It's been a roller coaster ride for Jim Thorpe over the last two weeks, with a tough loss on the road to North Schuylkill and a win at home against a hard-nosed Tamaqua team. Unfortunately, for the Olympians their roller coaster was back on the down slope on Friday at Pottsville's Veterans Memorial Stadium.

The Crimson Tide (8-1, 4-0) dominated the second half on the defensive side of the ball and clinched at least a share of the Schuylkill League Football Division 1 crown with a 26-14 victory over Jim Thorpe (5-4, 1-3).Jim Thorpe did what it was able to do against all its Division 1 opponents this season, and that's stay in the game early. A Dylan Dailey fumble recovery in the end zone on a fumbled snap from Tide quarterback Eric Wapinsky gave the Olympians a 7-0 lead. Pottsville then showed its ability to answer and answer quickly. Just six minutes later a methodical Pottsville drive ended in a 14-yard hookup between Wapinsky and Kory Kleckner evening the game at a score apiece.Timely penalties throughout the game hurt the Olympians during the night and a big one came in the second quarter with about three minutes remaining. A pass that was intercepted around the Jim Thorpe 35 yard line by Matt Elmore was negated by a controversial pass interference call. That Pottsville drive resulted in a score right before the half on a 12-yard pitch and catch between Wapinksy and Kleckner. It gave the Tide a 13-7 advantage heading into intermission."Tonight, it just seemed that whenever we did something good or well something else went against us," said Jim Thorpe head coach Mark Rosenberger. "The credit has to go to Pottsville though, they made the plays to win tonight. The big special teams play where they blocked a punt set them up for a score. It was a momentum changing play in the game and we didn't recover."As noted, the Tide used a big special teams play to set themselves up to stretch their lead to two scores. A blocked punt early in the third quarter by Pottsville was recovered just inside the 15 yard line. Four plays later the Tide punched it in the end zone on a two-yard plunge from Chase Alisauckas."We were set up for a return not a block, but our defensive end just made a great play and got his big 6-4 frame in the way of the ball. It was a nice scoop to by one of our tackles and it set us up with nice field position," said Pottsville head coach Tom McGeoy. "It really changed the momentum of the game and swung that momentum in our favor."The Olympians were never able to get their offense going in the second half. In fact, they didn't score an offensive touchdown until there were 32 seconds remaining in the game. It was another tough road loss for the Olympians, which have a week to clean things up before rival Lehighton visits Olympians Stadium next Friday."The biggest game of our season is next week, so we have to get back to work and fix the things that we didn't do well tonight," said Rosenberger. "We have to make some adjustments and be ready to play our rival in a postseason type atmosphere."SECOND HALF STALL... The Jim Thorpe offense couldn't get going in the second half. The Olympians were just 3-for-10 passing missing six in a row at one point and they rushed for just 25 yards between the third and fourth quarter.RUN BY COMMITTEE... With starting running back Darion Jacoby out of the lineup the Tide turned to backs Ian Murhon and Sam Simintus. The two combined for 139 yards rushing on the night and a touchdown.