Justin Holmes is proud of all the accomplishments he achieved on the football field during his senior season.

The Northwestern quarterback eclipsed 1,000 yards both rushing and passing while scoring 39 touchdowns.

He was a leader on both offense and defense for the Tigers, statistically and emotionally.

Holmes earned recognition as the Colonial League’s Most Valuable Player, and got a second selection to the Pennsylvania Football Writers’ All-State team.

But there’s one accomplishment that he will always take a bit more pride in than the others.

“We went undefeated in the regular season,” said Holmes. “It was the first time we ever did that.”

In his second year as Northwestern’s starting quarterback, Holmes not only led the Tigers to the Colonial League title, but also the first undefeated regular season in school history.

Those accomplishments earned Holmes his second consecutive Times News/Lehigh Valley Health Network Football Player of the Year selection.

One of the keys to Holmes’ success is that he loves every aspect of football, not just playing games but all the things that lead up to what fans see under the Friday night lights.

“I enjoy everything, especially when you’re with your teammates the whole time,” said Holmes. “It’s just a bunch of brothers watching each other on film and stuff like that, getting better, joking around a little bit. In the weight room everyone is always hyping each other up. It’s good to be part of almost a family that way.”

In Holmes’ two years as the starting quarterback, the Tigers won every Colonial League game Holmes started. They went 5-0 in league play in 2020, before going 10-0 last fall.

“I love the team stuff,” he said. “The season wouldn’t be fun if I was trying to run up my stats and we weren’t getting the victory.”

Holmes was a dual threat at quarterback this season, as he completed 68-of-125 passes for 1,305 yards and 18 touchdowns, while throwing just seven interceptions. He also rushed 175 times for 1,329 yards and 20 touchdowns.

“I did what coach wanted me to do,” he said. “I was running the ball most of the time as the quarterback, and I was OK with that. When I needed to throw the ball, Cade [Christopher] was always open for me.”

Add in his four receptions for 37 yards and a score, and Holmes accounted for 39 of his team’s 62 touchdowns this season, upping his career total to 81.

He was also the team’s second-leading tackler, and had a team-high six tackles for loss. As a tight end at Kent State next year, Holmes probably won’t get the opportunity to make many tackles.

“I’ll definitely miss the defensive side of the ball,” he said. “The game is going to be longer in college, and it’s going to be weird that I’m sitting on the sideline while the defense is out there.”

Holmes rarely sat on the sidelines during his high school career. He started at wide receiver during his sophomore year, and has been one of the Tigers’ key players for three straight seasons.

This year, he took on more of a leadership role, though he acknowledged his team had plenty of leaders.

“We had 14 seniors, and we were all leaders on and off the field,” he said. “It was awesome. We all got really close.”

A three-sport athlete in his first three years of high school, Holmes is not playing baseball and basketball during his senior year in part because of a thumb injury suffered in the Tigers’ district playoff loss to Central Catholic, but also because he plans to graduate early and be in Ohio for spring practice with the Golden Flashes.

Holmes was one of the Tigers’ top starting pitchers last season, as well as and a starter on the varsity basketball team during his junior year.

Football was always his favorite sport. Now it will be his only sport, and Holmes looks forward to it.

“For football to actually be year-round all the time, practices all year and everything like that, I’m excited to see how I’ll improve just focusing on one sport,” he said. “It’s going to be different not playing baseball and basketball, but at the same time I’m really excited for football.”

Holmes is the second member of his family to earn at TN/LVHN Player of the Year honor. His brother, Derek, a former three-sport Tiger athlete who plays baseball at Moravian University, received the selection for baseball in 2019.