Pottsville Area football took on the Olympians in Jim Thorpe last night, August 29th, at Olympian Stadium. Coming into the game, Jim Thorpe was 1-0 after defeating Palmerton 28-14 in the first week of games. The Tide had fallen to Shamokin Area in their previous game, 34-14 making them 0-1 at the start of last night’s contest.
Even though Jim Thorpe was on home ground, the Tide wasted no time as senior running back Juleon Bainbridge, blasted through defenders right outside of the goal line to run it in and make a quick move in the opening drives. However, Jim Thorpe couldn’t seem to capitalize on Pottsville’s effort. The Crimson Tide kept on charging as quarterback Andrew Allen rolled away and found an open man to punch some more points to their name late in the second quarter.
Pottsville took things even further with another powerful drive. They went 78 yards in 11 plays. Jim Thorpe was able to really execute some bigger plays as well in the first half but some errors and other setbacks limited them from scoring early. The Olympians received possession to start the second half and had a fierce drive going. This brought them into a crucial scoring position but an unfortunate call happened as Louk, a senior wide receiver was ruled with his foot not in play. That ended up giving the Crimson Tide the ball on the far end of the field. Quick in the final quarter, JT quarterback Lazorick locked eyes on Nick Faust to fire it and contribute to their possession. This moved them much closer to obtaining some points. Bobby Levins received the ball to run it a yard in and the Olympians were on the board! In the long run, Pottsville had no holding back and drove it hard down the field once again but could only come up with a 31-yard field goal. That had made it 16-7, Crimson Tide with little time left in the contest. The Olympians received possession after the Tide field goal but came up with not the best quality drive.
That would conclude the Olympians home opener as Pottsville stole the show 16-7. Jim Thorpe is now 1-1 and will look to grab a win as they travel to Blue Mountain in week 3. The Crimson Tide seeks another victory as they will face off in Tamaqua next Friday, the 5th. They improved to 1-1 despite their first week loss.
