The junior varsity team lost to AAAA Pocono Mountain West 20-0 in the Columbus Day match-up at home. Pictures are here for purchase. Remember, photo reprints support The Touchdown Club.

Pictures are here from today’s Jim Thorpe Junior Varsity 38-26 victory over Tamaqua’s Blue Raiders.

The JVs played their first home game of the season on Monday night and came away with a 22-0 victory over Shenandoah. Kysheem Lynch & Tom Butts powered the ground game and each scored a rushing TD. Lynch also pulled down a 45 yd TD reception from QB Chris DeMuro. Demuro also connected with Lynch on 2 passes for 2 point conversions. The defense limited Shenandoah to only 1 first down in the first half. Constant pressure on the Devil QB prevented the Devils from completing a single pass. Jon Espilco, Roy Walker & Brandon Ziegler all recorded sacks. Kristian Koehler & Dan Salas caused fumbles which were recovered by Tom Hartman & Jon Espilco. Hartman also intercepted a pass late in the first half. On a side note Dan Salas had his first carry of the year from the fullback position carrying several defenders for a 5 yard gain. The Olympians dominated every phase of the game.

 

Previous JV Results

JT 30

NS 16

The Jim Thorpe JV defense scored first when Jon Espilco scooped up a Spartan fumble caused by Tom Butts & rumbled 40 yards for a score. Espilco was a constant in the NS backfield and forced 2 more fumbles. Kysheem Lynch had an interception for the Olympians. On offense QB Pat Janecki had a tremendous game running for a 45 yd TD and also connecting with Chris DeMuron on a 50 yd TD pass with one second remaining in the 1st half. Chris Demuro capped the scoring with a rushing TD after he relieved Janecki at QB in the 4th quarter. Scoring on 2 point conversions were Tom Butts (pass from DeMuro), Zach Miller (pass from Janecki) & DeMuro (rushing).

 

JT 26

MA 6

In the 1st JV game of the year, the Olympian defense dominated the Bears. Tom Hartman made tackles all over the field from his Lb position. Greg Simmons recorded a QB sack and the Red Swarm intercepted 3 passes (2 by Chris DeMuro & 1 by Tom Butts). Special Teams were also dominated by the Olympians. Tony Brown, Kysheem Lynch & Jon Espilco all recorded big hits on coverage and during Olympian returns. CJ Lehmann had a big night receiving from his RB position and scored a TD on a middle screen. Tom Ferguson lead the ground game and scored 2 rushing TDs. Kysheem Lynch scored on a pass from Pat Janecki in the corner of the endzone. Zach Miller pulled down a 2 point conversion pass from Janecki as well.

Minersville 20
Jim Thorpe 7

The loss drops the Olympian JVs to 3-2 on the season. JT fumbled the first snap of the game and 1 play later Minersville grabbed a 6-0 lead on a 25yd touchdown pass. Later in the first quarter Tony Mistretta would score the only Thorpe TD on a 35yd run. Andrew Watterson made the extra point and JT held the lead at half 7-6.

The JT offense would not be consistent for the rest of the evening. Billy Rieck had a 25yd reception on a screen pass from Kyle Busocker. Busocker also had a long cut-back run late in the 3rd quarter. On defense, Nate Jones intercepted a pass and the Olympians recovered 2 fumbles. The Olympians could not contain the Minersville running attack. A third quarter score pushed the Miner lead to 12-7 and the Miners secured the game with another rushing TD late in the 4th quarter.

NEXT JV GAME
5pm Monday October 16th at home vs Pocono Mtn West.

Shenandoah 30
Jim Thorpe 20 The Olympian JVs fell to Shenandoah 30-20 on Monday. The Devils hit several big plays and took advantage of poor JT tackling to come away with the victory. Jim Thorpe failed to convert a 4th and 1 on their first possession. Shenandoah connected on a halfback pass on their first offensive play for a 55 yard touchdown to take a 6-0 lead.

Olympian defense would even the score later in the first quarter when Tom Hartman intercepted a screen pass and returned it 35 yards for a TD. The try for 2 failed leaving the score at 6-6. Another SV drive was stopped in the first half by a CJ Lehman interception. JT would take a 12-6 lead when Corey Cinicola connected with Nate Jones late in the 2nd quarter.

The Devils regained the lead just before the half on a 65 yard fade. The 2 pt conversion failed but a JT penalty on the try allowed another attempt. SV scored to make the score 14-12 at the half. SV opened the 2nd half with a long drive for a TD which was aided by JT missed tackles. After the 2 pt conversion the Devils lead was 22-12.

On their next drive the Olympians answered when Tom Ferguson raced 45 yards on a toss to cut the SV lead to 22-18. JT got hard inside running from Bill Rieck and Kyle Busocker and Ferguson continued his success to the outside. Ralph Bertrand led the Olympians with 3 receptions.

The JT defense played well at times with Tony Mistretta recording to tackle for a loss and a big sack by Josh Strohl. The Olympians seemed to take a 24-22 lead late in the 3rd quarter but a holding call negated the score. That drive stalled setting up another big play for the Devils. The SV QB connected on a passs over the middle which was misplayed by the JT defense. The Devil receiver raced 50 yards for the score extending the SV lead to 30-18.

The Olympians threatened one last time but SV intercepted a 4th down pass at the one yard line with 4 minutes remaining. SV would take a safety on 4th down to make the score 30-20 with under 2 minutes remaining.

NEXT JV GAME
Monday 10/09/2006 5pm at home vs Minersville

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.