What is Richard Fronheiser going to do for an encore?

In only his second varsity start for Lehighton, the senior quarterback threw for five touchdowns for 340 yards - and that was in the first half.

Indians’ coach Tom McCarroll devised the perfect game plan for his inexperienced signal caller.

“We had a match up advantage at wide receiver with Hunter Crum and Zack Hunsicker so we threw quick outs to get them the ball and they did the rest,” said McCarroll.

The “rest” was yards after the catch. After Fronheiser hit Ian Rarick on an 82 yard pass and run for an early score, he found Hunsicker on a third-and-11 for a 33-yard TD. The Tribe took a 14-0 lead after the first quarter.

Once Panther Valley’s secondary crept up to the line of scrimmage to thwart the passes in the flat, that opened up Lehighton’s vertical game. Fronheiser hit Crum in the left corner of the end zone for 20 yards and three minutes later, he found Crum again, this time for a 23-yard TD.

“Except for the first long pass they scored on, I thought we did a pretty good job of coverage,” said Panthers’ coach, Rick Jones. “They just have taller and very physical receivers that we had trouble with.”

Panther Valley’s sophomore quarterback Michael Pascoe was getting his first varsity start and he performed admirably. In the Panthers’ first two series, he had a couple of well thrown balls dropped by his receivers. Then, after a 60-yard kickoff return by PV’s Louis Clauser, Pascoe scampered down the right sideline for 20 yards. He ran the ball three more times, breaking tackles along the way until he busted up the middle for a two-yard touchdown run with 1:37 left in the first half.

After the intermission, McCarroll retired Fronheiser for the rest of the game.

“He did a good job getting the ball out to our playmakers in the first half and we wanted to get some of our backups some playing time,” explained McCarroll.

Leading 34-6 at intermission, Lehighton would score in the third quarter after JJ McDowell single-handedly carried the rock down the field and hit pay dirt on a five yard run.

Clouser played a strong game for the Panthers, gaining 124 yards on the ground. At the start of the fourth quarter after a Lehighton missed field goal, he took a handoff, got to the edge and turned on the jets, outrunning the Tribe defenders on an 80-yard TD run.

“Clauser and Pascoe played very well for us,” said Jones. “Overall we have to refine some things, but we’re light years ahead of last year.”

The duo of Hunsicker and Crum were virtually unstoppable. Hunsicker caught nine balls for 98 yards and Crum added six catches for 93 more showing future opponents that to stop Lehighton, they’ll have to shut down their vaunted passing attack.

“We play to our strengths,” said McCarroll “and that is to get the ball to our skill position players.”

AND THE BAND PLAYED ON ... With restrictions guiding on and off the field events, there were plenty of moments that were not part of any previous seasons. The Panther Valley band played a halftime facing the visitor’s side of the field where there sat absolutely no fans.

VOICES FROM ABOVE ... The silence in the stadium was deafening so much that the TV13 announcers could be heard loud and clear on the field from their position inside the press box.

NIGHT LIGHTS ... Even the scoreboard was behaving bizarrely. At times, the ball was on the 90 yard line and the score was off by several points due to technical difficulties.