By Brian Ptashinski @BPtashinski on Twitter
LEHIGHTON – The Lehighton Indians, playing in their home opener, seized momentum early and cruised to a 53-21 win over an overmatched, but game, Schuylkill Valley Friday night in Lehighton in a non-league game. Both teams came into the contest at 2-0. Both teams had a common opponent in Fleetwood, which Lehighton defeated 43-6 and Schuylkill Valley did the same by a score of 42-20.
The Indians stormed out of the gate by scoring on their first seven possessions of the night taking a 46-14 lead into intermission. The home team took advantage of great field position most of the first half as six of the seven scores started with drives in Panther territory. After SV took the opening kickoff at their 29, in three plays they netted minus 13 yards. A shanked punt went out of bounds at the 28 of the visitors. Taquon Bradley-Chambers completed the drive with a seven-yard run with two minutes gone.
After another Panther punt gave the Indians the ball at midfield, QB Cody Scherer connected with Colin Trowell for 27 yards. The two-point conversion was good making the score 14-0 with about seven minutes left in the quarter. The Panthers attempted a fake punt deep in their territory but failed and a unsportsmanlike penalty gave the Indians the ball at the 12-yard line. Scherer hit Zach Crum for a seven-yard score and a 22-0 lead. The next drive for Lehighton began on the visitors 43. Scherer again hooked up with Crum from 21 yards out extending the lead to 29-0 at the close of the opening quarter.
Lehighton had the ball at the Panther two to start the second quarter. Cameron Christman capped the 33 yard drive with a score on their first play making the score 36-0. The Panthers were able to force the Indians to start a drive in their own territory, after a punt sailed to the home team’s 38. It only took one play for Bradley-Chambers to take off 62 yards on an electrifying run dodging several would-be tacklers near the goal line. Lehighton added a 33-yard field goal with 6:42 left in the half making the score 46-0.
“We came out to play tonight, on both sides of the ball they did a great job. We got a little complacent there by giving up a couple of scores before half, but overall I think we made a statement tonight against a pretty good football team,” said Coach Tom McCarroll.
With Lehighton substituting their starters, Schuylkill Valley did manage to get on the scoreboard as QB Anikin Sky Glassmire connected with Joe Jardine at the 6:21 mark. RB Jackson Brown scooted in from 16 yards out to make the score 46-14 with 1:59 on the clock. They avoided having the second half beginning with mercy rule.
That would not last long as the Indians took the second half kickoff and drove the ball to the Panther seven. From there Scherer connected with Tyler Steigerwalt for seven yards and a 53-14 lead with 9:50 to play in the quarter. Tyler Worrell closed out the scoring as he scored from a yard out with under a minute left in the contest.
Cody Scherer completed 4 of 12 passes for just 62 yards, but all four went for scores. Bradley-Chambers led the rushing attack that amassed 298 yards on 44 tallies. He finished the night with 185 yards on just 13 carries and 2 scores. Glassmire led the Panthers by completing 9 of 16 passes for 156 yards and one TD.
Next Friday Lehighton (3-0) will be home with Marian Catholic (1-2) who lost to North Schuylkill 35-0 Friday night. Schuylkill Valley will try to get back on track at home against Pope John Paul II (3-0) who defeated Chichester Friday by a score of 21-20.
