Southern Lehigh is King of the Hill

Written by: David Mika on Saturday, September 28th, 2013. Follow David Mika on Twitter.

PEN ARGYL – Southern Lehigh’s backup quarterback Tom Dex threw two touchdown passes to pace Southern Lehigh to a 28-16 win over Pen Argyl Saturday afternoon. “Tom did a great job today managing the game for us,” said Southern Lehigh head football coach John Toman. “He is 2-0 as a starting quarterback and ran the ball hard today. When Travis comes back we are going to still use him in some aspects because of the way he runs the ball.”

Pen Argyl got the first break of the game on a backward pass by Dex that was recovered by Nick Oyer on the Spartans 34. But a missed 29-yard field goal by Jacob Krincek kept the game scoreless early in the first quarter.

The next two series showcased Southern Lehigh’s defense. After two big sacks by Cody Heffelfinger and Jacob Martin the Green Knights were forced to punt the ball from their 6-yard line. But after a 10-yard punt the Spartans had great field position at Pen Argyl’s 15.

The scoring drive took one-play when Dex shuffled the pass to Christian Ricci who took it 15-yards right up the middle for the score. Collin Johnston’s kick was good and they led 7-0 with 2:14 left in the first quarter.

Pen Argyl’s next drive lasted three plays when Southern Lehigh’s Spencer Cobb intercepted the ball and returned it to the Green Knights 12. They settled for a 28-yard field goal attempt, that was no good and the score remained 7-0 with 11:52 remaining in the first half.

Pen Argyl cut Southern Lehigh’s lead to four when Krincek nailed a 22-yard field goal.

But Southern Lehigh extended their lead on a 91-yard kickoff return by Trent Silifies with 4:55 remaining in the first half. They now led 14-3. “The kids did a great job on the kick return,” said Toman. “We worked on this all week and they executed it.”

A mental mistake on the kickoff by Logan Ruppert put the Green Knights deep in their territory on their 4-yard line. Southern Lehigh’s defense forced a three-and-out and took the ball over on their 44 with 2:23 left in the first half.

Up to this point starting quarterback Travis Edmond was watching from the sidelines nursing a right shoulder injury from a previous game.

On this drive he came in and orchestrated a 44-yard, 10-play drive. Edmond found Jake Del Priore for a 2-yard touchdown pass with :22.2 seconds left in the second quarter. The Spartans extended their lead to 21-3. “We weren’t sure what we were going to do with him today,” said Toman. “We thought it was an opportune time in a spread no huddle type situation for him to come in. He threw the ball very well and moved the ball well. He makes us a different team when he is in and is a great finisher.”

After a scoreless third quarter, Pen Argyl out scored Southern Lehigh in the fourth quarter. Quarterback Ryan Hunt threw two touchdown passes to Nick Oyer.

Hunt found Oyer for a 33-yard touchdown pass with 8:20 remaining in the game.

Dex added one more score on a fourth down play that went 15-yards for the score.

The Green Knights got the last score of the game on a Hunt to Oyer 13-yard touchdown pass with 26 seconds left in the game.

Note: It was homecoming for Pen Argyl and Ryan Hunt and Sara Cinelli were crowned homecoming King & Queen.