdowns, going over the 2,000 rushing yard mark for the season in the process, and Southern Lehigh advanced to its first state semifinal in school history with a 45-7 win over the Indians.
“I just told them they are the best football team in Southern Lehigh football history so they should be proud of themselves but we’re not done yet,” said Southern coach Phil Sams. “Twelve days from today is the state final but now it’s all about Bonner Predergast and we have to get there first but we’ve worked so hard to get here, so let’s keep moving.
“We put our top defender, Andrew Olesh, on Shepps and that neutralized him and made them look other places. They still took some shots at him and they weren’t as fortunate today. Andrew did a great job locking him down. He’s not just a great offensive player but a great defensive player as well.”
Southern’s previous best result in the state playoffs was a quarterfinal appearance back in 2019.
The Spartans not only scored on all seven possessions in which their first team offense took the field, but also took advantage of two key turnovers in the first half to completely seize and ultimately keep the momentum.
The Indians received the opening kickoff, but on their second play from scrimmage, fumbled the snap, which the Spartans recovered at the Juniata 29. Two plays later, Colton Sams found Luke Kawczenski in the end zone for a 15-yard touchdown. The extra point was missed, and PATs and two-point conversions were about the only thing that went wrong for Southern Lehigh on the afternoon, as the Spartans successfully converted just 3-of-7 PATs or two-point attempts.
Southern Lehigh took a 12-0 lead on their next drive following a Juniata punt as Steckert scored the first of his four touchdowns on a three-yard run. A 39-yard completion from Sams to Darius Roman keyed that five-play drive.
Juniata then responded by driving all the way from their own 20 following a touchback – one of eight touchbacks on the day for the Spartans’ Noah Tapler – down to the Southern Lehigh one-yard line in 15 plays, chewing up the remaining half of the first quarter and over a minute of the second quarter. But on the 15th play of the drive, Javier Lopez fumbled just before reaching the goal line, and the Spartans recovered at their own 1-yard line.
Following a five-yard offside penalty on Juniata, Steckert flipped the field on the first official play of Southern Lehigh’s subsequent drive as he went for a 41-yard gain all the way to the Spartan 47. He would later finish the seven-play, 99-yard drive with a 15-yard touchdown, extending the Spartans’ lead to 19-0 at the 9:01 mark of the second quarter, completing the 14-point swing.
“It sort of flipped the script from last week when Juniata got a turnover and scored and they did a great job, but we were fortunate enough to get that turnover and score, too,” said Sams. “We said if we stop them, and we get a touchdown early, we’re going to get the momentum in the game and hopefully put them away. Up front, our lines did a great job stopping them and offensively, we got a nice push all day for Sean Steckert. That run gave us a lot of confidence.”
From that point, the Spartans continued building on their lead while the Indians did not record another first down for the remainder of the first half. Sams completed passes of 45 and 11 yards to Luke Kawczenski on the Spartans’ next drive, the latter for a touchdown at the 5:41 mark of the second quarter to make it 25-0.
Steckert found the end zone for the third time on the afternoon with a 42-yard run with 2:46 left in the half, and then Sams hit Bryan Tobin in the end zone for a one-yard touchdown reception with just :21 left in the half to make it 38-0 at the break and put the game into the mercy rule for the entirety of the second half.
Juniata got the ball down to the Southern Lehigh 33 on their first possession of the second half after recovering a quasi-onside kick when the ball went off a Southern up-man on the kickoff. But, the Indians were stopped one yard shy of a first down on fourth down, and the Spartans took over at their own 26.
With the running clock, Southern’s starters played one more series and proceeded to put together a nine-play, 74-yard drive that took up nearly six minutes, and Steckert capped his day with a four-yard touchdown run and went over 2,000 yards for the season on the drive. He needed 41 entering the second half and picked up 51 of the 74 yards on the drive.
The Indians did manage to get on the scoreboard in the fourth quarter on a 58-yard pass from Wyatt Ehrenzeller to Connor Boreman at the 8:10 mark. But from that point, Southern Lehigh’s second team ran out the remainder of the clock as it picked up a pair of first downs with the running clock as the Spartans had 23 first downs in the game.
The Spartans will play next week for their first appearance in a state championship game as they face District 12 champion Bonner-Prendie in the eastern final.
Southern Lehigh 45, Juniata 7
Southern Lehigh (12-2) 12 26 7 0 – 45
Juniata (9-4) 0 0 0 7 – 7
First quarter
11:00 – (SL) Luke Kawczenski 15-yard pass from Colton Sams (kick failed), 2-29, :23
6:01 – (SL) Sean Steckert 3-yard run (pass failed), 5-67, 1:53
Second quarter
9:01 – (SL) Sean Steckert 15-yard run (Tapler kick), 7-99, 1:44
5:41 – (SL) Luke Kawczenski 11-yard pass from Colton Sams (pass failed), 5-73, 1:45
2:46 – (SL) Sean Steckert 42-yard run (kick blocked), 2-41, :48
:21 – (SL) Bryan Tobin 1-yard pass from Colton Sams (Tapler kick), 7-39, :42
Third quarter
1:29 – (SL) Sean Steckert 4-yard run (Tapler kick), 9-74, 5:52
Fourth quarter
8:10 – (J) Connor Boreman 58-yard pass from Wyatt Ehrenzeller (Lopez kick), 3-72, 1:33
Statistics
SL J
First downs 23 11
Rushes-net yards 33-214 31-65
Passing yardage 181 114
Passing 12-18-3-0 6-15-1-0
Fumbles-lost 1-0 3-3
Penalties-yards 5-55 5-55
INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS
RUSHING: Southern Lehigh: Sean Steckert (22-219-4), Silas Adasavage (3-8), Elian Gonzalez (2-1), Adam Fritts (2-(-1)), Jake Trembler (1-3), Jayson Stock (1-2), Otto Young (1-0), Team (1-(-18)); Juniata: Lane Peiper (8-40), Wyatt Ehrenzeller (6-0), Javier Lopez (5-14), Ayden Dowling (4-8), Connor Boreman (3-16), Team (2-(-18)), Jasper Shepps (1-2), Gage Harlon (1-2), Isaac Ramirez (1-1)
PASSING: Southern Lehigh: Colton Sams (11-15-168-3-0), Adam Fritts (1-3-13-0-0); Juniata: Wyatt Ehrenzeller (6-15-114-1-0)
RECEIVING: Southern Lehigh: Andrew Olesh (5-46), Luke Kawczenski (3-71-2), Darius Roman (1-39), Otto Young (1-13), Sean Steckert (1-11), Bryan Tobin (1-1-1); Juniata: Connor Boreman (2-67-1), Jasper Shepps (2-41), Lane Peiper (1-7), Isaac Ramirez (1-(-1))
