BERWICK - Setting the tone up front.

With Danville winning the coin toss and deferring, Northwestern received the ball first on Friday night in its PIAA 3A state semifinal match-up against the Ironmen. The Tigers didn’t waste time establishing physicality along the line of scrimmage, going 64 yards on eight plays to take an early 7-0 lead, with all eight plays coming on the ground.

Northwestern’s first drive was a sign of things to come as the Tigers once again dominated in the trenches and once again are back in the 3A state final, as they came away with an impressive 31-14 victory.

Strong running from Eli Zimmerman got the Northwestern offense going early. Zimmerman rushed for almost 40 yards on the opening drive with quarterback Shane Leh capping it off with a 17-yard run around the right side at the 9:23 mark.

“We don’t often start with the ball. When we win the toss, we always defer, but they won the toss and deferred. So, we talked to the guys before the kick and we knew we were getting the ball first and we were into the wind. So, the message was, ‘We’re going to the run the ball right down the field and we’re going to set the tone with a touchdown,’” said Northwestern head coach Josh Snyder. “And that’s exactly what our guys were able to do. And I think that did really set the tone mentally and physically that we could dominate in the trenches.”

After forcing a punt on Danville’s first possession, Northwestern would get pinned at its own three-yard line after a 44-yard kick, but it would only take a few plays for the Tigers run game to again come up with a big play with their big play running back. Zimmerman would take a handoff from the five, would follow a few blocks on the right side of the field, but then would cut all the way to left hashes, taking it the distance for a 95-yard score to make it a 14-0 game with 6:46 left to go in the first. It was a huge first quarter for Zimmerman, who rushed for over 150 yards in the first frame.

“You have to be patient and wait for stuff to develop sometimes. And when I have been patient, I have been able to burst through those openings,” said Zimmerman. “That’s been a recipe for success for us when running the football. Find those little gaps and get through them. Get eight or nine yards a clip and then eventually break a big one. And again, I always have to give a shout out to the boys up front that block for me. They’re amazing.”

A 43-yard connection from Madden Patrick to Cole Duffy would get Danville back in the game with just under 40 seconds to go in the first. Duffy made a great adjustment on the ball, catching it around the 15 and then made a few nice moves to take it into the end zone.

Penalties would stifle a few promising Tigers’ offensive drives in the second quarter, but their defense once again held strong, forcing two Danville punts. Northwestern would tack on a 19-yard field goal by Seth Kern right before the end of the half to give the Tigers a 17-7 lead at the intermission.

A Zimmerman punt return touchdown broke the game open for Northwestern last week against Scranton Prep, and it was another Zimmerman dynamic play that broke the game open for the Tigers this week. This time it would come in the form of a 79-yard pick-six to up the Northwestern lead to 24-7 at the 9:50 mark of the third. Zimmerman sniffed out the Danville pass play, made the interception and motored down the left sideline for the score.

“That was a play that we saw on film and they ran it, and I knew what was coming,” said Zimmerman. “I waited a little bit to see if the quarterback would throw it and then I saw the ball in the air and I was able to make the play. Then all I saw were our boys out in front forming that wall and I was able to take it down the sideline for the score.”

The Danville offense was finally able to get a few things going after the interception, but the Northwestern defense kept coming up with big stops. The Tigers were able to stop a fake field goal attempt from the Northwestern 16-yard line at the 5:31 mark. Shane Hulmes and Michael Lagowy were able to beat the Ironmen runner to the right pylon, forcing him out at the one to keep it a 17-point ball game.

The Ironmen would put together another encouraging drive on their ensuing possession, getting all the way down to the Northwestern one. The drive was sparked by a nice 34-yard Bo Sheptock run. Sheptock had a solid game for the Ironmen, rushing for 119 yards and surpassing the 2,000-yard rushing mark on the season, making him the first player in Danville history to do so. But an exchange from the Danville quarterback to the running back on a read play wasn’t clean and the ball ended up on the ground with Brady Zimmerman jumping on the fumble for the Tigers at the three-yard line.

Northwestern’s offensive line and Zimmerman would then go to work to put the game away. Zimmerman runs of 13 and 11 yards would give the offense some breathing room and after a few tough rushes from Mason Bollinger, Zimmerman would break one more explosive run - a 45-yard sprint down to the Danville two-yard line - and just one play later, Seth Kern would bully his way in for the score to give the Tigers a 31-7 lead with 4:25 remaining in the game.

“It’s not easy getting to a state final the first time. And it’s even tougher getting there the second time, especially when you have the high expectations like we did coming into this season,” said Snyder. “But I would be lying if I didn’t think it was both our mission and our destiny to get back there this season. We didn’t talk a lot about getting back there, but we talked about taking it one game at a time and we knew if we did that enough times the possibility was there for us. You need a lot of things to happen. You need to avoid injuries, you need to practice hard and you need leaders. And we have all that. And you also need a kid like Tucker Wessner sitting on our shoulders and looking over us like he has all season long as well.”

PRIME TIME… If there is a version of “Prime Time” in the Times News area and throughout the state, Eli Zimmerman is it. Zimmerman finished the game with 346 rushing yards, crushing his previous single game rushing record of 271 yards. After tonight, Zimmerman also broke the Tigers’ single season rushing yards mark, previously held by Brett Snyder as he has now tallied 2,557 rushing yards this season. Zimmerman also tied Dalton Clymer’s single season touchdown mark with his two on the night, making that 35 total scores on the season.

STATE FINAL… District 11 3A champion Northwestern will take on District 7 3A champion Avonworth (12-3) on Saturday, Dec. 7 at 1 p.m. at Chapman Field at Cumberland Valley High School. Avonworth was a 16-6 winner over Penn-Cambria.

Northwestern 31, Danville 14

Northwestern 14 3 7 7 - 31

Danville 7 0 0 7 - 14

NW - Leh 17 run (Kern kick)

NW - Zimmerman 95 run (Kern kick)

D - Duffy 43 pass from Patrick (Hoffman kick)

NW - Kern 19 field goal

NW - Zimmerman 79 interception return (Kern kick)

NW - Kern 2 run (Kern kick)

D - Duffy 29 pass from Patrick (Hoffman kick)