Lehighton rolls past Bangor for 1st win of season
Story special to T102SportsNow.com
By SAM MATTA
LEHIGHTON — Cash and Carry stole the thunder and lightning from Bangor’s football team here Thursday evening.
Riding the legs of sophomore Lucas Crozier and junior Jayse Lawrence helped send Lehighton to an impressive 33-7 win over the Slaters in a Schuylkill/Colonial Red Division game at Lehighton’s Multi-Purpose Stadium. It was a blend of both underclassmen along with a terrific offensive line that set the tempo early.
The Indians seized a 13-0 lead in the first quarter, roared to a 20-0 lead at the break. Though the Slaters found their only answer in the second half to interrupt the momentum, the Tribe never wavered, posting a pair of touchdowns in the final two quarters.
The win evens Lehighton’s record at 1-1, while Bangor falls to 0-2 to start the season.
As for Cash and Carry, Crozier churned out 93 yards on 14 carries, darting into the end zone on a 9-yard score for his only touchdown of the evening that pushed the Tribe in front 13-0 with 1:19 to play the first quarter.
“I’m just looking for a hole, if I see something I bounce inside, it doesn’t matter, I’m just trying to make a play,” said Crozier a 5-foot-9, 165-pound dynamo.
Lawrence engineered all five touchdown drives, accounting for 74 yards rushing on 14 carries. He cracked the end zone on the team’s first drive, a 62-yard march, racing in from 3 yards out to give his team a 6-0 lead. Lawrence also fired a pair of touchdown passes — a 5-yard strike to Logan Kent and a 24-yard pass to Blake Roberts — to cap the evening’s scoring. Oh, by the way, he picked off a pass as well.
“I’m just trying to make plays,” Lawrence said in directing the RPO offense. “I just read my keys, and if I see something I’ll take the ball and run with it. If I notice the end (coming down) then I have options.”
The slick quarterback, one of the team leaders, said that he wasn’t going to let the Indians’ season-opening loss to Northern Lehigh affect the team’s play.
“I told the guys we can’t do what we did the second half,” Lawrence said of the fourth quarter collapse after leading 14-0. “We have to buy in until the end.”
Indeed, his words weren’t falling on deaf ears. The Indians controlled the game from start to finish.
“Last week we played really good for three quarters,” Lehighton head coach Tom McCarroll said. “We led it slip away … that was the message. We needed an attitude, we needed to be more aggressive.”
Lehighton came up with its longest drive of the night to go ahead 20-0 at the half. Marching 68 yards on 12 plays, the Indians called Roberts number on a 3-yard run. Lawrence came up big in the drive. He flung an 18-yard pass to Roberts on the second play of the drive and found Caden Meek twice for 10-yard gains, the second of which came on a fourth-down play that put Lehighton at the Bangor 3 and set up Roberts’ touchdown.
Bangor finally hit the scoreboard with a 77-yard drive as quarterback Jaxson Kreider found Jace Labar running down the middle of the seam free and uncovered for a 26-yard touchdown that cut the deficit to 20-7 with 7:27 in the third quarter.
However, the Tribe got back on track with two fourth-quarter touchdowns. Kent hit the end zone first before Roberts got his second six-pointer of the night by hauling in a 26-yard touchdown.
“I’ll tell you we answered the bell,” McCarroll said. “We showed a lot, our entire offensive line was great … it was a big key for us to control the ball and run it effectively.”
BY THE NUMBERS … Indians defense was stingy and tough to run on. They allowed 65 yards rushing on 17 attempts. Bangor did throw for 100 yards, quarterback Kreider completed 12 passes. Lawrence threw for 93 yards, 7-10.
QUOTABLE I … “Our offensive line is completely different mentality from a year ago.” McCarroll praising the trench warriors.
QUOTABLE II … “He’s grown up since he was a freshman … the moment is not too big for him.” McCarroll on quarterback Lawrence.
