MECHANICSBURG — Leadership is key to a team’s success. But senior leadership always seems to give a team that extra edge.

That was certainly the case with the Northwestern Lehigh football team this season.

Seniors Eli Zimmerman, Bryer Reichard, Landen Matson, Seth Kern, Josh Wambold, Jeremiah Gornicz, Jared Meck, Jackson Huber, Jackson Bailey, Brendan Miller and Austin Schaller were all there last season when the Tigers lost in the PIAA 3A championship to an elite Belle Vernon squad.

However, this time around, the Tigers — anchored by this strong senior group — were able to come away with the state gold, topping Avonworth 36-33 in overtime Saturday to claim the 3A crown.

“Stuff like this, winning a state title, just doesn’t happen. It’s years in the making,” said Northwestern head coach Josh Snyder. “It starts in youth football. That’s how you build programs, and I think we have done it the right way. You also need great parents and great people around the program. You also need to experience some highs and some lows to learn how to react and respond to adversity.

“I thought our senior leaders were unbelievable. You have to have a group of leaders that sets the tone on how it’s supposed to be done. And they definitely did that for us. They showed us the way. They showed the underclassmen the way. And now every other class is looking up to that. You get the ball rolling that way and it’s tough to stop.”

Eli Zimmerman put together one of the best seasons of all time for the Tigers.

The senior waited his turn to take over the full-time running back role, and all he did was finish with a school record 2,665 yards rushing and 27 rushing touchdowns. Zimmerman didn’t only make an impact on offense. He also posted six punt return touchdowns on special teams, and on defense, came through with six interceptions with one pick six.

Two-way player in the trenches — senior Bryer Reichard — also put together a historic season for the Tigers. On the defensive side of the ball, Reichard holds the Northwestern records for career sacks (17) — with seven of them coming this season — and career tackles for loss (43), with 15 of them coming in 2024.

Joining Reichard on the defensive line were seniors Jared Meck and Jackson Huber.

Meck finished third on the team with 104 tackles from his defensive end position. Meck, who also started on the offensive line, collected 14 tackles for loss and three sacks. Huber was a nightmare for opposing defenses at the nose tackle position and tallied 84 tackles for the Tigers.

Matson, Kern and Wambold were do-it-all type players this season for the Tigers on both sides of the ball. On defense, Matson and Wambold were tough from their linebacker positions. Matson finished with 53 tackles and four tackles for loss, while Wambold finished with 76 tackles. Kern was a ball hawk in the secondary for Northwestern, coming through with five interceptions.

Miller (32 total tackles, four tackles for loss, one interception) and Bailey (20 total tackles) also made an impact for the Tigers on defense.

On the offensive side of the ball, Matson hauled in 20 catches for 410 yards and four touchdowns, and rushed for 177 yards and two scores. Kern made a difference in the run game for the Tigers, rushing for 326 yards and six rushing scores.

Kern also returned a punt for a touchdown this season, while Wambold was a key piece for Northwestern on special teams, as he served as the primary kicker and punter.

“This win means so much to our group of seniors,” said Matson. “We came here last year. We had a great group of seniors last year, too. Unfortunately we lost that game. This past summer we lost a teammate. So, we wanted to get back here for him. So, we were able to get back here, and we were able to get it done.

“We have all been together for our entire careers playing together and for each other. It’s hard to believe right now at the moment that we were able to do this, but we knew we could do it, and we worked our tails off to get here and we were able to finish strong.”

Northwestern finished the season with a school-record 16 wins (16-0), and most importantly won its first-ever PIAA football championship.

“We’ve been playing our whole lives together. We love playing together, and we love playing football as a family,” said Wambold. “It was amazing to be out there on that field with them today winning a state title.

“I think you saw that leadership today. Sometimes it didn’t go our way, but we kept our energy up, and we never gave up and we kept making plays. We all gave it our all, and we’re all so happy that we can bring the gold back to New Tripoli.”