In 2005 the Shenandoah Valley crowd suggested Jim Thorpe use a shovel. The Olympians brought a shovel to the 2006 matchup and used it to bury the Devils. The highly regarded SV backfield (Reese, Metkus, Varga & Latimore) was held to a total of 3 yards rushing on 19 carries.

After a short SV kickoff was returned to the Devil 45 yard line to open the game by Tony Mistretta, the Olympians drove for their opening touchdown. Scott McGonigal finished the drive with a 2 yard TD run. The extra point kick by Alex Landon made the score 7-0. The Red Swarm defense would take over the game and force 3 turnovers. Second quarter runs by Craig Zurn and Phil Redline extended the lead to 21-0. The lone Shenandoah score would come in the 2nd quarter on a 1 yd run by Josh Metkus.

The offensive & defensive line of the Olympians dominated the entire game. On offense line opened holes for 2 100 yard rushers for the 2nd straight week (Zurn 25-100 & Redline 20-119) and gave Zurn plenty of time to pass (receptions: Raul DeBenedittis 2-27, Flizack 1-30 & Redline 1-10). McGonigal would close out the scoring with a 1yd run in the 4th quarter. With the JT defense completely shutting down the run, SV was forced to throw 26 times. Eric Busocker ended a Devil drive in the 3rd quarter with his first interception of the year.

A complete team effort on defense kept the Devils from reaching the endzone in the second half. Zurn smothered Kaplafka, Porembo punished ball carriers, Bradley pressured Reese while Flizack kept contain and batted down pass attempts.
The win keeps the Olympians atop the Anthracite league standings at 5-0.

NEXT GAME

Friday Oct 6th, 7pm at 4-1 Minersville.

Visit the Shenandoah Photo Gallery with more than 90 photos from the game here.

What a game! I am so impressed and proud of the whole team. Jacob and William even cheered with their Olympian megaphones in between bites of cotton candy. The fans were crazy with excitement at every play.

You guys played like a professional football team, working the line and moving the ball. First and ten over and over again.

Wow. If there was any doubt about what this Jim Thorpe team is all about, the doubters are silent now. All the way back to Shendo Valley.

Congratulations.

By the way – my camera battery died before the game even started. If anyone has pictures of this colossal victory, please go to the gallery homepage, register and then upload the photos to the Shenandoah gallery. Or, if you don’t have time to do that, just e-mail me your pictures and I’ll post them. THANK YOU!

7pm Friday 29 September 2006

Shenandoah (4-0) at Jim Thorpe (4-0)

Both teams are tied atop the Anthracite League standings.

Shenandoah enters the game ranked 3rd in the PA single A state rankings.

GIVE US THE HOME FIELD ADVANTAGE! COME OUT & MAKE SOME NOISE!

Jim Thorpe      14

Panther Valley 12

Jim Thorpe JVs improved to 3-0 Monday after surviving a slow start. The Panthers scored first behind their option running attack but the extra point attempt failed under a heavy rush from the Olympian defense. The score remained 6-0 until late in the 2nd quarter when a Jim Thorpe drive was extended by a Panther penalty on 4th down. The JT rushing attack drove the field on the efforts of Tom Ferguson, Tony Mistretta, Bill Rieck & Nate Pfieffer. JT QBs also played well completing 5 of 7 attempts often under a heavy blitz from PV backers. Kyle Busocker connected on a slant pattern to Ralph Bertrand giving the Olympians a 1st & goal at the 3 yard line with 1 minute left in the half. After runs on first and second down failed to reach the endzone, Busocker rushed the team to the line and attempted to sneak for the final yard. The Panthers stuffed the middle but Busocker bounced around the left end to even the score at 6-6 with 10 seconds remaining in the half. Busocker scored on a naked bootleg for the 2 point conversion giving JT an 8-6 lead.

The Olympian defense played well in the second half. Ferguson and Corey Cinicola recorded sacks while linebackers Pfeifer & Rieck punished ball carriers. On 3rd and long for the Panthers, Andrew Calhoun batted down a lateral pass. Tony Mistretta scooped the loose ball and raced for a 45 yard defensive TD. The try for 2 failed leaving the score at 14-6. PV managed to score another TD with 3 minutes remaining in the game but the 2 point attempt fell incomplete making the score 14-12. JT recovered the onside kick attempt and attempted to run out the clock. On 4th and 4, PV used their last time out with 2 minutes remaining. Cinicola completed a 5 yard pass to Bertrand who held on despite being hit as the ball arrived. The first down allowed JT to run the remaining time from the clock.

NEXT JV GAME

Monday Oct 2nd at Shenandoah

Jim Thorpe             40
North Schuylkill       0

The JV defense continued its dominant play. The D-line kept constant pressure on the NS QB including sacks by Josh Strohl, Tom Ferguson and Kyle Rotan. Tom Hartman had an interception from his LB position and Nate Jones set the defensive tone early with an interception on the second play of the game at corner. Nate Pfieffer played very well at LB making tackles all over the field.The Olympian offense moved the ball consistently in the air and on the ground. Kyle Busocker threw for 2 TDs, Steve Martin added a passing TD and Corey Cinicola completed 7 of his 9 pass attempts. The offense showed great poise conducting a hurry-up drive late in the first half that resulted in a score. The O-line blocked well for a host of Thorpe runners (including a pancake block by Matt Taylor at TE). Billy Rieck had a strong game at FB running hard, lead blocking and catching passes. Scoring TDs for the Tom Hartman, Tom Ferguson, Nate Jones, Ralph Bertrand and Raul DeBenedittis (2). Raul returned the second half kickoff for a TD.

Jim Thorpe          26
Mahanoy Area     0

Jim Thorpe JV team was impressive in the first game of the season. After a slow start, the Olympians dominated on both sides of the ball. The defensive front seven allowed very little running room for bear runners. The secondary played sound as well with CJ Lehman making an interception.

On offense the Olympians did most of their damage on the ground getting 2 rushing TDs from Raul DeBenedittis and 1 from Gerard Barile. With the success of the ground game, JT QBs did not put the ball in the air that often. Kyle Busocker did complete a key pass in the flat while rolling left to keep a Jim Thorpe drive alive.

Thanks to Principal Lesisko, we now have sideline photos and two more galleries:

Panther Valley
North Schuylkill
Seniors, Coaches & Managers
Cheerleaders & Band

Thank you Principal Lesisko! And, if you have photos you’d like to share, just register on the photo gallery homepage and then log-in. We’ll take a look at the photo and approve it so long as it’s appropriate for the site.

If we get enough, we’ll create a Fan Gallery and put all the fan photos in it!

Thanks again Mr. Lesisko!