BETHLEHEM - The Lehighton football team has faced some dynamic athletes this season, but none was as dominant as the senior it faced Saturday night in the District 11 Class AAA semifinals.

Michael McDaniel was a thorn in the side of the Indians all night, and on both sides of the ball. The senior tailback/cornerback rushed for 251 yards on 31 carries and four touchdowns on offense and threw in a 73-yard fumble return on defense as Bethlehem Catholic (10-1) earned a berth to a second straight Class 3A final with a resounding 55-18 win at Bethlehem Area School District stadium.The Indians had trouble keeping up with McDaniel and a high-powered, up-tempo Becahi offense that racked up 463 yards of offense and registered its fifth performance of 52 points or more. McDaniel could have had an even bigger night, but he had three TD runs of 39 yards or more all wiped out by penalties.We knew we were going to have a tough time, but I am proud of how our kids fought," third-year head coach Tom McCarroll said. "It's kind of tough and emotional right now and you have to tip your cap to Bethlehem Catholic. But I was happy with how our kids battled."It was the second time in a row that Lehighton has fallen to Becahi, and in the same round of the district tournament. In 2013, the Golden Hawks were victorious 34-6.Though the Indians were able to put up more points on the scoreboard, it was still a tough task to slow down the Bethlehem Catholic offense, and keep up in scoring. Turnovers and penalties also doomed Lehighton. Along with the fumble, there were two interceptions thrown."It was reminiscent of last year because we shot ourselves in the foot an awful lot," noted McCarroll. "At times we moved the ball and crucial penalties hurt us. And then in the second quarter we moved it inside the 30 and then we fumbled and they returned it for a touchdown. That was a huge momentum killer for us. They're too good a team for us to make mistakes like that and expect to win."The Indians, primarily a running team, had a big night from junior back Wyatt Clements. Clements rushed for 101 yards and a touchdown on 21 attempts."We had more success on the ground this year than we had last year," McCarroll added. "But we couldn't find any consistency."The inconsistency was evident on the scoreboard.Becahi opened the scoring on the first drive of the game, which only took four plays, and Lehighton was quickly down 7-0. But just 12 seconds later, Tyler Crum ran back the ensuing kickoff 89 yards for a score to pull the Indians to within 7-6 after the extra point was missed.After that score however, that was the closest the Indians would get the rest of the game. It was 27-6 at halftime.Tyler Cann threw for 102 yards and a 53-yard touchdown strike to Tegan Durishin in the fourth quarter."I told the kids I'm proud of them," stated McCarroll. "I mean we made districts two years in a row, and before last year Lehighton hadn't made it to districts since either 2006 or 2007. It's a special group of kids."