In a rematch of last year’s PIAA Class 3A state championship, Avonworth avenged its 2024 state title loss with a dominant 31-7 victory over District 11 champion Northwestern Lehigh in winning the Antelopes’ first PIAA state football championship in three tries.
Avonworth now inherits the state’s longest winning streak, 15 games, and in the process, snapped the longest, breaking Northwestern Lehigh’s 31-game winning streak.
Northwestern Lehigh beat the Antelopes in last year’s Class 3A championship game in overtime, 36-33. Many of the Antelopes returned, including senior quarterback Carson Bellinger and senior tailback Luca Neal.
There was an underlying feeling that this season would be the Antelopes’ payback tour.
“There was some revenge there, because even if we played them during the regular season, we would play with a little chip on our shoulders,” Neal admitted. “It was cool to see (Northwestern Lehigh) in the state championship again and I’m glad we got the win. This year we were a lot balanced, able to throw it, run it, which made us a lot harder to defend. We knew we could attack them through the air and on the ground.”
Neal finished with a game-high 123 yards rushing and three touchdowns, while Bellinger completed 9 of 11 passes for 248 yards and a touchdown.
“Northwestern Lehigh played a lot of one-high safety, and we came into knowing we could take advantage of a lot of matchups,” Bellinger said.
Neal sealed it with 8-yard touchdown run 9:01 left to play, made possible by Avonworth receiver Jaden Jones. Neal’s third score gave Avonworth a commanding 31-7 lead.
Jones, a 6-foot-3, 180-pound sophomore, was amazing. He hauled in a game-high seven passes for a state championship game record 187 yards and was almost indefensible, outreaching Tiger defenders for big receptions of 53, 37 and 36 yards.
After scoring on its first four drives, Avonworth turned the ball over three-straight times. The Antelopes had their last drive of the first half end on an interception, lost the ball on an interception to start to the second half, followed by a lost fumble late in the third quarter.
But Northwestern Lehigh could not dig into a 17-point deficit, turning the ball over on downs late in the first half, an interception and on downs entering the fourth quarter.
Most of the scoring was done in the first half, when Avonworth took a 24-7 lead into intermission. The Antelopes scored on their first play of the game, a portent of things to come, when Bellinger let fly a perfect spiral that Jones ran under for a 53-yard touchdown pass. All four Avonworth scoring drives in the first half were punctuated by long bombs.
On its second drive, Bellinger found Luca Neal for a 46-yard completion on a second-and-eight from midfield. Neal set himself up for his own score, when he bounced an inside run outside for an 8-yard touchdown with 1:52 left in the first quarter.
With Northwestern Lehigh unable to put any pressure on Bellinger, he once more found Jones, who made an amazing leaping catch over a Tigers’ defender for a 36-yard grab, setting up Neal’s second TD, a nine-yard run for a 21-7 Avonworth lead with 9:41 remaining in the half.
A 30-yard Bellinger-to-Jones connection moved the Antelopes into Northwestern Lehigh territory on Avonworth’s fourth drive, and eventually led to a Calder Mahan 21-yard field goal for a 24-7 Avonworth lead with 3:09 in the half.
The Antelopes received great field position to start their fifth drive, before Northwestern received its first real break of the game, when Neal had the ball popped free by Brady Zimmerman, and was recovered by Devin Rex at the Northwestern Lehigh 24.
The turnover seemed to stir up the Tigers, who then turned the ball back to Avonworth, when Zimmerman lost a fumble at the Avonworth 29, caused by Evan Loutzenhiser, and recovered by Gavin McDowell.
McDowell picked the ball up on the run, returning it 48 yards to the Northwestern Lehigh 22.
And just it seemed Avonworth would create an insurmountable lead, a third-straight turnover occurred between the team, when the Tigers’ Shane Leh made a diving interception at the Avonworth 15, nixing that drive. The interception snapped Bellinger’s streak of eight-straight completions to start the game.
Northwestern Lehigh got on the board in response to Avonworth’s first touchdown, running off an 11-play, 87-yard drive, ending with a Braxton Lakatosh 2-yard touchdown run with 5:11 left in the first quarter. Take away that drive, and the Tigers were only able to garner 50 yards of total offense over the first 24 minutes.
In the first half, Bellinger completed eight of nine for 211 yards passing, which included a touchdown, and big completions of 53, 46 and 36 yards. It was a matter of Avonworth’s receivers high-pointed the ball over Northwestern Lehigh defenders.
This was a bittersweet ending for Tigers’ coach Josh Snyder, who has done an amazing job building the Northwestern Lehigh program up into becoming state champions in 2024 and annual state contenders. It marked the third-straight the Tigers reached the state championship, closing the door on the most successful senior class in program history.
“Ending the season with a loss is never good, it comes with such a finality, especially for these seniors,” Snyder said. “They just accomplished something that District 11 and the Lehigh Valley area never seen before, three-straight trips to a state championship. It was not the outcome that we wanted.
“Avonworth is a heck of a ballclub that had a lot to do with the mistakes that we made today. It was uncharacteristic how we execute on offense and defense. After this initial loss, I’m just so proud of these kids and this senior group.”
Scoring Summary
(District 7) Avonworth (15-0) 14 10 0 7-31
(District 11) Northwestern Lehigh (15-1) 7 0 0 0-7
1st Quarter
A – Jaden Jones 53 pass from Carson Bellinger (Calder Mahan kick), 10:17
NL – Braxton Lakatosh 2 run (Chase Sukanick kick), 5:11
A – Luca Neal 8 run (Mahan kick), 1:52
2nd Quarter
A – Neal 9 run (Mahan kick), 9:41
A – Mahan 21 FG, 3:09
4th Quarter
A – Neal 8 run (Mahan kick), 9:01
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]