The Palmerton boy's soccer team welcomed Jim Thorpe on their new turf Monday night, literally and figuratively, as the Blue Bombers came away with a 3-0 non-league win.

Palmerton Area High School recently purchased a new turf field for their football and soccer teams to play on.While Palmerton owns the field, the Jim Thorpe boys took control during the first half of the game.Putting four shots on goal compared to Palmerton's one, Jim Thorpe had the upper hand in the first half despite the then scoreles game.But in the second half, the Blue Bombers turned the tide and scored a goal at the 10:12 mark.Jonathon Perloni accounted for the tally, chipping in a nifty little shot over the goalkeeper.Following the goal, Jim Thorpe worked desperately to respond.Frustrated, the Olympians committed two yellow cards, setting the Bombers up in a great position to score.Due to one yellow card, backup goalkeeper Alex Putt took control of the net for the Olympians.With 17:07 left in the second half, Putt made a great save in the six-yard box, keeping the game at 1-0.Following the return of starting goalkeeper Kingsley Ehling, Jesse Dekorte scored for Palmerton, on an assisst by Noah Schaffer to improve the lead to 2-0.Following a few close saves by Blue Bomber goalkeeper Ryan Yacone, Palmerton's Christopher Mattis scored a deep, unnassisted game-clinching tally.Palmerton took its first game on the new turf 3-0.QUALITY OVER QUANTITY ... Jim Thorpe out shot the Bombers, 26-8.KEEP YOUR FRIENDS CLOSE ... The two teams, while being opponents Monday night, all played together on the same travel program since learning to play the game.SAVED THE DAY ... Palmerton's goalie Ryan Yacone made 14 saves, pitching his first shutout of the season.CORNERED ... Overwhelmed by late close saves, Jim Thorpe's advanatage of corner kicks (5-2) was not successful against the Bomber defense.