Zach Crum is not easily impressed — especially with himself.

The Lehighton wide receiver had a career day against Marian last Friday.

But you would have never known it by his reaction.

“I thought I did pretty good, but I thought I should have had an even better game,” Crum said about his seven catch, 152-yard, two touchdown performance against the Colts. “But that’s just me ... I expect a lot from myself.”

Perhaps the reason that Crum might not have been totally satisfied with his effort is that it’s becoming commonplace.

Friday’s game against Marian marked the third time in four contests that he has surpassed the 100-yard receiving mark in a game, coming on the heels of a five catch, 135-yard performance in the opener against Fleetwood and a seven catch, 141-yard effort against Schuylkill Haven in Week 2.

For the season, Crum has area-best totals of 22 catches and 474 yards, which are six catches and nearly 200 yards better than the next best totals in the area.

“I said entering the season that I thought Zach was the best returning receiver in the area,” said Lehighton coach Tom McCarroll. “I think he has proved that so far.

“But as good as he was last season (30 catches, 546 yards), the neat thing to see with Zach is how he has grown as a player and a teammate.

“He worked hard on his route running and his knowledge of our offense in the offseason, and he also took on a leadership role. He’s playing well and, as one of our captains, he has also done a great job setting an example for our younger kids.”

One of the ways Crum is setting that example according to McCarroll is the dedication he is showing off the field.

“Zach was always someone who had great athletic ability and really good ball skills. But this past year, he really worked on understanding the concepts of our offense. He’s another one of our kids who has a great football IQ.

“Zach doesn’t just know the route he’s running on a particular play, he knows what everyone else is running and the concepts behind how the routes align with each other on the field.”

McCarroll said Crum’s knowledge of the offense also allows him to play all three of the receiver positions.

“Most of our kids we use out of just one particular receiver position,” said McCarroll. “But Zach knows the X, the Y and the A positions in our offense.

“That allows us to move him around quite a bit. Last week against Marian, we lined him up all over the field to try and take advantage of some mismatches we thought we had, and he did a nice job of taking advantage of that.”

Thanks in large part to Crum and quarterback Chris Whiteman, the Indians have had the top passing offense in the area this season. Through four weeks, Lehighton has 918 yards passing, nearly 400 yards more than the next best team.

Through four weeks, Lehighton has 918 yards passing, nearly 400 yards more than the next best team.

The Whiteman to Crum combination has already produced four touchdowns in addition to nearly 500 yards through the air.

“I’ve known Chris (Whiteman) my entire life,” said Crum. “He’s been my quarterback since I was 10 years old in booster club football, so we have a good understanding of what the other person is going to do on the field.

“I think we are really comfortable working with each other, and that has been a huge plus for us during the first few games.”

It’s a combination that opposing defenses will definitely have to be wary of over the last half of the season.

“We are still working on getting our running game untracked a little bit,” said McCarroll. “So we have had to rely on our passing game a little more than we might have liked early in the season, but we’ve been pretty happy with it.

“Although we still want to be a team that can run the ball, I think it’s obvious that the connection between Chris and Zach is going to be crucial to our success during the remainder of the season.”