MECHANICSBURG, PA — Sean Steckert had to cool some things down. As the last minutes were ticking away towards Southern Lehigh’s first PIAA state football championship, the Spartans’ 5-foot-9, 175-pound senior tailback urged one of his exuberant offensive linemen to ease up on celebrating a little too prematurely.
Steckert let him know they would have plenty of time to revel.
They should.
The 2025 Southern Lehigh team will go down in program history as the first PIAA state football champion, after pounding Twin Valley, 43-21, in the Class 4A championship on a record-breaking night by Steckert, who rushed for a recruiting Class 4A record 301 yards on 37 carries and three touchdowns Thursday night at Cumberland Valley High School’s Chapman Field.
Only Lansdale Catholic’s R.C. Lagomarsino rushed for more yards in a state championship game, reaching 353 yards in Lansdale Catholic’s 40-17 Class 2A victory over Grove City in 2004.
“We never even imagined this our freshmen year,” Steckert said. “I can confidently say that there was no team in the state that could stop our offense. I knew that coming into this year, and we just proved it. We have the most balanced offense out here. We can slam it down your throat, and we can throw it all around, too.
“It’s amazing that we got here. It’s not sinking in right now, but it will tomorrow. That is a tough team we played, and our offensive line really stepped up and really showed who they are. I was getting automatically half a first down before I was even touched.”
Steckert entered the game with 2,911 yards rushing this season. His 156 at halftime put him over 3,000 , giving him a season total of 3,067 by halftime. By the end of the game, he had 3,212 yards total his senior year.
His offensive line had a lot to do with that. Senior left tackle Carter Giberson, junior left guard Gabe Bogert, junior center Lucas Sutyak, junior right guard Cody Wesner and junior right tackle Dylan Gretz creating gaping holes all night.
“They (Twin Valley) were definitely big up front, they were physical, but you go in preparing for it and we got it done,” said Giberson, who is headed to Albany. “Sean makes it easy. You just have to make the littlest holes and he’ll run right through them. He can get hit by two guys and bounce off. He makes it so easy.
“Making history like this is something that we’ll remember for the rest of our lives. This summer, when we had everyone showing up working out, it’s when it began sinking in this summer that we can do this, that we can win the state championship.”
The Spartans (15-1) scored on their first six drives, and seven of their eight. They amassed 446 yards of total offense, with Steckert averaging 8.1 yards a carry.
What was a close game in the first half was busted open by an Adam Fritts interception on Twin Valley’s second play of the second half. The Spartans converted the turnover into a Steckert 6-yard touchdown run and a 30-14 lead with 6:10 left in the third quarter.
Twin Valley (14-1) never threatened again.
“I don’t know about that (if the game slipped away there), we struggled stopping them, and I wasn’t calling the best plays, one play doesn’t start an avalanche,” Twin Valley coach Brett Myers said. “I probably should have called a couple of better things. (Steckert) is good. They have a big line. Their line played really well today, and their coaches did a better job than I did.”
It was a very entertaining first half. Southern Lehigh went into the half up, 17-14, scoring on each of its three drives. The Spartans were fueled by a pair of Steckert touchdowns.
A lot of that has to do with the push the Spartans got up front. Five of his first 19 carries went for 10, 11, 13, 27 and 46 yards.
Twin Valley took the opening kickoff 69 yards over five plays, ending with Lucas Myers’ 20-yard touchdown run. The Spartans answered right back, going 80 yards over six plays, ending with Steckert exploding up the middle for an 11-yard score.
Southern Lehigh’s Declan Walsh booted a 24-yard field goal, which the Raiders replied with a Dominic Summers’ 64-yard touchdown pass from Maverik Foster with 2:25 left in the half to go ahead, 14-10.
But an unsportsmanlike penalty forced Twin Valley to kick from its 25, giving Southern Lehigh prime field position at midfield with just over two minutes left in the half and three timeouts.
The Spartans used it to drive to the Twin Valley 27. On fourth-and-inches, Steckert bounced a run to the outside and off he went for his second score and a 17-14 Southern Lehigh lead.
It was a portend of things to come.
Scoring Summary
(District 3) Twin Valley (14-1) 7 7 7 0-21
(District 11) Southern Lehigh (15-1) 7 10 13 13-43
1st Quarter
TV – Lucas Myers 20 run (Nate Shaffer kick), 10:01
SL – Sean Steckert 11 run (Declan Walsh kick), 7:07
2nd Quarter
SL – Walsh 24 FG, 3:17
TV – Dominic Summers 64 pass from Maverik Foster (Shaffer kick), 2:25
SL – Steckert 27 run (Walsh kick), :17
3rd Quarter
SL – Otto Young 40 pass from Colton Sams (Walsh kick), 9:49
SL – Steckert 6 run (kick failed), 6:10
TV – Drew Engle 4 run (Shaffer kick), 2:44
4th Quarter
SL – Young 30 pass from Sams (run failed), 10:21
SL – Steckert 2 run (Walsh kick), 2:06
Joseph Santoliquito is a hall of fame, award-winning sportswriter who has been covering high school football since 1992 and is the president of the Boxing Writers Association of America. He can be followed on Twitter @JSantoliquito [twitter.com]. Follow EasternPAFootball.com on Twitter @EPAFootball [twitter.com]. Follow EasternPAFootball.com on Twitter @EPAFootball [twitter.com]