Marian mentor Pat Morgans and Lehighton head coach Tom McCarroll offered a similar sentiment.

What’s happening in the other locker room really isn’t on their mind.

Not yet, anyway.

Both programs are focused more on trying to bounce-back Friday night when the Colts host the Indians in the Times News Game of the Week.

“I think as much is it’s a geographic rivalry, for us, personally, we’re more focused on just getting better,” said McCarroll. “Last week, we didn’t really show up the way we wanted to. We played a very good team, but at the end of the day, we didn’t perform to our potential. So our focus this week is a little bit less about Marian, and more about getting better as the Lehighton football program.”

McCarroll’s squad followed a one-point setback against Schuylkill Haven with a 42-7 loss to Central Columbia last week.

After throwing for a school-record 380 yards against the Hurricanes, Lehighton (1-2) quarterback Chris Whiteman was held in check against the Blue Jays, throwing for 103 yards.

“Their quarterback (Whiteman) does a nice job of running it,” said McCarroll. “He picks the open receivers, he gets rid of the ball quick. You can tell they’re well-coached, they really are, and they execute well, so they’re going to give us all kinds of fits.”

Whiteman still leads the area with 649 yards passing, while Zack Crum has an area-best 322 yards receiving on 15 catches. Ben Schatz caught a touchdown last week against Central Columbia, and Zack Hunsicker - who was out of the lineup - is second on the team with 132 yards receiving and two touchdowns.

Like Lehighton, Marian (0-3) has struggled with injuries throughout the early portion of the season, forcing Morgans to shuffle his lineup more than once.

With running back Seth Paluck and wide receiver Keith McCall on the sideline, the Colts have turned to tailback Matt Doherty and quarterback Mason Miller to carry the load offensively. Doherty has rushed for 196 yards on 48 carries, while Miller has completed 18-of-31 passes for 137 yards and one score.

“I think it took a while to iron out some kinks,” said Morgans.” We really pushed watching the film, and seeing what your opponent’s doing, see what your assignments are, read the defense; call them out while you watch, things like that. And the kids started doing that, and I think they kinda bought into that a little bit, and I think we played really well up-front, too. I think our front is coming along, coming along, we’re improving every week. Our line’s gotta be our strength. Keith (McCall) and Seth (Paluck), obviously, are on the shelf, so our line’s really gotta carry us, and I thought they played really well last week.”

After a season-opening loss to Midd-West, Marian has been shut out by Jim Thorpe (56-0) and North Schuylkill (35-0). Defensively, the Colts have given up 44.7 points-per-game, second-worst in the area.

But Morgans has liked what he’s seen from his team recently.

“I just stress to our kids, I tell them they’ve been through a gauntlet here, between injuries and the caliber of teams we’re facing,” he said. “But we just gotta keep improving, keep improving every week, and hopefully get some kids back, and get healthy, and hopefully we can compete at the end of the year and make it to districts. And if you go into districts healthy, and improving every week, then hopefully we can do something there.”

Any early-season struggles or shortcomings for either side can be thrown out the window this week.

“They’re another team like us; they don’t have many players on the bench, so they don’t have many backups,” said senior Logan Pagotto. “But they did also just play the two best teams in the league, so we can’t take their losses as something to show that we can easily beat them. We’re still gonna have to play hard, and play our best game to beat them.”

In a rivalry game, anything can happen, something both teams know all too well.

“I think they’re a dangerous team,” said McCarroll. “I think they’re well-coached. I think they got some nice pieces to the puzzle there. Last week they played really, really tough with a very good North Schuylkill team, so that certainly causes some concern.

“They got a couple big fellas up front on both sides of the ball; they got some nice athletes. Defensively, they kinda get to the ball a little bit, and they’re the type of team that, if we show up the way we did last week, we’re gonna have more than our hands full.”