ORWIGSBURG Turnovers can make you or break you.

For Lehighton on Friday night, they may have saved them.Locked in a tight Anthracite Football League clash with Blue Mountain, the Indians recovered two second-half fumbles that stopped drives and helped preserve a hard-fought 21-14 victory."Those were huge," said Lehighton head coach Tom McCarroll of the takeaways. "Our defense prides itself on getting turnovers. I challenged them at halftime to come out in the second half and I said, 'We need some turnovers.'"This year we've been more of a bend but not break defense. It's not what we want but we have a lot of confidence in these kids. Even though we give up chunks of yards here and there we still have faith in them to make plays, whether it's a fumble or tackle for loss."Trailing 14-7 at halftime, the Eagles opened the second half with a long drive that tied the score. After a quick three-and-out by the Indians, Blue Mountain had gained both momentum and possession of the ball in Lehighton territory.Tom Ruzicka, however, pounced on a loose ball at the Indian 40-yard line to kill the host team's threat."We can't have turnovers and we have to force them," said Ruzicka. "That's the main thing coach says everyday. They were moving the ball well and they had a good push. Their linemen are big ... Luckily we came out on top."Lehighton (3-1) looked like it was going to go on top after the fumble recovery, driving to the Eagles' 2. But the Eagles held and went back on the offensive.Relying on its running game, Blue Mountain ripped off five runs of eight yards or more including two 13-yarders and one for 14 to reach the Indian 37. But just when it looked like the Eagles were going to drive down the field for the go-ahead score, a fumble recovered by Wyatt Clements saved Lehighton again."Penalties and fumbles are a recipe for disaster," said Blue Mountain mentor Cory Mabry. "And they hurt us tonight. When you lose the turnover battle, it's tough to win a football game."We really haven't turned the ball over much this season. It hurts you and kills drives. And so do penalties. They take away your momentum and put you behind the eight ball."For Mabry and his team, it also ended up putting them behind on the scoreboard.Another Eagle miscue, a pass interference on a third-and-long, helped lead to Clements' 29-yard burst to the end zone (his third score of the evening) that put the Indians up 21-14 with 8:02 left to play.Blue Mountain (2-2) countered with another march that reached Lehighton territory, but the drive stalled on downs.McCarroll's club ran out the clock, thanks to a 21-yard run by quarterback Tyler Cann."I knew this team was good," said McCarroll. "I wasn't scared of this game but this was one of those games and teams that if we didn't come out well ..."This is probably as stereotypical of a coal region game as you can get and I'm just excited that we came out on the good end."The Indians never trailed in the contest as they took the opening kickoff and marched 72 yards in 12 plays. Cann completed four passes to Ruzicka and Clements concluded the drive with a four-yard TD run.The Eagles tied the score on their first possession as Sean Greenawalt tossed a deep 33-yard pass to Adam Hull, but Lehighton regained the advantage as Tyler Crum's 88-yard kickoff return led to a one-yard scoring run by Clements."It was a very physical game on both sides of the ball," said Mabry. "They did a good job. We knew coming in that we had to play our best and eliminate as many mistakes as we can and unfortunately we had a couple tonight that went against us."