For seven straight seasons, Lehighton failed to have a player rush for 1,000 yards.

Last Friday, however that changed when Lukas Croizier reached four digits.

The Indian junior didn’t just ease his way to the mark, he did so in grand fashion by having his most productive offensive game of the season.

Croizier carried 16 times for 209 yards and three touchdowns to help his team pull away from Jim Thorpe for a 40-20 victory. His big night pushed his season total to 1,114.

But his effort on offense was only half the story. The 5-9, 165-pounder also excelled on defense finishing with eight tackles, two sacks and a key interception.

That overall performance earned him the final Times News Player of the Week award for the 2025 season.

“We don’t really look at that going into games,” said Lehighton head coach Tom McCarroll on players getting to certain numbers or records. “We knew that he was kind of close (to 1,000) but our focus in how to call a game has zero bearing on the stats. But the fact that we have been able to get our first 1,000-yard rusher since 2017 (both TaQuan Bradley-Chambers and Cody Scherer) is really big for us. It gives us diversity in our play calling. It certainly recognizes (Lukas) and his hard work.

“Any time you have a kid that goes over 1,000 yards, it certainly is a nice landmark for him to hit. So it was a nice byproduct of all the work he’s put in.”

For Croizier, it was also nice that his big game — and what he calls his best — came against the Tribe’s biggest rival.

“I do think (it was my best game of the season),” said Croizier. “That was the game I felt I did the best job flying around and getting all over the field. I felt faster. I had a couple runs this year where I got caught from behind, so it was the first time I really broke one where I didn’t get caught so that was awesome.

“We had a lot of energy and we felt confident (playing against Thorpe). They came out and scored first, but after that we just pretty much hammered them. Even in the second half, they came back and scored and we just kept drilling them and didn’t let off the pedal. We just kept scoring and scoring.”

With the score tied 7-7 against the Olympians, Croizier gave Lehighton a lead it would never lose when he got free for a 40-yard touchdown run. The Indians built the advantage to 27-7 by halftime, but Thorpe tried to get back in the game when it scored after the break.

The junior, however, extended the margin when he reached the end zone on a 25-yard run, and helped secure the victory later in the third quarter with a 70-yard burst to the house.

“It was really only the second game I got to score more than once,” he said. “A three-touchdown game is pretty big, so it was cool to have that opportunity. And even on defense, too, just making plays, jumping that one ball and making a pick. It’s the best time to do it, against a rival school like that. That’s really when you want to play your best and kind of show off what you can do, so I was just happy to be able to do it that day.”

Croizier hasn’t been an asset in just that one game, he’s been doing it for a while.

He started — on defense — as a freshman and played both ways a year ago, rushing for 703 yards on 146 carries.

“From the time that he’s come to us as a freshman, he’s established himself as a starter on one side of the ball,” said McCarroll. “He pretty much started from Day 1 on defense, and then last year he sort of became our feature back. You could tell, not that he couldn’t carry the load, but there were some things we couldn’t do with him last year being his first year (as a running back) that now is just second nature. He’s really grown into that role.

“He’s one of the more determined kids that I’ve ever coached. I think he continuously gets better. He has a high football IQ. He plays so well on both sides of the ball. We can do so much with him back there ... If there are last-minute adjustments we might want to put in either during the week or during the game, he has no problem picking it up. I know a lot of times the guys that get the Player of the Week award is usually because of their offensive stats, but last week he (also had a big defensive game). He just seems to be the kind of kid that makes the biggest plays on both sides of the ball. He makes big runs when we need it, and big plays defensively when we need it.”

Croizier doesn’t favor either side of the ball over the other. But he does feel more at ease with one.

“I think I’m more experienced on defense,” he said. “I didn’t play much on offense my freshman year. But I played defense every game, just about. I wouldn’t say I like defense better, but I think that’s where I’m a little more comfortable. I’ve always been able to make tackles and that’s basically what I do for the team, just fill the alleys and make tackles.

“But on offense, I feel I’ve gotten a lot better at that so I’m getting to touch the ball a lot more.”