Schuylkill Haven's Colton Reber races through a big hole for a large gain in Saturday's District 11 Class AA quarterfinal against Palisades at Rotary Field. The Hurricanes won 64-14 (Ashley Donatti).

SCHUYLKILL HAVEN — Fifteen seconds.

That’s all it took for Schuylkill Haven to set the tone for its District 11 Class AA quarterfinal Saturday evening at Rotary Field.

Leyden Hertz cradled the opening kickoff at his 10, darted upfield, weaved in and out of traffic, then turned on the jets for a 90-yard touchdown that put the Hurricanes ahead to stay. Schuylkill Haven’s vaunted running game took over from there as the top-seeded Hurricanes cruised to a 64-14 victory over No. 8 Palisades.

“He kicked it, and it was really deep,’’ Hertz said. “I caught it, saw a lane, took it, and it worked out well. One thing we do is we try to get the ball first, take that confidence away from the other team, get a good morale going early in the game. Nothing else could do it more than that. … I feel it kills the (other) team. When you start off with a kick return, that just kills the morale.’’

With the win, Schuylkill Haven (10-1) advances to next Saturday’s semifinal against No. 5 Executive Education Academy Charter (6-4-1), which ousted No. 4 Minersville 26-6 on Saturday. Game time is 6 p.m. at Schuylkill Haven’s Rotary Field.

No. 2 Williams Valley (10-1) will host No. 6 Pen Argyl (5-6) in next Saturday’s other semifinal.

After Hertz’s kickoff return, the Hurricanes scored touchdowns — and four two-point conversion runs — on eight of their next nine possessions.

“For us, it’s about once you get a train moving, it’s hard to slow down,’’ Schuylkill Haven coach Mike Farr said. “Let’s get out fast. Hertzy really made a great play for us, gave us the momentum early.’’

The Hurricanes’ offensive and defensive lines took over and dominated more and more as the game went on.

In the first half, Schuylkill Haven rushed 24 times for 298 yards to build a 36-7 lead at the break. Palisades (3-8) rushed seven times for zero yards.

For the game, the Hurricanes piled up 550 yards rushing on 43 attempts (12.8 per carry). The Pirates ran 13 times for 12 yards.

“They’re dudes,’’ Farr said. “They’re going to come on you. They understand the expectations about putting their face on people and moving people out of the way. Defensively, it’s about using your hands and getting people off of them. They’re just great kids, and they’re truly just starting to come into their own.’’

Still, Palisades showed some life to start the second half. On the first play, quarterback Jack Trickel dumped a short pass to Ashton Fitzgerald, and the shifty scatback juked his way to a 61-yard touchdown, cutting the deficit to 36-14.

That touchdown just seemed to irritate and fire up Niko Carestia.

In the third quarter alone, the junior running back carried eight times for 133 yards and three touchdowns. Carestia scored on runs of 6, 20 and 32 yards as Schuylkill Haven’s lead grew to 57-14 after three periods.

“I was a little mad,’’ Carestia said. “When you run angry, you run a little ferocious. So I was just using that.’’

On the night, Carestia carried 21 times for 313 yards, three TDs and a pair of two-point conversion runs. He has rushed for 2,437 yards and 33 TDs so far this season,

Schuylkill Haven’s other backs had big nights as well.

Colton Reber racked up 147 yards and two TDs on just 11 carries. That put Reber over the 1,000-yard mark for the season (1,047).

Niko Castillo added 85 yards on eight carries, including TD runs of 52 and 4 yards.

For good measure, quarterback Brayden Fasnacht tossed a 17-yard touchdown pass to Hertz with 41 seconds left in the first half.

“We’re still trying to put all of the pieces together,’’ Carestia said. “I give Palisades a lot of credit. We came out flat. We thought this was going to be a rollover win, and they really made us work.

“We came out in the second half, I felt we came out a lot better,’’ he added. “We’re taking our steps. We’re getting to our guys. Doing our assignments. I think definitely the second half we were a lot better team than in the first half.’’

Game Summary

Schuylkill Haven 64, Palisades 14 

Palisades (3-7)            0       7       7       0  — 14

Sch. Haven (10-1)      22     14     21     7  — 64

SH — Hertz 90 kickoff return (run failed)

SH — Castillo 52 run (Reber run)

SH — Reber 24 run (Castillo run)

Pali — Borgeson 9 pass from Trickel (Borgeson kick)

SH — Reber 3 run (Carestia run)

SH — Hertz 17 pass from Fasnacht (run failed)

Pali — Fitzgerald 61 pass from Trickel (Borgeson kick)

SH — Carestia 6 run (Carestia run)

SH — Carestia 20 run (kick failed)

SH — Carestia 32 run (Correll kick)

SH — Castillo 4 run (Correll kick)

Team Statistics

Pali-SH

First Downs —- 6      17

Rushes-Yards — 13-12      43-550

Passes —- 16-28-0      1-2-0

Passing Yards —- 148      17

Total Yards —- 160      567

Fumbles/Lost —- 1-1      0-0

Penalties — 5-40      5-25

Individual Statistics

RUSHING: Palisades — Cook 1-9, Haubert 8-7, Fitzgerald 1-5, Trickel 3-(-9). Schuylkill Haven — Carestia 21-313, Reber 11-147, Castillo 8-85, Goad 2-8, Balulis 1-(-3).

PASSING: Palisades —- Trickel 16-28-0, 148; Woerner 0-1-0, 0. Schuylkill Haven —- Fasnacht 1-2-0, 17.

RECEIVING: Palisades — Fitzgerald 2-63, Cook 7-35, Borgeson 2-17, Woerner 2-16, Haubert 2-12, Smith 1-5. Schuylkill Haven — Hertz 1-17.

INTERCEPTIONS: None.