Junior Shane Edwards pushing in for his third touchdown.

The Jim Thorpe Olympians drove up Route 209 to Lehighton Area High School tonight to defend its possession of the Route 209 Trophy and after four quarters Thorpe succeeded in keeping the trophy for another year.

Shane Edwards had a huge game as did the entire offense. On defense, Terry Moll forced three fumbles with at least two converting to touchdowns.

Here’s the breakdown on touchdowns. Note that JT scored on seven out of nine possessions:

JT – Johnson 35 run (Denny kick)
JT – Edwards 4 run (Denny kick)
L – Keer 41 pass from Agosto (Nalesnik kick)
JT – Johnson 19 pass from Cinicola (kick failed)
L – Nalesnik 22 pass from Agosto (kick failed)
JT – Edwards 1 run (Denny kick)
L – Keer 30 pass from Agosto (Nalesnik kick)
JT – Cinicola 1 run (Denny kick)
L – Rebovich 8 pass from Agosto (Nalesnik kick)
JT – Edwards 8 run (kick failed)

Here are the individual statistics corrected to account for Tom Acker’s 18-yard catch that was not recorded in the TIMES-NEWS’ box score:

Rushing – Jim Thorpe: Edwards 27-117, Cinicola 18-60, Johnson 9-75. Lehighton: Agosto 5-74, Rebovich 8-17, Farole 3-7, Angst 1-6, Hunter 4-2.

Passing – Jim Thorpe: Cinicola 9-16-0-151. Lehighton: Agosto 9-13-0-152, Hunter 1-2-0-5, Keer 0-1-0-0.

Receiving -  Jim Thorpe: Moll 3-40, Acker, 1-18, Schron 3-37, St. Hill 1-37, Johnson 1-19. Lehighton: Keer 5-98, Stauffer 2-16, Nalesnik 1-22, Farole 1-13, Rebovich 1-8.

What an ending to the season. Thanks guys!

More photos for purchase here.

Lehighton    27

Jim Thorpe  20

The Lehighton Indians defeated Jim Thorpe 27-20 in overtime to retain the 209 Trophy. The Olympians had several chances to seal the game but could not finish off the persistent Indians.

The Indians dominated most of the first half despite limited playing time for their phenomenal running back Robbie Frey. Lehighton kicker Corey Whitehead connected on a 34 yard field goal that skipped over the crossbar to give the Indians a 3-0 lead in the first quarter. Justin Mooney completed a TD pass to Salvatore Caruso expand the 2nd quarter lead to 10-0. The Thorpe offense came to life in the 2nd quarter behind the running of Craig Zurn. Zurn finished a JT drive with a TD pass to Scott McGonigal. Alex Landon’s kick cut the Indian lead to 10-7 at the half.

The Indians regained momentum on the opening kick of the second half when Frey raced untouched for an 80yd TD making the score 17-7. The Olympians answered later in the third quarter. The hard running of Zurn and a key run by Joe Garland set up a 5yd TD run by Phil Redline. The extra point attempt failed making the score 17-13. The Red Swarm defense dominated the 3rd quarter and most of the 4th. JT took the lead for the first time in the 4th quarter on a 16 yd run by Zurn who finished with 205yds rushing. The Olympians held a 20-17 lead with 4 minutes remaining and took possession of the ball at their own 11. The Olympians needed only 2 first downs to run out the clock but only earned one. After a Thorpe punt the Indians took over with 1 minute remaining. On 4th down Mooney avoided a sack and connected with Caruso on a 30yd pass with under 30 seconds remaining. The next play was a short pass to Frey. Scott McGonigal was able to pull Frey down in bounds to keep the clock running. The Indians hustled to the line and spiked the ball with one second remaining. Whitehead hit a 38yd FG as time expired to send the game to OT. Mooney scored a 4yd TD on the third Lehighton play in overtime to give the Indians a 27-20 lead. An Indian interception on 3rd down sealed the win for the Indians.

Both teams will be participating in District XI playoffs next weekend.