Tamaqua is a program with championship aspirations.

With a shot at the postseason on the line, the Blue Raiders’ defense delivered a championship-caliber performance.

Tamaqua’s front churned out big plays and big stops in a 40-7 win over Jim Thorpe last Friday to secure a place in a crowded District 11 Class 3A playoff field.

The Raiders clamped down on an Olympian offense that had been averaging close to 38 points and 320 yards of offense per game. Tamaqua forced four turnovers, and allowed just 115 yards.

“We know that Thorpe has some weapons, obviously (CJ) Selby is a great running back,” said Raiders’ head coach Sam Bonner. “They had success scoring on opponents such as North Schuylkill and Pottsville, so for our defense ... to hold them under 200 yards of offense, I would definitely say it was probably one of the better performances our defense turned in all year.”

While Selby became the school’s all-time leading rusher in the loss with 89 yards on the ground, the Olympians weren’t able to find consistency on offense, only scoring a fourth-quarter touchdown after a fumble recovery.

Tamaqua, now the No. 2 seed behind North Schuylkill in Class 3A, forced four fumbles — one of which was recovered in the end zone by Sean Lavine to give the Raiders a 19-0 lead in the second quarter.

It was an attack spearheaded by a group of upperclassmen that didn’t want to be on the outside looking in once the postseason got underway in two weeks.

One of those senior leaders, Jake Barron, earned high praise from Bonner – and the Times News Player of the Week award for his performance.

“We had him down for six tackles, a fumble recovery, a forced fumble, a tipped pass and a sack,” said Bonner, “so he pretty much did a little bit of everything defensively.”

Barron, who also had a 40-yard reception in the game, is tied for third on the team with 41 tackles this season.

In a win-and-in situation against Jim Thorpe, where both teams weren’t assured spots in a top-heavy Class 3A bracket, Barron and the Raiders’ defense delivered.

“Jim Thorpe runs the ball well, and our D-line did a heck of a job blowing up the plays inside, and opening up lanes for our linebackers to scrape,” said Barron. “Me, Nate (Boyle), (Nate) Wickersham, and all the rest of us, we just kind of flew to the ball.

“We really just focused on throughout the week getting our fundamentals down to make sure we were breaking down on tackles; gang-tackling; calling out the pulling guard. So we wanted to focus on that, and we schemed, I think, really well for the game.”

Tamaqua leads the area in scoring defense, giving up 12.3 points per game, and is second yards allowed at 218.9.

Bonner pointed to last year’s 21-14 loss to the Olympians, a game the Raiders’ surrendered 257 yards on the ground, as one of the reasons for the turnaround.

“I think it was a matter of being able to identify what they were giving us offensively,” said Bonner. “I think Coach (Clarence) Opolsky did a great job of putting the game plan together, and Coach (Mike) Bonner is another one of the defensive coordinators, and they both did a great job.

“Coach O puts a lot of time in breaking down film, and I think he had these guys really focused on what they had to do. We tried to go over a lot of the stuff that they got us in the past with, and try to correct that. I thought our guys did a good job of doing that.”

After back-to-back losses to Pottsville and North Schuylkill, Tamaqua has allowed just 13 points and a total of 273 yards in wins over Lehighton and Jim Thorpe the past two weeks. With Marian canceling the remainder of its season, the Raiders will get a week off before learning who they will face in the postseason.

After losing to Notre Dame Green Pond in the district semis a year ago, Tamaqua is looking for more this time around.

“This is huge, because we can rest up a little bit this week and get ready for the district game,” said Barron. “We have to wait to see who we’re going to play, but now we can focus on getting guys healthy.

“The season has gone really well so far. I think our defense is really jelling now, getting ready for the postseason. I think it’s going to be a good run.”