Indians beat Jim Thorpe in battle of unbeatens

Respect everyone. Fear no one.

That could have been the theme for the Lehighton offense Friday night.

Facing a Jim Thorpe defense that had six shutouts on the season and was widely regarded as one of the best in District 11, the Indians never flinched.

Lehighton scored touchdowns on its first three possessions and rolled to a 43-27 victory in the battle of unbeatens.

“Our kids read about Jim Thorpe’s defense. They knew about the Red Swarm (nickname),” said McCarroll. “But we think our offense is pretty good too and we used that as motivation.

“We embrace those kind of challenges. Our team has played with a chip on its shoulder all year. We like proving people wrong.”

The Olympians (9-1) entered the game having allowed just 51 points the entire season, and the Indians came close to matching that in 48 minutes.

“Forty-three points against the Red Swarm defense. That’s a pretty good performance,” said Lehighton quarterback Cody Scherer, who put on an incredible performance, rushing for 214 yards and passing for 215 more. “Everyone talks about their defense — and they had a great season — but we have a lot of confidence in our offense.

“We respected them, but there was no intimidation or fear going against them. We wanted to show our offense was better.”

The Indians did just that.

Lehighton’s first three possessions ended in touchdowns, as it built an 18-0 lead with 10:09 left in the second quarter. A pair of Scherer to Zack Crum TD passes sandwiched around a 56-yard TaQuan Bradley-Chambers scoring run produced the lead.

“You can’t spot a great team like Lehighton a three-touchdown lead,” said Jim Thorpe coach Mark Rosenberger. “Lehighton made plays and we didn’t. I didn’t think we played very well, but give Lehighton credit for that.

“They have a couple of great athletes (Scherer and Bradley-Chambers). Every time I thought we had them bottled up, it seemed like they busted loose for a big play.”

Thorpe did battle back from the early deficit and got within 21-14 on a five-yard TD run by Nick Rosahac late in the third quarter. But Scherer answered with an 81-yard touchdown two plays later.

Once again, the Olympians got within a score, as Dominic Madera scored from two yards out with 8:35 remaining in the game to make it 29-21.

Scherer had the perfect response again, however, this time going 74 yards for the score after Thorpe made it close.

The Indians then erased any hope of a Jim Thorpe comeback when Chris Whiteman intercepted a Rosahac pass in the end zone and Lehighton went 80 yards in just five plays to seal the victory. The third TD pass of the game between Scherer and Crum, this one covering 28 yards, accounted for the score.

“I’m really happy with how our entire line played today, said Lehighton two-way tackle Dane Frantz, who was part of a Lehighton offense that racked up a school record 643 yards of offense “They had the reputation of being a great defensive team, so that had us motivated to show what we could do.

“When you have two great players like Cody and TaQuan, it makes a lineman’s job much easier. They are a lot of fun to block for. All you need to do is give them a little running room and they’re in the secondary or scoring touchdowns.”

AIRING IT OUT ... Lehighton threw for a season-high 215 yards, including seven passing plays of 10-or-more yards. “We felt like their secondary hadn’t really been tested all year, and we thought we could make some plays against them with our passing attack,” McCarroll said.

DOUBLE TROUBLE ... Scherer and Bradley-Chambers both ran for over 200 yards in the game, with Scherer finishing with 214 yards and TBC adding 202. Prior to last night, the Olympians hadn’t allowed one running back to gain 100 yards against them this year.

UP NEXT ... Both teams advance to the District 11 Class 3A playoffs next Saturday. The Indians will be the No. 2 seed and host either Salisbury or Wilson. Jim Thorpe will be the No. 3 seed and entertain Tamaqua in a rematch of their wild finish from two weeks ago.

BANGED UP BACKS ... Olympian standout St. Hill was injured in the first half. He came out for the opening series of the second half and carried the ball once, but didn’t return to the field after that. Backup halfback CJ Selby filled in, but struggled with what appeared to be cramping on a couple of occasions, which led to Madera seeing time in the backfield. All three of the Olympians halfbacks had over 75 yards rushing in the game.