POTTSVILLE — Opportunistic football teams usually win games. On Friday night in a Schuylkill League Division 1 battle against Pottsville, Jim Thorpe added that exact weapon to its already impressive arsenal.

The Olympians took advantage of two second quarter Pottsville special teams miscues, turning those opportunities into points, which ended up propelling them to a 30-16 victory over the Crimson Tide.

With the win, the Olympians (7-1, 2-1 SL D1) keep themselves in the conversation for the division title.

After a scoreless first quarter, the first big Tide miscue allowed Thorpe to grab the lead.

After back-to-back Jim Thorpe sacks forced the Tide to punt from their own 20, a bad snap sailed over the punter’s head and produced a safety.

On the ensuing punt kickoff, the Olympians’ Derek Beckham made the most of the short kick, returning it all the way to the Pottsville 15-yard line. Three plays later, Thorpe’s Jarrin Geisinger took it in from two yards out to give the Olympians a 9-0 lead.

On Pottsville’s next possession, the Olympians pressure on quarterback Damon Yost once again forced a punt, this time from its own 40. The snap was good, but Thorpe was able to get to the punter before he was able to get the kick off, dropping him at the 26-yard line.

Six plays later, Jim Thorpe running back CJ Selby bullied his way in for the score from three yards out to extend the Olympians lead to 16-0 with 3:16 remaining in the half.

After struggling in the red zone in recent games, Thorpe went 2-for-2 in the half against the Tide

“Finishing off drives in the red zone was a big focus for us all week long,” said Jim Thorpe coach Mark Rosenberger. “The last two weeks we really struggled in the red zone and converting tonight when we had those opportunities was key.

“When you’re playing the outstanding football teams like we all are in this league in the back half of the schedule you can’t leave points on the board. So a lot of credit to our kids for executing there tonight.”

The Tide came out strong in the second half, closing within a score after an impressive 26-yard hookup between Yost and Kevin Schenk. Yost floated the ball to the right side of the end zone and Schenk went up and got the ball over a Jim Thorpe defender, cutting the Thorpe lead to 16-8 after three quarters.

However, just as Pottsville didn’t go away, the Olympians never gave in.

Thorpe reached into its bag of tricks asGeisinger seemed to take a speed sweep to the right, but stopped and heaved the ball deep to a wide-open Beckham for a 57-yard TD pass that made it 22-8 with 7:15 remaining.

“Jim Thorpe is a great team, but we can’t give a team like that, with a defense like that, a short field. They took advantage when we did and got 16 points off it,” said Pottsville head coach Tom McGeoy. “We had some shots there, but they made a great call on the speed pass and in my opinion that was the back breaker.”

The Tide scored again with 3:34 left to make it a six-point game, but the Olympians answered to put the game away on 20-yard TD run by Geisinger on a fourth down play with under a minute left.

TACKLES FOR LOSS … Thorpe was in the Pottsville backfield all night long, recording six sacks. In the second quarter alone, the Olympians came up with six tackles for loss.

GUTSY CALL … The Olympians’ speed sweep on a fourth-and-four play late in the fourth, was a play that if Geisinger didn’t get to the edge, would’ve given the Tide a chance to tie or win the game. “It was a great call by Coach (Frank) Miller, we felt they were really pounding the inside, and we thought we could get the best blocking angles on the outside with our fullback blocking down and utilizing Jarrin’s speed,” said Rosenberger

HOMETOWN WIN … Rosenberger was able to get the win on the field where he played his high school football. It was the first win for the Olympians at Pottsville in Rosenberger’s tenure. They were 0-2 previously.