The District 11 football playoffs get underway on Thursday evening with Class 3A and a pair of Schuylkill League programs will be in action.
The Tamaqua Blue Raiders (6-4) enter the postseason as the No. 6 seed in Class 3A and will be traveling down the road to No. 3 seed Jim Thorpe (6-4). Also playing Thursday night will be the eighth-seeded Panther Valley Panthers. The last team in for Class 3A, they’ll be taking on the top-seeded Northwestern Lehigh Tigers.
No. 3 Jim Thorpe (6-4) vs No. 6 Tamaqua (6-4)
Tamaqua was 2-4 entering the second week of October, but the Blue Raiders have played their best football over the past four weeks and have suddenly emerged as a team to watch in the District 11 playoffs.
After a 22-0 loss to Pottsville on October 1, Tamaqua picked up wins over North Schuylkill, Panther Valley, Selinsgrove, and Pine Grove, with three of those victories coming on the road. This is a battle-tested squad that has proven it can win away from home.
A major catalyst for that late-season surge has been running back Terrence McDowell. Outside of a 337-yard breakout against Schuylkill Haven, McDowell weathered a tough first six weeks before racking up 411 yards over his last four games, including 100-plus-yard outings against Panther Valley and Selinsgrove.
Jim Thorpe found its footing in late September after a 1-2 start, winning four of its next five games, highlighted by a 21-20 victory over Lehighton in mid-October. The Olympians stumbled against Saucon Valley the following week, but rebounded to close the regular season with an impressive 26-10 win over Palmerton.
The Olympians haven’t been dominant on either side of the ball, outscoring opponents by a narrow margin of 227 to 220, but they play fundamentally sound, complementary football. They head into Thursday’s matchup against Tamaqua featuring a balanced offense and a stout defense that holds up across all three levels. Head coach Mark Rosenberger is known for consistently getting the most out of his players, and this marks one of the program’s best squads since its strong run from 2017 through 2021.
No. 1 Northwestern Lehigh (9-1) vs No. 8 Panther Valley (4-6)
Panther Valley was the final team to qualify for the District 11 Class 3A playoffs, and their reward is a matchup against the Class 3A dynasty Northwestern Lehigh Tigers.
Since 2021, the Tigers have been one of Pennsylvania’s elite high school programs, boasting a 77-7 record. They enter the postseason at 9-1 this fall, with their lone defeat coming in a 17-14 loss to the Class 5A Southern Lehigh Spartans in Week 9.
Overall, Northwestern Lehigh has dominated opponents by an total score of 445-90, averaging a 44.5-9 margin of victory.
The Tigers’ offense this season is built on a ferocious rushing attack averaging 218.2 yards per game and 7.1 yards per carry. It is led by junior Chase Sukanick, who has tallied 1,301 yards and 18 touchdowns on 162 carries. The story of their season, however, has not been an overwhelming offense, but rather a dominant defense that has yet to surrender more than 17 points in a game while recording three shutouts.
Meanwhile, Panther Valley limps into the playoffs having dropped four of its last five games after a 3-2 start. Last weekend, the Panthers fell to North Schuylkill, 47-12. Their lone victory since the start of October was a 27-20 win over Pine Grove in Week 9.
The winner of this matchup advances to face the winner of No. 4 Executive Education Academy Charter School and No. 5 Palmerton next Friday.
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