Scranton Prep ran into the same season-ending obstacle for the third straight year.
Shane Leh threw five touchdown passes, three of them to Brady Zimmerman, Friday night at Berwick’s Crispin Field as two-time, defending state champion Northwestern Lehigh ran its winning streak to 30 games with a 42-14 victory over the Cavaliers in a Pennsylvania Interscholastic Athletic Association Class 3A state football quarterfinal.
Northwestern Lehigh defeated Scranton Prep 27-6 in 2023 and 34-0 last year, also in state quarterfinals.
Leh led the latest victory by hitting 17 of 19 passes for 222 yards.
The Tigers used defense to jump in front early.
Braxton Laktosh intercepted a screen pass and returned it 35 yards for a touchdown.
Scranton Prep then drove 69 yards in six plays to tie the game 7-7 on a 2-yard run by Will McPartland.
McPartland led the Cavaliers with 68 rushing yards on 16 carries and also passed for 95 yards while going 9-for-22 through the air.
The first Zimmerman touchdown reception, an 11-yarder, gave the District 11 champions a 14-7 lead after one quarter.
Leh hit Shane Hulmes for an 11-yard touchdown in the second quarter to make it 21-7.
The Tigers then broke away going into and coming out of halftime.
Leh found Michael Lagowy down the middle for a 19-yard touchdown pass with 18 seconds left in the half, then capped a drive following the second-half kickoff with a 6-yard touchdown to Zimmerman.
McPartland threw a 4-yard touchdown pass to Sean McCormack on the first play of the fourth quarter to cut the deficit to 35-14, but Leh hit Zimmerman one more time a 40-yard touchdown to close the scoring.
Northwestern Lehigh will play in next week’s state semifinals against District 3 champion Trinity, which used a late score to pull out a 26-22 victory over Neumann-Goretti.
Scranton Prep, which has won five straight District 2 titles, finished 8-6.
