The Palmerton boys soccer team nearly did the unthinkable Thursday evening when it let a three-goal lead disappear. But a Blue Bomber freshman made sure not to let the Senior Night game slip away.

Jonathan Perloni scored in overtime, his second goal of the game, to lift Palmerton to a 4-3 nonleague win over Tamaqua.The Blue Raiders (2-5-0) controlled possession during the early stages of the game.A couple Tamaqua chances, followed by a breakaway from Derian Stianche, were all broken up by the Palmerton defense.After missing a free kick a minute earlier, Mattis Willuhn broke the scoreless tie, and gave Palmerton a 1-0 lead with 21:13 left in the first half."That first goal really got us rolling and started what turned out to be a necessary run," said Palmerton head coach Ryan Sharkazy.Tamaqua goalie Reese Zabo caught a piece of the shot but couldn't stop it from finding the back of the net.Palmerton senior Jesse Dekorte followed up his teammate by scoring an unassisted goal at 23:49 into the first half.After a few great saves from Palmerton keeper Ryan Yacone, Derian Stianche curled a beautiful right-to-left-arching goal with only 2:21 left in the half to make it 2-1.Palmerton (3-6-1) came out firing in the second half with two quick shots in the first minute, including one by Perloni that found its way into the top right of the goal only seconds into the second half, giving the Bombers a 3-1 lead.Palmerton continued to control the game when a long lob pass off the foot of Perloni was headed in by senior Jarret Long, giving the Bombers a 4-1 lead.Not ready to call it quits, the Blue Raiders struck back with another goal by Stianche to cut the lead to 4-2.Stianche completed the hat trick off a great feed from teammate Jacob Rudy to get his team within one goal.Two minutes later, Stianche fed a pass to Nathaniel Nofts, who scored to tie the game at 4-4.A free kick by Dekorte rattled off the post as regulation ended.The teams battled back and forth in overtime until Perloni scored the game-winning goal."They didn't want to quit, even down 4-1 they kept battling," said Sharkazy. "But our guys fought tough and dug deep to pull this one out."FRESHMAN STOLE THE SHOW ... Even though it was senior night, freshman Perloni led the Bombers in goals, including the game-winner in extra time.THROW THE HATS ... The tough loss for the Raiders was a bright spot for junior Derian Stianche, who completed a hat-trick.HOME-FIELD ADVANTAGE ... The Bombers have won their first two games on their new home turf and seem to enjoy playing in front of their home crowd.