The Southern Lehigh Spartans are state football champions. The Spartans beat Twin Valley 43-21 to win the PIAA Class 4A title Thursday night. Senior Sean Steckert says while they were leading at the half, they weren't satisfied with how they were playing. "We were up 17-14, but we knew we could be better. We came out and showed who we are. We made a couple mistakes in the beginning, but we showed who we are in the second half," Steckert says. Steckert ran for a remarkable 301 yards and four touchdowns in the win. Another local school could become state champs tomorrow. Northwestern Lehigh plays Avonworth Saturday afternoon at 1 at Cumberland Valley High School for the Class 3A title. Northwestern Lehigh won the state title last year.
Lehigh begins what it hopes will be a long playoff run Saturday afternoon when it hosts Villanova. The Mountain Hawks had a bye in round one of the FCS playoffs last week and head coach Kevin Cahill says it was appreciated. "We had a chance to rest and get some bodies healed up. Everybody is banged up at this point, so nobody is 100 percent, nobody at this point in the season has got everybody ready to go. We're trying to make sure we've got our best 11 on the field for each play and move forward," Cahill says. Villanova is 10-2 and Lehigh is a perfect 12-0.
A district judge has ruled there's enough evidence for two men to go on trial for a June 2024 murder of a man in Fountain Park in Allentown. Alfeni Romero-Tavares and Joel Garcia-Paulino, both of Allentown, are both charged with homicide and related charges for the killing of Angel Martinez-Velez. Two other men have already been convicted in the case. One has been sentenced to 20-to-40 years in prison, while the second will be sentenced in January. Another suspect is awaiting trial.
Accu-Weather's Joe Lundberg says if you have late night plans tonight, you may have to pay attention to the weather. "There could be some light precipitation, maybe a little freezing drizzle, maybe a little light snow. I don't think that it's much and most of it will occur later tonight, like after midnight," Lundberg says. As for the remainder of the weekend, it should be mostly cloudy with highs in the mid-to-upper 30s.
President Trump is set to travel to Pennsylvania next week for remarks on the economy and inflation. The president is looking to discuss his economic agenda as polls consistently show Americans are concerned about their financial outlooks. A White House official shared the visit is expected to "reiterate or underscore" previous claims from the administration that the president's policies have bolstered the economy. The exact location of the president's visit has yet to be announced.
Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro is pushing back on former Vice President Kamala Harris' depiction of him in her memoir, 107 Days. According to the memoir, which was released earlier this year, Shapiro was fixated on the vice presidential residence and wanted to be "in the room for every decision" if she was elected president. However, during an interview with the Atlantic, Shapiro, who was reportedly being consideration as a running mate for Harris, said "her accounts are just blatant lies." He also accused the former vice president of "trying to sell books" and cover for her loss to President Trump in the 2024 election.
Pennsylvania Attorney General Dave Sunday doesn't sugarcoat it. He says simply, "There are not enough people that want to be police officers." Sunday calls it a statewide crisis. Earlier this year, the state Senate adopted a resolution creating a law enforcement recruitment and retention task force. That group's job will be to identify why staffing challenges exist and find solutions. The task force's recommendations will be made to lawmakers by late spring.
Penn State University and the Pennsylvania Department of Education want the state Supreme Court to reverse a recent lower court ruling and stop the release of internal Board of Trustees documents. Two-and-a-half years ago, the news organization Spotlight PA requested Board of Trustees documents and the Office of Open Records ruled then some of the requested records be made public. Penn State and the D.O.E. appealed to the Commonwealth Court, which upheld the previous ruling.
Governor Phil Murphy is in Washington D.C. today for the World Cup Final Draw, with matches to be played next year in New Jersey. Teams will find out where they are placed in groups that will be part of next year's World Cup. The Final Draw takes place at noon today at the JKF Center in D.C. Eight World Cup matches including the final will be played at MetLife Stadium in New Jersey.
A top player on the Eagles defense will miss a Monday Night Football showdown against the Chargers from Inglewood. Jalen Carter underwent a procedure on Monday to address injuries to both of his shoulders. He's considered week-to-week. Carter has been dealing with shoulder issues for most of the season and has only two sacks to go with just over 30 tackles this year.