To Cody Scherer, it doesn’t matter what he’s doing.

As long as he is helping the team.

The Lehighton senior quarterback is a threat to both pass and run. And last Friday, against Pottsville, he ran—and he kept running. Scherer dashed for 309 yards on 18 carries during the Tribe’s massive 54-33 win against the Tide, en route to becoming the Times News Player of the Week.

“First half, we weren’t throwing the ball very well,” Scherer said. “But in the second half, we were able to run the ball and my offensive line opened up some big holes. Going into the game, we thought it was going to be a close one, especially with the weather conditions. As the game progressed, we started putting up a lot of points. After that we got momentum, and everything started clicking.”

The Indians led only by a 14-13 margin at half. But that’s when Scherer and the ground game went to work. The quarterback scored on runs of 57, 24, and 16 after intermission, finising the contest with four total scores.

“He did a lot of what he’s been doing this whole year,” said Lehighton head coach Tom McCarroll. “I think a few more holes opened up on Friday night, especially in the second half. The weather conditions were conducive with what we were trying to do. We wanted to pound the ball. Our O-line just laid the foundation and moved the line of scrimmage ... We’ve had eight runs over 50 yards in the last two weeks.”

Scherer seems to be a perfect fit for McCarroll’s system, and a perfect leader for the Indians’ huddle for at least two reasons:

1). The Indians run the spread, which is right in Scherer’s wheelhouse.

“It’s definitely good to be pretty balanced on offense. Not many teams run the spread,” said the Lehighton quarterback. “I prefer to run the ball, but I’ll do anything for the team. Running a spread offense is nice because we have a lot of speed around the ball. My outside guys can make plays with the passing game, TaQuan (Chambers), and I are pretty good at running the ball and reading the defense, but none of that would happen without my offensive line who have done an outstanding job this year. We always look forward to scoring points game in and game out.”

2). Scherer is a true high school sport veteran, who plays football, baseball, and wrestles. He has a ton of competitive experience.

“With wrestling, it’s a lot of mental toughness and you have to believe in yourself,” he said. “In baseball, you’re put in a bunch of different scenarios. I think those two sports along with football on top of it have really helped me become a good quarterback. Going into the offseason, we knew we couldn’t have a year like last year. Of course injuries were there, but we can’t make excuses like that. We’ve worked our tails off and now it shows, coming in 8-0. We’re going to look back on this a few years down the road and remember how special it really was. But right now, we’re not really thinking about that. It’s not special, yet.”

After last week’s big game, Scherer has piled up 846 rushing yards on almost nine yards per carry. In the air, he has completed over 50 percent of his passes for 810 yards and 10 passing touchdowns. He senior has accumulated 24 total scores this season. Scherer has followed in the footsteps of another recent hard-working Indians’ quarterback, Tyler Cann.

“He’s a true competitor and there’s no doubt about it,” said McCarroll. “I think they (both) have a mentality that’s not really common for a lot of quarterbacks. They’re real competitors, No matter what they do, you see how these kids run. They don’t run scared, they run with a chip on their shoulder ... they have this competitive nature. No matter what they do, they try to do at a high level and the fact that when they get to their senior year they really maximize that.”