ORWIGSBURG – There was a good reason why Blue Mountain’s boys’ soccer team got the top seed in the District 11 Class 2A tournament.

These Eagles can soar!

Lehighton’s upstarts knew coming in that the challenge was daunting.

A third meeting wasn’t the charm for these Indians. Not because Lehighton isn’t good, but because Blue Mountain is better.

The Eagles quick and strong defenders put the clamps on Lehighton en route to a 5-0 victory on Wednesday. The win sends the defending district kings into the semifinal round Tuesday.

Lehighton brings down the curtain after a solid 13-7 campaign - the best in school’s history.

That fact wasn’t lost on Indian coach Dave Yob.

“It’s a sad day, especially because of our nine seniors. They’ve meant a lot to the program,” said Yob. “This is only the fourth team to have a winning season in the program’s history - which began in 1999.

“The 2013, 2014 and 2015 teams had winning records, and now this team.”

The Indians held down the explosive Blue Mountain offense during the game’s first 25 minutes, before the Eagles’ Ryan Mundy booted home the first goal with an assist coming from Robert Antonini with 14:50 to play in the first half.

A little over 10 minutes later, Braiden McGhee slipped in the second score off a Shawn Batory assist with 4:07 remaining in the half.

“They’re a talented team, and they gave us (a) battle in our first meeting,” said Blue Mountain coach Chris Brauer about his team’s 5-3 win in the regular season.

The Indians were still in the hunt at halftime, but Blue Mountain began to wear them down after intermission.,

“We came in with a couple kids banged up, so we were a little shorthanded in our substitution pattern,” said Yob.

The Eagles took advantage of that to score three more times in the first 20 minutes of the second half. Cayden Gavalis had two of the goals, while reserve Andrew Waschko added the final score.

BIDING ADIEU …. Lehighton seniors taking final bows were Mason Marchessault, AJ. Light, Dan Hoppes, Nick Zeigenfuss, Matt Sofranko, Levi Monk, Nic Yaro, Trent Dorward and Connor McDonough.

SPEED FACTOR … Blue Mountain had plenty of speed and quickness up and down its lineup, and the Indians struggled matching up against it at times.

QUOTEABLE … “They’re a deeper team. They have more numbers they can run in and out. I could see some of our players wearing down,” said Yob.