Can being too good actually be bad?

Lehighton coach Tom McCarroll doesn’t think so.

During the first half of the football season, the Indians have been very good. They are 5-0 and have outscored the opposition 213-57. During the first half of games, the numbers are even more lopsided, with Lehighton rolling up a 176-22 scoring advantage.

Because of their domination, four of the Indians’ five wins have been mercy-rule games. The victories over Fleetwood (43-6), Marian (44-0) and Panther Valley (43-16) have all gone the entire second half with a running clock. The win over Schuylkill Valley (53-21) was by mercy rule after one Indian possession in the third quarter.

Lehighton’s 30-14 victory over Schuylkill Haven in Week 2 was its only game this season that wasn’t substantially shortened by the mercy rule.

“We’ve been talking about getting off to fast starts with our kids since our first practice,” said McCarroll. “We’ve really tried to drill home the importance of taking control early in games.

“I’ve been really happy with how we have done that. We’ve started fast and haven’t really let up in any game this season.”

Lehighton’s 88-8 first quarter scoring advantage backs up McCarroll’s statement.

Because of how well Lehighton has played early in games, it hadn’t trailed all season until last week against Panther Valley.

“We haven’t had to face too much adversity this season,” said McCarroll. “So in a way, it was nice to see how we would respond after Panther Valley went ahead of us. We responded by scoring 43 unanswered points.

“Obviously, that was a pretty good response, and that’s exactly what you hope to see as a coach.”

Another advantage of the dominant performances by the Indian starters is that the reserves have seen a ton of work.

“Our starters haven’t seen any playing time in the second half the last two weeks,” said McCarroll. “That means we are getting a lot of playing time for our reserves.

“Not only will getting so many underclassmen valuable playing time pay dividends for future seasons, but it also develops our backups in case we have any injuries this season.”

While McCarroll said he prefers to look at his team’s overpowering performances as nothing but a positive, he does concede that there are some things people might be concerned about.

“Our starters have only played four quarters once this season,” said McCarroll. “But I think we’ve done a pretty good job of ramping up our conditioning drills during practice the last few weeks.

“We’ve pushed the kids a little harder than we normally do at practice when we are at this point of the season. I’m not overly concerned about our starters not playing four quarters in previous games. I think they will be fine when they need to play an entire game.”

One other thing McCarroll is confident won’t be a factor when the Indians start playing division rivals the second half of the season is their lack of experience in close games.

“The 30-14 final score against Schuylkill Haven was a little deceiving,” said McCarroll. “That was actually a one-possession game in the fourth quarter, and our kids responded by driving for an insurance touchdown, and then coming up with a big defensive series.

“So we’ve been in a close game and handled it very well. I don’t expect anything different if that happens again this week or over the final weeks of the season.”

Although Lehighton has not been tested very often this season, that could change for Cody Scherer, TaQuon Bradley-Chambers, and company starting this week.

Over the next five weeks, the Indians will be playing teams with a combined record of 19-6, including current unbeatens North Schuylkill, Tamaqua and Jim Thorpe.

“I feel good about where we are right now,” said McCarroll. “The kids are flying around and having a lot of fun on the field. We’ve played well on offense, defense and special teams.

“The next few weeks will be a test. We are excited to see how we match up against some great football teams.”

*******

GOOD START FOR THORPE ... In last Friday’s victory against Shenandoah Valley, Jim Thorpe got off to a fast start when Jarrin Geisinger returned the opening kickoff 77 yards for a touchdown.

Over the last 30 years, this was just the eighth time that the Olympians opened a game by returning a kickoff for a score.

P.J. Johnson did it twice for Thorpe during the 2009 season, while others to accomplish that feat are Tyler O’Shura (2005), Craig Zurn (2004), Ngoyi Mukusa (1998), Jared Schrantz (1995) and Brad Sibbach (1994).

************

SPEAKING OF KICKOFF RETURNS ... Geisinger wasn’t the only player to return a kickoff for a touchdown last week, although he did have something in common with the person who did.

Marian’s Seth Paluck accounted for his team’s only points against Schuylkill Haven when he took two kicks to the house during a 56-12 loss.

Paluck is just the fourth Times News area player to return two kickoffs for scores in the same game over the last 30 years.

Geisinger did it for Jim Thorpe on Sept. 11, 2015 against Shenandoah Valley, while Palmerton’s Toby Sander did it the same season (Sept. 4, 2015) in a game against Wilson. The other time was Oct. 22, 1988 when Palmerton’s Chris Hager did it against Pleasant Valley.

************

TIGER TAKEAWAYS ... In Northwestern’s Colonial League contest against Pen Argyl last Friday, the Tigers intercepted four passes to help claim a 43-14 victory.

The last time Northwestern had at least four picks in a game was Oct. 28, 2011 (64 games ago) when it had four against Bangor.

Over the last 25 years, the Tigers have now intercepted four-or-more passes in a game eight times, with five being the most (once in 2006 and once in 2008).

************

CODY FOR TWO ... In last Thursday’s victory against Panther Valley, Lehighton’s Cody Scherer collected a pair of two-point conversions.

With those two, the Indian quarterback already has scored seven two-point conversions this season.

Over the past 25 years, only one Times News player has tallied seven-or-more two-pointers in a season. Northern Lehigh’s Cody Remaley did it twice during his outstanding career. In 2010, Remaley had seven while, in 2009, he had 10.

************

RAIDER OFFENSE SHINES ... With a 48-28 victory over Blue Mountain last Friday, Tamaqua’s football program reached a milestone with its 500th career win.

Fittingly, the Blue Raiders registered over 500 yards of offense in the contest, finishing with 545.

Over the past 30 years, that is just the fourth time Tamaqua has reached 500 yards of offense. The Raiders had 566 on Sept. 28, 2012 against Annville-Cleona, 538 against Marian on Nov. 6, 2009, and 510 against Panther Valley on Sept. 16, 2016.