The Notre Dame Green Pond Crusaders played the Jim Thorpe Olympians Saturday evening in District 11 3A playoff football. The night started with a bang for JT. After a three and out by the Crusaders, Bryan Bowen blocked the Notre Dame punt. Then, Davier Calcano hit Chris Strika in stride for a 34-yard touchdown strike. After Chris Condly’s PAT, Jim Thorpe had an early 7-0 lead.
Later in the quarter, the Crusaders would respond. Izzy Rodriguez capped off a nice drive for the Crusaders with a ten-yard rushing TD. Nick Garrido’s PAT tied it up 7-7 halfway through the first. After an Olympian turnover on the following drive, Crusaders QB Collin Quintano scored his first of seven touchdowns in the contest with a four-yard rushing score. They converted a two-point conversion and led 15-7.
After Calcano was intercepted by John Febbo of Notre Dame, Matt Frauen Jr. ran it in from one yard out. At the end of the first quarter, Notre Dame had a 22-7 lead. On the first play of the second, Brandon Fasolino ran it in from eight yards out to cut the Crusader lead to 22-14. Before the half ended, Quintano hit Robby Spirk for a 14-yard TD pass. At halftime in New Tripoli, Notre Dame led 29-14.
In the second half, the Crusaders pulled away with huge chunk yardage plays facilitated by Quintano, among others. The Crusaders scored touchdowns of 58, 80, 30, 41, and eight yards, all from Quintano, four of which were passing and one rushing. By the time it was over, Notre Dame Green Pond rolled to a 64-28 victory over Jim Thorpe.
Collin Quintano who completed 16 passes for 289 total yards and was responsible for seven total Crusaders touchdowns was the D11 Sports Player of the Game. After the game, he praised his team for having a great week of practice and executing their game plan against a quality Jim Thorpe team.
The Crusaders offense was lethal in the match and amassed 599 yards of total offense combined with their 64 points. Jim Thorpe, in defeat, scored 28 points, a season high allowed by the Crusaders. The Olympians finished their season at 6-3 which they will look to improve upon next year. The Crusaders move on to face the undefeated Spartans of North Schuylkill next Saturday evening in the D11 3A Championship Game. Both teams feature undefeated records of 7-0 in what should be a terrific contest for the District 11 crown.
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