Panther Valley Blitzed By Lehighton

By Brian Ptashinski @BPtashinski on Twitter

LEHIGHTON- Thursday night at Lehighton Indian Stadium was the fifth annual Bo Tkach Memorial Foundation football game. When the night ended, the Lehighton Indians found themselves holding the award after a convincing 43-16 thrashing of Panther Valley.

The game started off positive for the visiting Panthers as they took the opening kickoff and journeyed 67 yards in ten plays, that culminated in Hunter Kennedy going in from a yard out. Rene Figueroa ran in the two-point conversion to take a 8-0 lead at the 7:14 mark of the quarter.

That score seemed to awaken the Indians, as they answered with a 66 yard nine-play drive. QB Cody Scherer connected with Zack Crum for 22 yards. The two-point conversion failed leaving the score at 8-6 with 5:09 left.

The key moment of the contest occurred on the Panthers next possession. As they had a fourth and six from their own 45. Kennedy’s pass out in the flat fell short of its’ mark and the Indians took possession. Scherer hit RB TaQuon Bradley-Chambers on a swing pass for a score. Scherer converted the two-points this time giving the home team the lead for good at 14-8.

Panther Valley started their next drive inside the five-yard line following a penalty. Scherer, playing LB on defense, came through the line and forced RB Jon Hafer to fumble the ball and Indians recovered. Scherer then took it in the end zone from a yard out making the score 22-8.

“We’ve been hitting on all cylinders all season. We are doing some fantastic things up to this point. I like where we are as a team,” said Indian coach Tom McCarroll afterwards.

Scherer completed 7 of 11 passes for 154 yards a two TD’s. He also rushed for 47 yards and three scores. Bradley-Chambers gained 101 yards on the ground on just 12 tallies.

Lehighton scored all of its 43 points in the first half. In the second quarter, Bradley-Chambers had a ten-yard run. Scherer scored twice more from three and four yards out to give his team a 43-8 lead at intermission.

The second half started under the mercy rule. Lehighton received the kickoff and Bradley-Chambers returned it 87 yards for an apparent score, but a block in the back call at the Panthers ten nullified that score.

Panther Valley did manage to find the end zone one more time as backup QB Ethan Reis connected with Tristen Blasko on a fade route from ten yards out capped off the night.

Lehighton, now 5-0 on the season gets into the heart of their schedule as they travel to Ashland next Friday to face unbeaten North Schuylkill. North Schuylkill will be hosting 3-1 Mount Carmel tonight. Panther Valley, who is now 2-3 and on three game skid, will be at Marion Catholic next week.