POTTSVILLE — Lehighton’s Cody Scherer knew it was just a matter of time.

Despite having a sluggish first half offensively, the Indians’ quarterback was confident things would turn around for his team after the break.

Needless to say, he was right.

Scherer ran for 261 of his 309 yards in the second half and finished the night with four touchdowns to lead his team to a 56-33 Schuylkill League Division 1 win over Pottsville.

“No, we never doubted that the offense wouldn’t get going,” said Scherer. “We knew that we made some mistakes in the first half and we knew that we could run the ball against them. In the passing spectrum I didn’t do a great job, but the line did a great job and gave me holes to run through.

“We went into the locker room up a point (14-13) but our confidence is at the highest level possible, no matter what the score. And we believe in ourselves and we believe in each other. Sometimes our coaches believe in us more than we believe in ourselves, but today we believed in ourselves.”

After Lehighton scored on six straight second-half possessions and improved to 8-0 on the season, the Crimson Tide (4-4) are also believers.

“We hit him at times, and had some hits in the backfield but he found a way to bounce off and make some big runs,” said Pottsville mentor Tom McGeoy. “We saw it on tape, he did it in games before. He’s a tough back, and then you combo that with (TaQuan) Bradley-Chambers. That’s a tough, tough duo. You can’t focus on one or the other. If you misstep one way, they’ll hurt you the other way.”

The Indians, who were hurt by a couple big plays by Pottsville, fell behind early in the third quarter. Ian Murhon opened the second half with a 67-yard run to set up his 1-yard scoring plunge to give the Tide the lead.

But that advantage didn’t last long.

Lehighton reeled off three straight touchdowns, including 57 and 24 yard runs from Scherer, to go up 34-20. The other score came on a 40-yard burst from Bradley-Chambers, who finished the night with 247 yards on the ground.

“With a kid like Cody Scherer, I’d be foolish not to let him carry the ball as many times as he did,” said Indian head coach Tom McCarroll. “We weren’t afraid to throw the ball and we had guys open, but we just weren’t on target. It was like last week, we tried to throw the ball and establish it a little bit, but at the end of the day, you kind of dance with what brung you.

“Our offensive line is pretty good. I think our coaches in the booth recognized some fronts and things we could take advantage of. We made a few adjustments at halftime and our O-line just executed to a T.”

While Scherer and Bradley-Chambers gained the yardage, the front wall of Luke Becker, Jack Zimmerman, Nolan Wentz, Dakota Heister, and Dane Frantz created bigger holes as the game continued.

“Those guys are my best friends, and I love every single one of them,” said Scherer. “They do an amazing job opening holes for us.”

While Pottsville hung around, using an 89-yard kickoff return from Tyler Timberlake and a TD pass with 4:37 left to keep it close, Bradley-Chambers sealed the contest with 17 and 85-yard scoring bursts in the final three minutes.

“To beat a program like Pottsville ... is special,” said McCarroll. “We might have been a little rattled early on, but once we settled down you saw what happened in the second half.”

BIG PLAYS ... Lehighton had four plays over 10 yards in the first half, but had 12 of them over the final two frames.

COMEBACK ... The Indians actually trailed on three different occasions in the game (7-0, 13-8 and 20-13) before their three straight scores gave them the lead for good.

TAKING ADVANTAGE ... While the offense sputtered in the opening half (147 yards compared to 449 in the second half), the Indians held a lead at the half. Collin Troxell recovered a fumble in the end zone for the Tribe’s first score, while another Tide turnover on a punt return set up the second Lehighton tally.