FOUNTAIN SPRINGS — Lehighton struggled to match North Schuylkill’s speed and depth Tuesday night, and the third-seeded Spartans turned a one-goal halftime lead into a 4-0 victory over the Indians in a District 11 Class 3A boys soccer quarterfinal at Spartan Stadium on Gosch Orthodontics Field.

On a balmy fall evening, North Schuylkill controlled much of the play. The Spartans showed speed in all areas of the field, rarely made mental mistakes and capitalized on their opportunities, scoring three times in the second half to advance to Thursday’s semifinal round.

“We knew they were going to be a tough, physical team, a very well-coached team,” Lehighton coach Michael Bridy said. “Their players were very disciplined.”

North Schuylkill also played a deep line that limited the Indians’ ability to attack with speed.

While the Spartans carried a 1-0 lead into halftime, Bridy pointed to the opening minutes of the second half as the turning point.

“That second goal pretty much (did us) in. You could see the balloon got out of the air when (Jonathan Sweeney) scored,” Bridy said.

Before that, North Schuylkill took a 1-0 lead on a goal by junior Logan Damiter at the 34:14 mark of the first half. It proved to be the lone goal before intermission, although the Indians generated five scoring chances during the opening 40 minutes but were unable to capitalize.

Jarrid Todd, North Schuylkill’s coach, said establishing momentum and matching Lehighton’s physical play were key objectives.

“We knew Lehighton was going to come in with a great game plan, they were going to be physical, and we knew it was going to be a great challenge,” Todd said.

North Schuylkill recorded 11 first-half shots, with Damiter’s goal accounting for the only score.

“I thought we were a little bit slow after (Damiter’s) first goal,” Todd said.

Todd’s halftime message focused on composure and cleaner play with the ball.

“We were going about it playing a little too loosely, but I thought once we found our composure, we did a better job (in the second half),” Todd said.

The Spartans quickly took control after the break. Sweeney scored less than six minutes into the second half to make it 2-0, and senior Wesley Urban stretched the lead to 3-0 just two minutes later with 31:27 remaining. Freshman Maksim added the final goal of the night with 11:10 left.

“Hey, the effort was there. I thought we had some pretty good opportunities in the first half,” Bridy said. “Two corner-kick goals kind of put us behind. Unfortunately, that was our undoing.”

SAYING GOODBYE ... Four seniors made their final appearances for the Indians: Michael Bridy, Cove Schaeffer, Sawyer Hoffman and Nolan Strauss.

QUOTABLE ... “Cove, Nolan, Sawyer and Michael were the backbone of this team. We’ll miss them tremendously,” Bridy said of the four departing seniors.

UP NEXT ... No. 3 seed North Schuylkill will face No. 2 Southern Lehigh in a District 11 Class 3A semifinal at 7 p.m. Thursday at Northern Lehigh. Top-seeded Blue Mountain will meet No. 4 Bangor, which defeated Pottsville 2-1, in the other semifinal at 7 p.m. Thursday at Lehighton.

North Schuylkill 4, Lehighton 0

Lehighton 0 0 - 0

North Schuylkill 1 3 - 4

Goals: Lehighton - None; North Schuylkill - Logan Damiter 1, Jonathan Sweeney 1, Wesley Urban 1, Maksim Leibig 1.

Records: Lehighton (2-15-2); North Schuylkill (13-5-3).