Lehighton’s Senior Night festivities for the boys soccer team featured plenty of fireworks.

Unfortunately for the Indians, most of those bursts on Wednesday came from the visiting Bombers.

Wyatt Spalding and Brett Smith led an offensive outburst for Palmerton, which scored four goals in each half en route to an 8-2 victory over Lehighton that snapped a three-game losing streak.

“We needed this win, and everybody needed a boost of excitement and some goals scored,” Spalding said. “So it was definitely a good win for us. It doesn’t erase what we haven’t accomplished in the past, but it definitely helps us.”

Spalding recorded a hat trick, while Smith scored twice and added two assists.

The pair connected off a corner just 2:11 into the game, with Smith setting up Spalding for the opening goal.

Smith’s second assist came in similar fashion less than six minutes later, when Zach Borger found the back of the net off another corner to give Palmerton a 2-0 lead.

Lehighton answered nearly 11 minutes later. Sawyer Hoffman sent a long ball ahead to Chase Lobasso, who drew a foul in the box and converted the ensuing penalty kick to cut the deficit to 2-1.

The back-and-forth action continued when Smith restored Palmerton’s two-goal advantage, only for the Indians to respond 1:13 later. A defensive clearance created a 2-on-1 opportunity, with Hoffman setting up Jace White on a give-and-go to make it 3-2.

Both defenses settled in from there, but Spalding struck again with 4:30 remaining in the half to send Palmerton into the break with a 4-2 advantage.

After a scoreless opening 14 minutes of the second half, the Bombers put the game out of reach with three goals in a span of 1:43.

Spalding started the barrage by completing his hat trick. Justin Sturdik followed with a goal off a rebound, and Smith capped the flurry with his second goal of the night.

Sturdik added another goal more than 10 minutes later to finish with two goals and an assist, while Brody Wells contributed two assists.

While the season hasn’t gone the way Palmerton head coach Caleb Loew had hoped, he has made it a priority to change the way the program competes every game. Even if the Bombers’ record doesn’t necessarily show it, Loew believes progress has been made.

“I think this is actually something that I’ve been complimented on across the board with coaches that mostly have beat us … we can fight to the end,” Loew said. “We don’t give up and we’re not an easy game for anybody anymore. That might have been the Palmerton of the past, but the new Palmerton, we’re competing in every game.

“Right now we haven’t gotten as many wins as we wanted, but we’ve been right there in almost every single one, and that’s our goal is to be competing and getting ourselves opportunities to win games.”

As the Bombers enter the homestretch of their season, the players are holding themselves to a higher standard. Looking back at some of their losses has also shown them how close they believe they have been to better results.

“There’s definitely a few games in the season (that) definitely shouldn’t have been losses; a few close games where it’s really a toss up and it comes down to a few minor mistakes (that) cost us the whole game,” Smith said. “But we know our worth. We know where we should be in the table even though the table doesn’t show it, and (we’re) just looking to finish out the season as best as we can.”

SENIOR SHOW … Lehighton honored its four seniors before the game: Hoffman, Nolan Strauss, Cove Schaeffer and Michael Bridy. Bridy took the field for the opening kickoff despite being sidelined by an injury.

END IN SIGHT … Palmerton will close its regular season with three straight home games against Jim Thorpe, Notre Dame-Green Pond and Northern Lehigh.

Lehighton has seven games remaining, and will return to action at home against Southern Lehigh on Friday.

Palmerton 8, Lehighton 2

Palmerton 4 4 - 8

Lehighton 2 0 - 2

Goals: Palmerton - Wyatt Spalding 3, Brett Smith 2, Justin Sturdik 2, Zach Borger 1; Lehighton - Chase Lobasso 1, Jace White 1; Assists: Palmerton - Brett Smith 2, Brody Wells 2, Justin Sturdik 1; Lehighton - Sawyer Hoffman 1; Saves: Palmerton - Ben Jahelka 4; Lehighton - Peyton Ginder 10, Brady Litchauer 1; Shots: Palmerton 17, Lehighton 8; Corners: Palmerton 10, Lehighton 4.

Records: Palmerton (4-10, 3-8); Lehighton (1-9-1, 1-8-1).