Lions Leave Their Mark: Lackawanna Trail’s Special Season Ends in State Quarterfinal Shootout
By: Matt Flanagan | SportzWire | November 22, 2025 | Photo courtesy Andrea Mecca
SLATINGTON – Lackawanna Trail’s season came to a halt Friday night, but it didn’t go quietly. The Lions traded blows with District 12 champion Belmont Charter in a PIAA Class 1A quarterfinal at Northern Lehigh’s Bulldog Stadium, eventually falling 52–40 in a misty, big-play shootout. After a scoreless first quarter, Belmont turned three Trail turnovers into 20 points and later cashed in on two fourth-down stops for another 12, creating just enough separation to survive the District 2 champs’ relentless ground attack. The loss snapped a ten-game winning streak and locked in a 12–2 final record for Lackawanna Trail, who had rolled into the state quarters as one of the hottest teams in Pennsylvania.
The Lions’ run was built on a dominant stretch where they simply overpowered opponents. Trail stacked statement wins over Riverside (40–14), Nativity BVM (50–6), and Tri-Valley (41–14), then opened the state tournament by handing previously unbeaten Line Mountain its first loss, 31–20, in Shamokin. In that first-round win, the defense set the tone early when a tipped ball by lineman Kaylix Douglas turned into a 75-yard pick-six for quarterback/linebacker Tyler Jervis, and the Lions’ front seven settled in from there. Offensively, they leaned on their identity: a physical, clock-eating ground game that piled up 244 rushing yards and four touchdowns against Line Mountain, with senior running back Isaac Ryon rumbling for 145 yards and two scores, while Jervis added 75 yards and a touchdown on just ten carries.
Ryon’s season belongs in any conversation about the state’s elite. The senior finished with 2,780 rushing yards, 46 rushing touchdowns, and 50 total touchdowns, averaging 213.8 rushing yards per game and repeatedly delivering monster performances — including 319 yards vs. Tri-Valley, 212 against Nativity BVM, and 370 against Riverside — as Trail powered its way to yet another District 2 title. Around him, veterans like Jervis and a seasoned offensive line upheld a standard that has made the Lions a fixture in the small-school playoff picture, extending a program tradition that predates this group. Friday’s result will sting, but it doesn’t define the year; instead, 2025 will be remembered as the season Lackawanna Trail once again carried the banner for District 2, pushed into the state’s final eight, and showed that anyone chasing 1A glory must be ready to deal with Lion football.
