PINE GROVE — Lehighton controlled the ball with such precision Thursday night, the only indication of the slick field conditions was the pouring rain.
The Indians dipped inside defenders, held the ball up and laid it off to teammates as though the Cardinal Stadium pitch was bone dry.
The result was a 4-1 victory over Pine Grove that puts Lehighton in first place in Division I over Blue Mountain, which did not play Thursday.
Frank Bokan scored twice and assisted on his side’s other two goals by Joe Marks and Patrick
Lawler. Marks also assisted on both Bokan goals.
Lehighton’s Dan Baka, meanwhile, danced around defenders down the left touch line to open up his teammates inside. The shifty senior midfielder appeared unfazed by the downpour, but it no doubt aided the Indians’ cause.
“The conditions helped a little bit with some of the long balls skipping,” Lehighton coach Dave Yob said. “We were playing a little deeper to take that away. I’m happy with the win. Two big wins this week for us.”
The first was against Blue Mountain on Tuesday to move into a tie with the Eagles for first place in the division. Zach Christoff, who scored the first two goals Tuesday and has eight on the season, took a knock to his lower body Thursday and did not return.
That did little to slow down Lehighton’s attack. Bokan got the Indians on the board first in the 20th minute by getting his head to a Marks cross from the right side.
Lehighton (10-2, 7-1 D-I) weathered a spell of Pine Grove possession — and a couple quality chances by the Cardinals — in the second half before the Marks-Bokan connection broke through again.
Marks feathered a ball forward to Bokan in behind the Pine Grove back line, and Bokan buried his shot in the lower left corner to put the Indians up 2-0 in the 44th minute.
The Cardinals’ persistence paid off a few minutes later. Michael Elo worked hard for a ball in the right corner and delivered a cross in to David Snedden. Snedden lined a shot off the crossbar and Tyler Lengle cleaned up the rebound, clipping the ball under the bar to cut Lehighton’s lead to 2-1 in the 51st minute.
Pine Grove (9-3, 5-3) came close to putting another goal on the board in the 23rd minute on Brandon Frantz’s free kick from 45 yards out, but no one could get a touch on the ball before Indians keeper Tyler Dietz gobbled it up.
“We didn’t control the ball as well as we have been,” Pine Grove coach Mark Wyllie said. “For some reason, they were a little better than us at that tonight. When we played them the first game (3-2 Lehighton on Sept. 12), we were pretty even. So I’m not going to say the rain was a factor.
“But they deserved the win. They controlled the game better than us.”
Lehighton made the Cardinals pay two minutes later. Bokan tapped the ball behind him 30 yards out to a streaking Marks, who got in 1-on-1 with Pine Grove keeper Jason Soper and coolly put the Indians up 3-1.
Both the second and third Lehighton goals were extremely close to being offside, and Wyllie called the decisions “iffy.”
“That’s a referee decision,” he said. “We could take those two goals away, it’s 2-1. But we had opportunities.”
Lawler iced the Indians’ win by heading in Bokan’s corner in the 65th minute.
Up until Marks’ goal, Pine Grove kept the pressure on Lehighton. But the Indians’ command of the ball proved too much as the game wore on. Haris Cokrlija defended and moved the ball forward expertly from his left back position and got Lehighton out of some sticky situations late in the game.
Cokrlija started the season in the center of Lehighton’s back line and was switched with Ben Cordova after the first couple games. The pairing is working well for Yob, especially after getting back center back Josh Knappenberger from injury.
“The first couple games, we were trying to find ourselves defensively,” Yob said. “... They’re really talking and that’s the biggest key. That communication is so big that we harped on it early. We’ve got too many quiet guys. Through the season, they’re starting to see the value of it.”
And now the Indians look much like last year’s squad that claimed the Schuylkill League title. Lehighton has won nine straight games, outscoring opponents 52-8 during that stretch.
Pine Grove, meanwhile, isn’t too discouraged by the loss. The predominantly young Cardinals had won six straight before Thursday and have already qualified for the District 11 playoffs.
“My back line has been learning a lot,” Wyllie said. “They’re playing differently than we’ve every played, so it’s a learning curve for them. We’re going to have games like this. We’ll learn from it. We’re still going the direction we want to go.”
Game Summary
Lehighton (10-2, 7-1) 1 3 — 4
Pine Grove (9-3, 5-3) 0 1 — 1
Leh — Bokan (Marks), 20th minute
Leh — Bokan (Marks), 44th minute
PG — Lengle (unassisted), 51st minute
Leh — Marks (Bokan), 59th minute
Leh — Lawler (Bokan), 65th minute
Shots on goal: Lehighton 6, Pine Grove 3. Corner kicks: Lehighton 5, Pine Grove 1. Saves: Lehighton (Dietz) 2, Pine Grove (Soper) 3.
JV score: Tie 0-0