D-11 Football: Blue Mountain pounds Lehighton in Class 4A quarterfinal
Blue Mountain's Kole Luckenbill avoids a Lehighton's Preston DiGrazia (51) en route to a 90-yard kickoff return for a touchdown during Thursday's District 11 Class 4A quarterfinal at the Eagles' Nest. (Photo by Brook Koch-Guers)
ORWIGSBURG — Twelve months ago, Lehighton visited the Eagles’ Nest and stunned Blue Mountain in the District 11 Class 4A quarterfinals.
Thursday night, the Eagles made sure history didn’t repeat itself and earned their first district playoff victory since they won the Class 3A championship in 2007.
Dominating all facets of the game, Blue Mountain blasted Lehighton 42-7 in a Class 4A quarterfinal back at the Eagles’ Nest. The fourth-seeded Eagles (7-4) advance to next week’s semifinals to take on top-seeded Southern Lehigh (10-1), which ousted Bangor 56-0 in another quarterfinal. Kickoff is set for 6:30 p.m. on Thursday, Nov. 6, at Southern Lehigh High School.
The Eagles scored on a kickoff return, an interception return and a fumble return — all in the first half — to turn a 7-7 game into a 35-7 Blue Mountain lead at halftime. The Eagles also racked up 353 yards of total offense, rushing for two scores and passing for another. Defensively, they held Lehighton (5-6) to 115 yards of offense (47 rushing, 68 passing) by controlling the line of scrimmage.
“It was a complete football game and a great effort across the board,” Blue Mountain coach Chuck Kutz said.
Blue Mountain drew first blood, taking the opening kickoff and marching 85 yards in nine plays for a 7-0 lead. Quarterback Cohen Kirby scrambled 23 yards on third-and-12 to keep the drive alive, then found Chase Guers in the end zone for a 29-yard TD toss.
Lehighton, which lost 49-34 to Blue Mountain in Week 7, showed its big-play ability to tie the game. Quarterback Jayse Lawrence rushed for 23 yards, and one play later, he found Caden Meek on a post pattern for 36 yards and the score with 1:23 left in the first quarter.
That tie didn’t last long.
Kole Luckenbill took the ensuing kickoff, raced through a big hole up the middle, then turned on the jets to go 90 yards for the go-ahead touchdown. When Luckenbill kicked his sprinter’s speed into high gear, the Indians had no chance to catch him.
That was just the beginning.
Blue Mountain bottled up 1,000-yard rusher Lucas Croizier, holding him to 14 yards on 11 carries. In the first half, he had nine attempts for minus-1 yard.
“This team puts you in four-down situations a lot, and we did a good job getting off the field defensively tonight to give the ball to our offense,” Kutz said. “It was very important to get those first- and second-down losses so we put them in third down and long. Then we can pin our ears back and come after him.”
And come after him they did.
The Eagles wreaked havoc in the backfield, repeatedly chasing Lawrence and sacking him three times. More than that, the heavy pressure forced mistakes that not only led to turnovers — but turnovers returned for touchdowns.
Blue Mountain scored three TDs in the final 2:46 of the first half to turn a close game into a rout.
First, Carter Smith burst 44 yards for a touchdown and a 21-7 lead.
On Lehighton’s next possession, a fierce rush led to an ill-advised pass by Lawrence. He threw it right into the waiting arms of nose guard Vaughn Helverson. The 295-pounder not only made the interception, but he also rumbled 11 yards for a touchdown.
When Lehighton got the ball back, the pass rush kept coming. Sonny Amato got a strip-sack on Lawrence; Brody Foose picked up the ball and returned the fumble 35 yards for a touchdown with 38 seconds left in the first half. Foose added a 3-yard TD run in the fourth quarter to set the final.
“Sometimes it comes in bunches, and I thought we were aggressive off the corner a lot tonight to make plays,” Kutz said. “That pressure created plays for us. Last year we sat back and didn’t get the win (29-28), and we wanted to make sure we were as aggressive as possible tonight.”
