Lehighton boys’ soccer coach Dave Yob pointed out that the belief was there all along. The belief that the program had the potential for an appearance in the postseason.

His program put an end to a playoff drought midway through the year, as the Indians qualified for the District 11 Class 2A playoffs for the first time since 2016.

On Monday night, Lehighton made the most of the opportunity with a decisive 4-2 first round victory over Jim Thorpe.

“It’s satisfying,” said Yob. “These kids put in a lot of time in the offseason. It all started back in the summer right after school ended, as we basically got together to play the game three days a week.”

“Going to team camp really pointed out some things to us (as a coaching staff) having 24 out of 28 of the kids go to team camp down at Messiah (College). Although we didn’t win a whole lot of games, we played some decent teams, and it gave us an idea of what we could do once we would get into shape and started putting kids into the right.”

Upperclassmen Mason Marchessault provided the spark offensively for the eighth-seeded Indians - 12-6-0 during the regular season - with a hat trick.

Marchessault put the Tribe on the board first with 8:20 left in the opening half, pushing the ball into the back of the net to make it 1-0.

The senior went on to post two more goals in the second half, with his second score coming off a “pretty set-up on a nice through ball” from teammate Matt Sofranko.

Dawson Meckes was able to get the Olympians, who were 9-9 during the season, on the board off an assist from Rowan Melber in between Marchessault’s two second-half goals.

“Mason’s really coming into his own this year,” Yob said of Marchessault, who has 46 careers goals after Monday night’s hat trick and 26 goals in his senior year. “Throughout the season, we have been tinkering and moving people around, and we think we found something special here.

“However, we’re hoping it continues. I can’t be any happier for him, and happier for the program.”

Ivan Turczeniuk got the Olympians within reach once again at 3-2 with a goal with 21:00 left off an Ehren Hassler assist.

But AJ Light answered with an insurance goal for Lehighton to make it 4-2 with 17:13 left in the game.

“We started to move (Light) up to take advantage of his booming kick (after his sophomore season), as I mean he can kick the ball from a dead stop like three-quarters the length of a field,” Yob said of Light, who posted his 21st goal of the season in the game.

“We tried to take a little more of advantage on free kicks by having him up at the midfield. So, once again, we tinkered with the formation, and gave him some help at midfield, and things have worked out well.”

UP NEXT

... The Indians will now face another Schuylkill League foe in the quarterfinals in No. 1-seeded Blue Mountain on Thursday. The Eagles, who finished the regular season with a 14-4 record, won the league championship with a 1-0 victory over Nativity in the title game. Thursday’s contest is scheduled for 5 p.m. at Blue Mountain.

“We will have to see what we come up with to take advantage of our plusses since they don’t have too many weaknesses,” Yob said of Blue Mountain. The Indians lost twice to the Eagles during the regular season - 5-3 on the road and 4-0 in a downpour at home.

REGULAR SEASON SPLIT

… Jim Thorpe won the first regular season meeting against Lehighton on Sept. 14, 3-2. But Lehighton turned the tables with a 3-2 victory om Oct. 10, the penultimate game of the regular season.