Notre Dame of Green Pond comes to Tiger Town on Friday night to take on undefeated Northwestern in the District 11 Class 3A semifinals.

The Crusaders (8-3) defeated Saucon Valley, 56-20, a week ago in the quarterfinal round, while Northwestern (11-0) downed Lehighton, 58-14.

Those victories set up a rematch exactly one year to the day from last year’s District playoff game between the teams won by the Tigers, 35-34.

The Crusaders - averaging nearly 46 points a game - are led by quarterback Danny Darno who has passed for 2,000 yards and 24 touchdowns this season. The dual threat senior has also rushed for 801 yards and 13 TDs.

Tigers’ coach Josh Snyder knows that to slow down Notre Dame’s attack, it starts with controlling their quarterback.

“He’s a big, strong kid who is a force with the ball in his hands. He gets the ball out quickly to a plethora of receivers mostly on timing routes. With his legs, he’s a play-maker, too. He’ll take off right up the middle when they spread out formations.”

Snyder mentioned that his defense will need to be aware of running back Josh Ludlow, who has run for 10 touchdowns and caught 33 passes, with seven of those catches taking him across the goal line.

“He’s a scatback, who is really good in space when they run him on speed sweeps,” said Snyder. “He’s a solid primary target in their pass game, too.”

To stop Notre Dame from scoring in bunches, Snyder said his defense will have to stop its big plays.

“We need get to get stops, and get their quarterback off his platform by controlling the line of scrimmage and not getting up field to give him lanes to run and pass through.”

Northwestern’s offense is highly explosive in its own right, averaging 46 points a game this season.

“We will need to establish the run game. That will keep their offense off the field, and we will have more balance with the passing game this year than we had when we played them last year and were primarily a running team.”

Leading the ground attack for Northwestern is workhorse Dalton Clymer, whose’s rushed for 1,151 yards and 18 touchdowns this season, with an average of nearly eight yards a carry. Against previously unbeaten Southern Lehigh in Northwestern’s regular season finale, Clymer carried the rock 34 times for 240 yards and three scores.

Quarterback Shane Leh spearheads the Tigers’ pass offense as he’s thrown for 1,203 yards and 19 touchdowns to a variety of receivers.

“We will do what we’ve been doing all year, and that is to take what the defense gives us,” said Snyder.

Notre Dame uses a no-huddle, extremely up-tempo offense, which Snyder acknowledges is difficult to simulate in practice.

“We’ve been fortunate to have our JV players run the scout team. During the game, we will have enough depth so we shouldn’t get tired because not all our players play offense and defense.”

Snyder feels the game will be won in the trenches, and said he believes his offensive line is up for the challenge.

“We can dictate the outcome of the game with our guys up front,” he said.

As far as not letting the Crusaders put big numbers on the scoreboard, he said the dominance his defense displayed in the Southern Lehigh game has given them the confidence that they can do the same against Notre Dame.

“We want to take away their run, and make them one-dimensional and look to create turnovers,” said Snyder. “We need to get them on their heels when we have the ball. It comes down to controlling the game at the line of scrimmage.”

The winner of this game will play the winner of the North Schuylkill-Palmerton game next week for the District 11 title.