Lehighton has very little margin for error.

It's playing like it doesn't need any.For the third straight week, the Indians responded to a must-win situation with an impressive performance.Friday night, Lehighton rolled to a 45-7 mercy-rule victory over Shenandoah.After starting the season 3-2, the Indians have now turned in dominating performances against Marian, Panther Valley and Shenandoah in consecutive weeks."We knew heading into the Marian game, that we probably had to win out if we had any hopes of making districts," said Lehighton coach Tom McCarroll. "We told our kids that every week was going to be a playoff game and they've really responded."We're stressing taking it one game at a time and not looking any further ahead then our upcoming opponent. But at the same time, the kids are well aware that we don't have much margin for error."The Indians showed they were heeding McCarroll's advice as they avoided looking past the winless Blue Devils despite having huge games against rivals Tamaqua and Jim Thorpe coming up.Lehighton scored on all five of its possessions in the opening half to build a commanding 33-0 lead."They have a lot of weapons and have a lot of sets. They are a tough team to defend," Shenandoah coach Randy Maksimik said about the Indians. "Clements is a powerful runner, their receivers have good speed, and their quarterback throws a nice ball. They are a really good team."The first time Lehighton touched the ball it went 62 yards in just two plays. A 28-yard screen pass from Tyler Cann to Tyler Williams went for 28 yards and Clements followed with 34-yard TD run.The next Indian possession resulted in a 39-yard scoring pass from Cann to Tom Ruzicka and a 14-0 lead."We've been pretty successful mixing the run and pass," said McCarroll. "We feel like we have a lot of talented skill people and the more we can spread the ball around, the harder it makes it on opposing defenses."Lehighton continued to flash that balance in the second quarter as Clements ran 10 yards for another score while the combination of Cann to Tyler Crum produced touchdown passes of 67 and 19 yards.The Indians put the game into the mercy rule just a few minutes into the third quarter when Cann ran three yards for a touchdown. It capped a big night that saw him throw for three touchdowns and run for one."Having runners like Wyatt (Clements) and Tom (Ruzicka) helps open up the passing game," explained Cann. "I also have a lot of great receivers."I like when we're able to run the ball effectively, but I love when we pass the ball. When we can do both like tonight, it makes us tough to defend."While the offense got plenty of praise, Lehighton's defense turned in another strong performance."Defense has been our calling card the last couple of years," said McCarroll. "But with how explosive our offense has been this year, it sometimes it gets overlooked. The last few weeks our starting defense has really played well."Lehighton (6-2) got some good news Friday night when Jim Thorpe and East Stroudsburg North, two other contenders in the District 11 Class AAA playoff race, suffered setbacks."We know what we need to do," said Cann. "We can't worry about what other teams are doing. We just need to take it one game at a time and keep winning."