ORWIGSBURG – Every time the cannon shot off, it sent a loud boom through the air at the Eagles Nest on Thursday evening.

It was a sound the Lehighton Indians would have preferred not to have heard.

Because each time it sounded, it signaled a Blue Mountain touchdown.

Five times the boom screamed through the chilly late September air, which didn’t bode well for Lehighton. The Indians never had enough answers to the noise the Eagles created, and dropped the hard-hitting contest, 34-6.

Lehighton was torched for a pair of early touchdowns, but its defense then buckled up the chin straps and kept warding off threats by the host team to stay within range at halftime.

The Indians never made a charge in the second half, however, as Blue Mountain scored 22 unanswered points to coast to the Schuylkill/Colonial Gold Division win.

“It’s tough, and this falls on my shoulders,” said Lehighton coach Tom McCarroll after the loss. “Most of the year, our defense has been our weak side, but we played lights out defensively tonight.

“We gave them a short field all night long, but our defense kept responding and kept us in the game.”

The Lehighton offense wasn’t able to help out, however, as it turned the ball over four times, and wasn’t able to put points on the board until the outcome had long been decided.

“I’ll tell you, bad job, bad job by me,” said McCarroll about his team’s offensive woes.

Save for a dynamite late-scoring drive steered by frosh quarterback Jayse Lawrence - who drilled a nifty 9-yard touchdown pass to Christian Salerno - the Indians offense was silent.

On the other hand, the Eagles - and their cannon - made lots of noise.

Lehighton was back on its heels early as Blue Mountain was afforded great field position after a short punt to the Indians’ 36. In one play, speedy, crafty quarterback Tyler Miller zipped into the end zone. Miller was sensational all evening with 154-yards rushing and two touchdowns.

“He’s a heck of a player,” Blue Mountain coach Tom Gallagher about his signal caller. “He gives our offense a different dimension. We lean on him when we have to.”

Miller didn’t just hurt Lehighton on the ground as he set up the Eagles’ second touchdown with his arm, hitting Carson Kerstetter with a 31-yard pass on a fourth-down play that kept a drive alive. Payton Fasnacht made it pay off when he powered in from four yards out to make it 12-0.

Ian Rarick - who was nothing short of stellar on the defensive side of the ball for the Indians - suffered a game-ending ankle injury late in second quarter. He, along with Nelson Stanley had helped curtail the Blue Mountain rushing attack in the first half.

With Rarick out of the game, Blue Mountain put together a pair of time-consuming drives to open the second half, thus limiting Lehighton to all of five offensive plays in the quarter.

Lehighton’s defense was able to halt the first Blue Mountain drive at the 26-yard line to keep it a two-score game.

But moments later, the Eagles Cole Swick picked off a deflected pass from quarterback Brady O’Donnell to put his team just 41 yards from the end zone. Blue Mountain put together a nine-play scoring drive, which culminated in a Miller to Kerstetter 3-yard TD toss. Miller ran in the two-point conversion for a 20-0 lead.

Another interception set up the Eagles’ next touchdown as they went 37 yards in eight plays. Miller capped the march with an 11-yard run early in the fourth quarter to make it 27-0.

The teams then exchanged late-game TDs with Tyler Stahley racing 37 yards for Blue Mountain, before the Lawrence-to-Salerno pass-play put Lehighton on the board.

SHORT FIELD … The Eagles had great field position all game long. Its longest TD drive of the game was 63 yards.

THE NUMBERS … Blue Mountain had three players pounding the ball on the ground. Miller had 154 yards, Fasnacht had 82 yards and Stahley, in a reserve roll, managed 72 yards.

THEY CAN STICK … A bright spot for Lehighton was the play on defense of sophomore Devon Armbruster and junior Reese Balk.

THEY DID IT AGAIN ... The Lehighton Marching Band surely is a knockout every time it takes the field. It turned in another sterling performance.