An annual tradition now in the Times News area - a special Thursday night matchup between rivals Northwestern Lehigh and Northern Lehigh kicks off tonight, a meeting coined the ‘Mountain Road Rumble.’

Coming into last season’s matchup, the Tigers and Bulldogs were playing in back-and-forth affairs. Northern Lehigh edged Northwestern for a 34-27 win in 2022, and the Tigers pulled out a 34-33 victory back in 2021.

However, last season’s PIAA 3A state runners-up Northwestern was able to pounce on Northern Lehigh early to come away with a 48-0 mercy rule win.

With the Tigers goals once again set to a gold standard this season, and an improved Northern Lehigh squad coming off a come-from-behind Week 1 win, the next installment in this rivalry is the Times News Game of the Week.

It’s been business as usual for Northwestern this season, which looked to be in postseason form with a 47-0 win over Wilson in Week 1. The name of the game was explosiveness from the Tigers (1-0) on offense, sparked by the human torch Eli Zimmerman. Zimmerman rushed for 104 yards and two scores on just four carries, and also returned a punt 50 yards for a touchdown. Quarterback Shane Leh was efficient, going 7-of-9 for 91 yards and a touchdown, and wide receiver Mason Bollinger hauled in five catches for 81 yards and a touchdown.

“Coming into the season, we thought we could be explosive with the personnel we had coming back,” said Northwestern head coach Josh Snyder. “Shane Leh returned for us at quarterback after starting 16 games last season, and Eli on his own is just an explosive player. Mason also had a big game for us. So, we knew with those three coming back we could be pretty dynamic, and then pair that with some other playmakers and guys we have up front, we thought we could be pretty good on the offensive side of the ball.”

The Bulldogs (1-0) trailed by two scores to Lehighton in the fourth quarter last week and were able to score 15 unanswered to secure the 15-14 comeback victory. Northern Lehigh was able to get the run game going in this one with Grady Newhard rushing for 155 yards and two touchdowns on 22 carries. Chris Frame put in a solid night’s work as well, rushing 25 times for 130 yards.

Northern Lehigh dominated the time of possession in the game against Lehighton, and it will surely look to do the same this week against a tough Tigers’ front in order to keep the explosive Northwestern offense off the field.

“Coming back from two scores in the fourth. That’s big. We think that will pay big dividends for our guys as the season goes on. That shows a lot of toughness to be able to do that,” said Northern Lehigh head coach Joe Tout. “If you look at time of possession, I think we were able to win that pretty handily in the game, but we had some penalties that hurt our scoring opportunities in the first half. That’s something we’re going to need to clean up. But we’re going to look to establish the run and put together good drives. We know that they’re big up front, so we’re going to need to mix it up between our power stuff and our spread stuff, but we’re excited for the challenge and the atmosphere.”

Like last season, Northwestern comes into the game the more veteran group, but this is a Northern Lehigh team that played a lot of youngsters a season ago and is undoubtedly improved at those positions.

“No doubt you can see the improvement. They played a lot of young guys at the skill positions last season,” said Snyder. “Newhard and Frame pop out at you on film, and we know they’re going to look to run the football. Northern Lehigh is always going to bring that old-school, physical mentality to the table. So, we’re going to need to continue to play fast, physical, assignment football and make tackles and make plays out there.”