After suffering losses in the first two weeks of football season to Jersey Shore (55-12) and Wyomissing (49-0), the Pottsville Crimson Tide (1-2) came out storming with a strong run game and a great defensive showcase against the Lehighton Indians (0-3) en route to a 49-21 victory, their first of the season.
“It was a tough (first two weeks),” Pottsville Head Coach Tom McGeoy said. “You know, we had a tough start to the schedule. We came out (tonight)… …our defense rose to the occasion. We played pretty well defensively, caused some turnovers, got a defensive touchdown, whenever we can do that. I think it’s a great night.”
Pottsville marched down the field on their opening possession and scored on a one-yard touchdown by Tejay Allen on a quarterback sneak. On the ensuing kickoff, Lehighton fumbled the ball. Pottsville recovered, giving them the ball on Lehighton’s 22-yard line. Faced with a fourth and two on Lehighton’s 15, the Tide opted to go for it. Allen hit Thomas Scharadin for a touchdown to go up 14-0 only seven minutes into the game. On Lehighton’s next drive, quarterback Brady O’ Donnell hit Ian Rarick, who outran the Pottsville secondary to score a 59-yard touchdown, closing in on the Tide 14-7.
Pottsville did not go away, scoring on their next two possessions on a 77-yard touchdown run by Parrish McFarland and a 44-yard touchdown run by Amaree Bainbridge to make the score 28-7 with 5:34 remaining in the first half. After a Pottsville fumble on a punt, Lehighton had the ball on the Tide’s six-yard line leading to an Ethan Buchert touchdown run. On the ensuing kickoff, Bainbridge took the ball 65 yards untouched for a Crimson Tide touchdown. On Lehighton’s next possession, Evan Drum picked off the pass and took it back for six, increasing Pottsville’s lead to 42-14 at the half.
The low-scoring second half only saw two touchdowns. One on a one-yard plunge from Kole Becker for Pottsville and one on a long pass play from Jayse Lawrence to Joe Roth for Lehighton.
BACKUP QBs… Both starting quarterbacks went down with injuries. Lehighton’s O’ Donnell was ruled out with a concussion in the second half. Freshman QB Jayse Lawrence filled in for the remainder of the game. Tide’s Allen went down early in the third putting Becker in under center for the remainder of the game.
UP NEXT… Pottsville travels to Blue Mountain on Friday, September 16. The start time is at 7:00 p.m. Lehighton will travel to Wilson on Saturday, September 17. The start time is 12:00 p.m.
