LEHIGHTON — The ending wasn’t what they desired.
But for the Lehighton Indians, the memories will last forever.
Lehighton’s magical 2015 season came to a disappointing end Saturday night, as Saucon Valley captured the District 11 Class AAA championship with a 56-20 victory.
The Anthracite Football League champion Indians had hoped to win a district title in the final game to be played at 75-year-old Lehighton Stadium, but Evan Culver and the Colonial League champion Panthers had other ideas.
The senior tailback rushed 19 times for 200 yards and five touchdowns as Saucon Valley (12-0) earned a date with District 2 champion Scranton Prep in the first round of the PIAA Class AAA playoffs Friday at Valley View High School.
“We knew it was going to be the last game played on this field either way, no matter if we won or lost,” senior running back/linebacker Wyatt Clements said. “We laid it all out on the field.
“This team is going to be remembered. … We brought back winning and physicality to Lehighton. This is old-school Lehighton like they used to play back in the day.”
Lehighton hampered its title hopes with three failed fourth-down conversions and a pick-six interception in the first half that helped the Panthers build a 28-7 halftime lead.
The Indians couldn’t convert a fourth-and-10 at the Saucon 35 on their opening series, and were stuffed on a fourth-and-1 play at midfield on their second possession.
Saucon Valley converted both of those stops into points, as Culver scored on runs of 52 and 9 yards.
On the first play of Lehighton’s third series, Tyler Cann’s attempted bubble screen pass was picked off by Mike Paolini and returned 36 yards for a touchdown to give Saucon Valley a 21-0 lead 40 seconds into the second quarter.
“They are a ground-control offense, but they can break big ones,” Lehighton coach Tom McCarroll said. “We had opportunities, but we made some mistakes, some of which are uncharacteristic of us.
“Mistakes and turnovers separate these kind of games, and they took advantage. Fourth downs … missed opportunities … we had some dropped balls. My credit goes to them.”
Lehighton used a pair of big series by its defense to gain some momentum in the second quarter, then sliced the deficit to 21-7 on a 21-yard pass from Cann to Tegan Durishin.
Saucon Valley, however, put together a 13-play, 66-yard drive to score with 30 seconds left in the first half on a 2-yard run by Culver. A 19-yard pass from Zach Thatcher to Mike Kane on a third-and-19 play from the Lehighton 21 set up the touchdown.
When the Panthers reached the end zone on their first two series of the third quarter — TD runs of 32 and 14 yards by Culver — Saucon Valley had a 42-7 lead and triggered the Mercy Rule with 4:30 left in the third quarter.
Culver, a 5-foot-10, 180-pounder with a good mix of speed and toughness, paced a Saucon Valley ground game that churned out 387 yards on 46 carries and had 15 rushes of 10 yards or more.
On two of his touchdown runs, he took a toss right, cut back against the defense and raced through the middle of the defense to the end zone.
Culver upped his season totals to 2,325 yards and 39 touchdowns with his performance Saturday.
“(Culver) is a great runner. (Culver) and (Thatcher) make them go,” Clements said. “It’s an athletic backfield. They have a great team.
“They just gashed us. We didn’t do our jobs that we were assigned.”
Clements finished with 105 yards rushing on 19 carries, scoring on a 10-yard run in the fourth quarter.
He finished his senior season with 1,651 yards rushing and 23 touchdowns, pushing his career totals to 4,005 yards and 65 touchdowns, both school records.
Clements is one of 13 Lehighton seniors that went 25-9 over the past three years with three straight District 11 Class AAA playoff appearances and the school’s first Anthracite Football League crown.
“This group of seniors, four years ago, we knew they could be something special,” McCarroll said. “They stuck together, and what you saw this year was a culmination of what they’ve done over the past four years.
“They’re going to be remembered as one of the best ever here. As much as it’s going to hurt tonight, at the end of the day we’re going to walk away from this and realize it was a special group.”
Game Summary
District 11 Class AAA Championship
Saucon (12-0) 7 21 14 14 — 56
Lehighton (11-1) 0 7 0 20 — 20
SV — Culver 52 run (Snead kick)
SV — Culver 9 run (Snead run)
SV — Paolini 36 interception return (Snead kick)
Leh — Durishin 21 pass from Cann (Cordova kick)
SV — Culver 2 run (Snead kick)
SV — Culver 32 run (Snead kick)
SV — Culver 14 run (Snead kick)
SV — Kehs 34 run (Snead kick)
Leh — Clements 10 run (Cordova kick)
SV — Rose 15 run (Snead kick)
Leh — Mayernik 10 run (no attempt)
Saucon Lehigh
First Downs 22 16
Rushes-Yards 46-387 36-227
Passes 3-6-1 10-19-2
Passing Yards 42 63
Total Yards 429 290
Fumbles-Lost 1-0 0-0
Penalties 5-20 3-20
INDIVIDUAL LEADERS
RUSHING: Saucon Valley — Culver 19-200, Thatcher 11-57, Kehs 4-48, Petiet 4-32, Rose 3-31, Paolini 3-10, Holub 1-6, Alling 1-3. Lehighton — Clements 19-105, Cann 11-51, Mayernik 5-51, Scherer 1-20.
PASSING: Saucon Valley — Thatcher 3-6-1, 42. Lehighton — Cann 10-16-2, 63; Durishin 0-1-0, 0; Whiteman 0-1-0, 0; Scherer 0-1-0, 0.
RECEIVING: Saucon Valley — Paolini 2-23, Kane 1-19. Lehighton — Durishin 3-32, E. Skrincosky 3-19, Chamers 1-5, Haydt 2-4, Clements 1-3.
INTERCEPTIONS: Saucon Valley — Paolini, Harka. Lehighton — Scherer.