Explosive plays can swing momentum quickly.

Every football team has a percentage of explosive plays it wants to hit each week. On Friday night, Lehighton might have hit its explosive play mark in the first quarter, as the Indians came through with three big gainers to jump out to a 22-0 lead in an eventual 35-0 mercy rule victory over the Bombers.

Lehighton actually started off the game with a negative play, turning the ball over with an interception in its own territory at the 33. Ben Negley came through with the interception for the Bombers.

But the Tribe defense was able to react well to the sudden change, forcing a Palmerton turnover on downs. The Indians came through with back-to-back sacks to nullify their opening possession miscue.

Enter the Indians’ explosive plays. A 68-yard Lukas Croizier burst made it 8-0 after a successful two-point try at the 6:36 mark of the first. Then after the Lehighton defense forced a Palmerton punt, Caden Meek took a handoff around the left side for 60 yards to the house to up the score to 14. A Preston DiGrazia interception would set up another Tribe score. It would once again take only one play to get six when Indians’ signal caller Jayse Lawrence would roll right and find a wide open Ty Nansteel for a 23-yard pitch and catch, and after another successful two-point try, Lehighton was out to a 22-0 lead after the first quarter.

“We believe we have guys who have big play ability. And we have shown that we can be a quick strike offense. And tonight we didn’t necessarily dial it up that way,” said Lehighton head coach Tom McCarroll. “Guys made plays and our guys up front made great blocks to make those big plays happen. What was nice about tonight was that we had a bunch of kids making those types of plays for us. And that’s what we want. Going into this part of our season we want to have a bunch of guys making plays for us.”

In the second, Palmerton was able to string together a few drives, but it was the Lehighton defense that continued to come up clutch. The Bombers threatened to put one in the end zone early in the second quarter after two 20-plus pass plays — between T.K. Gursky and Negley, and Gursky and Alex Keiper — helped Palmerton to get into the red zone. But later in the drive, the Bombers were faced with a fourth-and-1 at the five and their inside handoff was stuffed, giving the ball back to Lehighton.

Palmerton was able to mount another solid drive later in the second, pushing the ball down to the Lehighton 29, but an interception by Meek on a fourth-and-16 play would keep the Bombers off the scoreboard in the first half.

“The turnovers killed us again tonight,” said Palmerton head coach Chris Walkowiak. “We had four of them. And we have had four turnovers a few times this season already. Credit to them because they made the plays, but you can’t give a team with playmakers like that extra opportunities.

“And then we weren’t able to get anything going offensively. Their three big plays in the first quarter was obviously the turning point. And again, give them credit, they outmanned us up front. They were physical up front and they beat us on both sides of the ball in the trenches.”

The Bombers turned the ball over on the third play of their opening possession, with Meek coming through with his second interception of the night. The Indians then put together their best drive of the game, going 12 plays and 60 yards over six minutes to go up 28-0 with 4:15 to play in the third. The drive was capped off by a Lawrence 9-yard scoring scramble.

The Tribe also tacked on another score in the fourth that was set up by their fourth interception of the night, with Makih Breiner making a nice play on an overthrown ball. Equan Warner would get the final score of the evening on a 20-yard rush to put an impressive stamp on an impressive road win for the Indians.

“Defense was the one side of the ball we weren’t really happy with in the beginning of the season, especially after the opening season loss to Northern Lehigh,” said McCarroll. “But we knew it was going to happen for that unit, and they were going to put it together. We invested a lot of time in our defense and we challenged those guys to be better. And tonight they played great. We’ve got a great mix with that group. We have some young guys and some veterans. I’m just really proud of the effort tonight all around. Any time you can get a shutout you’re happy.”

BIG PLAY FIRST … Croizier’s score of 68 yards, Meek’s score of 60 yards and Nansteel’s 23-yard scoring catch from Lawrence made it three scores in just three plays for the Indians. The three plays equaled 151 yards at an impressive 50.3 yards per touchdown.

IN THE TRENCHES … Lehighton held Palmerton to just 55 yards rushing at just 1.5 yards per carry.

RUSHING ATTACK … The Indians rushed for 237 yards. Croizier led the way with 122 yards on 16 carries and a touchdown.

Lehighton 35, Palmerton 0

Lehighton 22 0 6 7 - 35

Palmerton 0 0 0 0 - 0

L - Croizier 68 run (Hauser pass from Lawrence)

L - Meek 60 run (pass failed)

L - Nansteel 34 pass from Lawrence (Hauser pass from Lawrence)

L - Lawrence 6 run (kick failed)

L - Warner 20 run (Brooks kick)