The Lehighton football team hasn't been used to going into the locker room at halftime without a big lead this season. On Friday night, Jim Thorpe gave the Indians everything they could handle, handing the Tribe some adversity in the first half, with the game being tied at 14-14 after two quarters.

Championship teams not only bounce back when faced with adversity, but they welcome it at times. The Indians showed that indeed they're a championship team, shutting out the Olympians in the second half en-route to a 35-14 Anthracite Football League victory."This is what our kids have worked so hard to get," said Lehighton head coach Tom McCarroll. "This is a great league and we're proud to be the champ. I mean look at this atmosphere right now. There's not a better high school atmosphere around tonight and our kids played tough and came away with the win."The Indians (10-0) victory put a stamp on their perfect regular season and also helped collect a little hardware along the way. With the "W" Lehighton also received the Route 209 trophy (Jim Thorpe - Lehighton rivalry trophy) and the coveted AFL Championship trophy. Lastly, the home victory helped the Indians say goodbye to their home field in style, as the Tribe played their last regular season game at the 75-year-old venue.After Lehighton jumped out a 7-0 lead with a 65-yard scoring drive on its opening possession, the Olympians (8-2) answered back immediately.Two impressive Justin St. Hill touchdown runs gave the Olympians a 14-7 lead with a little over two minutes left in the second quarter. Jim Thorpe was able to sustain long clock chewing scoring drives, which kept the ball out of the hands of the Lehighton offense.The Indians' ability to make game-changing plays was showcased on their next possession. Tyler Cann hooked up with Nick Chambers for a 53-yard pitch and catch to even the game at 14 apiece."When our kids have been put in situations to make plays they've just come up big," said McCarroll. "That's just what they do. We have kids that have made big plays all season long and they certainly didn't let us down tonight."At the start of the third, Jim Thorpe's opening drive was stifled by two penalties, which then resulted in a punt. The Olympians would only get to run five more plays in the third as the Indians dominated time of possession in the quarter.After Jim Thorpe's punt, the Indians came up with a 15-play 71-yard drive capped off by a Wyatt Clements one-yard touchdown run that would extend the lead to 20-14. Clements racked up 186 yards and two scores on 31 carries during the win. The momentum was in the Tribe's favor and they never looked back.Lehighton would then put the game away in the fourth quarter, with two Tyler Cann passing touchdowns to go up by 21.The Olympians battled tough throughout the night, but couldn't make the plays down the stretch in order to get within striking distance of the Indians. Thorpe's inability to pass the football hurt again this week- not gaining a single passing yard for the second consecutive game."That's a really good football team right there and the credit has to go to them," said Jim Thorpe head coach Mark Rosenberger. "We lost to a better football team tonight, but I'm proud of my kids for how they played. We did some nice things, played well in the first half, but didn't make the plays to win in the second half."The 2015 AFL Champion Lehighton Indians have assured a first or second seed in the D-11 AAA playoffs, which will result in at least one more home game.Jim Thorpe is also postseason bound next week as well as it has earned an Eastern Conference AAA playoff berth.WORK HORSE... As noted, Lehighton tough running tailback Wyatt Clements rushed 31 times for 186 yards on the night. Even when the Olympians got penetration into the backfield Clements was able to still get 3-4 yards out of the carry. Out of his 31 carries he was stopped for a loss just once against a pretty solid Jim Thorpe defense."All of our running backs did a great job of running hard tonight," said Clements. "Our offensive line was getting a good push throughout the night as well. It was a total team effort."SECOND HALF "D"... Jim Thorpe was able to run the football with success in the first half. However, after the intermission the Lehighton defense kicked into another gear, allowing just one Olympians first down in the second half. The Olympians got to run just 15 plays in the second half as they punted, turned the ball over on downs twice, and turned the ball over on an interception.LONG DRIVES... The Indians were able to sustain long scoring drives in the second half. The Tribe had scoring drives of 15 plays, eight plays, and seven plays to chew clock and keep the momentum in their favor.