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Belle Vernon 38, Northwestern Lehigh 7: Live updates recap from Pennsylvania 3A football championship

Follow our live updates to see who takes the PIAA title in Class 3A

Mike Swanson

We've reached the final day of Pennsylvania high school football state championships, and leading off the action Saturday at Cumberland Valley High School are Belle Vernon and Northwestern Lehigh.

Belle Vernon and Northwestern Lehigh are the last two teams standing in PIAA Class 3A and will meet at 1 p.m. Eastern time Saturday, Dec. 9, to play for the title.

Read below for our live updates recap from the Class 3A high school football state championship game. Check SBLive Pennsylvania for game coverage from SBLive's Ryan Isley throughout the state championships.

FINAL: Belle Vernon 38, Northwestern Lehigh 7 (game story)

FOURTH QUARTER UPDATES

TOUCHDOWN BELLE VERNON! Jake Gedekoh with a short TD run to make it 38-7 Leopards with 6:36 left.

FUMBLE! Belle Vernon takes over on the Tigers' 45 with 9:20 left, leading 31-7.

FIELD GOAL BELLE VERNON! Preston Hathaway just clears the crossbar from 44 yards out to make it 31-7 Leopards with 10:08 left in the game.

THIRD QUARTER UPDATES

Quarter ends with Belle Vernon leading 28-7, and the Leopards have the ball on the Tigers' 34 to start the fourth.

INTERCEPTION! Northwestern Lehigh goes deep but Belle Vernon's Adam LaCarte grabs the pick. Ouch. Leopards ball on their own 27, 5:39 left.

TOUCHDOWN BELLE VERNON! Quinton Martin takes the handoff and takes off, running 92 yards for the TD. It's 28-7 Leopards with six minutes left.

Second half is underway! Northwestern Lehigh starts on its own 18, trailing 21-7.

SECOND QUARTER UPDATES

Half ends with Belle Vernon leading 21-7. Northwestern Lehigh gets the ball to start the third.

TOUCHDOWN NW LEHIGH! Huge TD for the Tigers before halftime. Shane Leh connects with Landen Matson for 17 yards to make it 21-7 Belle Vernon with 35 seconds left. Big connection from Leh to Devon Hildebrand set it up.

TOUCHDOWN BELLE VERNON! Leopards finish off a 98-yard drive with a Braden Laux QB sneak to make it 21-0 with 1:48 left in the half. Big run by Jake Gedekoh set it up.

TURNOVER ON DOWNS! Belle Vernon stuffs the run at the goal line on fourth down and takes over on its own 2. Leopards still up 14-0 with six minutes left in the half.

FUMBLE! Northwestern Lehigh gets its first big break, forcing a fumble on a Belle Vernon punt return to get excellent field position, trailing 14-0 early in the second quarter. Daniel Jenkins forced it and Landen Matson recovered.

FIRST QUARTER UPDATES

A holding penalty negates a first-down run by Quinton Martin, so Belle Vernon has to punt. Quarter ends with Belle Vernon leading 14-0, Northwestern Lehigh ball on its own 22.

TOUCHDOWN BELLE VERNON! It's Anthony Crews again with the best run of these championships to make it 14-0, 7:52 left. It went for 62 yards.

TOUCHDOWN BELLE VERNON! It's not Quinton Martin, but Anthony Crews who returns the opening kickoff 78 yards for a TD. 7-0 right away!

PREGAME UPDATES

With Belle Vernon getting the ball first, the first bit of drama will be whether Northwestern Lehigh dares to kick it to Quinton Martin. We're guessing no.

Belle Vernon wins the toss and elects to receive to start the game.

PREGAME READING

The Leopards and Tigers have made impressive runs through the 3A playoffs to make it to the championship game. 

Belle Vernon cruised past East Allegheny 49-8, Avonworth 26-0 and Hickory 42-16 to get here, while Northwestern Lehigh beat Palmerton Area 58-8, Scranton Prep 27-6 and Wyomissing 33-24.

Northwestern Lehigh is led by running back Dalton Clymer, who enters the game with 1,801 yards rushing on 268 carries with 31 touchdowns.

Belle Vernon has the top-ranked senior recruit in the state in Quinton Martin, who's committed to Penn State.

Martin has 107 carries for 1,027 yards and 15 touchdowns, plus 48 catches for 733 yards and 11 touchdowns, and he's also the team's best defensive back and return man.

Northwestern Lehigh vs. Belle Vernon Pennsylvania high school football Class 3A state championship notes, history, prediction

Pennsylvania high school football playoff scores: state championships (12/09/2023)

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Anthony Crews scored two touchdowns in the first half for Belle Vernon.
Anthony Crews scored two touchdowns in the first half for Belle Vernon / Ryan Isley, SBLive Sports

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-- Mike Swanson | swanson@scorebooklive.com | @sblivesports

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Mike Swanson, SBLive Sports
MIKE SWANSON

Mike Swanson is the VP of Content for High School On SI. He's been in journalism since 2003, having worked as a reporter, city editor, copy editor and high school sports editor in California, Connecticut and Oregon.

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