What a difference a week made for the Jim Thorpe and Lehighton football teams.

Reeling from a 36-0 loss to North Schuylkill last Friday, the Olympians looked to refocus and right their ship. The Indians, after scoring 60 points in a decisive win over Schuylkill Haven last week, looked to build on their confidence and come out victors in the backyard battle for the Route 209 Trophy.

Those results from seven days ago were reversed on Friday night, however.

Thorpe (4-1) scored 23 unanswered points in the second quarter and never looked back to defeat the Tribe, 37-6.

In the opening quarter, three JJ McDowell carries and a Rich Fronheiser pass to Zack Hunsicker set up Lehighton with a first down at the JT 31, but Drew Wimmer intercepted a pass at the 10-yard line to end the threat.

The teams then traded punts for the rest of a scoreless quarter.

On the very first play of the second, Thorpe’s Derryl Fisher jumped a Lehighton pass route for an interception and raced down the right sideline for a 24-yard TD.

On JT’s next possession, quarterback Davier Calcano led a four-play, 42-yard drive. The march was highlighted by a pass to Chris Strika and then followed by an 18-yard misdirection run by Brandon Fasolino to the house, giving the visiting Olympians a 14-0 lead with 8:42 to go before the intermission.

“Our focus tonight was to cut down on our mistakes and pay attention to small details,” said Jim Thorpe coach Mark Rosenberger. “It started with the line holding their blocks and our backs hitting the right holes.”

On the Tribe’s ensuing possession, Wimmer intercepted a deflected pass at the JT 45 and his 28-yard return set Thorpe up with a first down at the Lehighton 17-yard line. Two plays later, Fisher took the rock on a sweep left and ran untouched to pay dirt for a 20-point lead. Chris Condly added a 24-yard field goal with just five seconds left in the quarter.

Lehighton coach Tom McCarroll was perplexed about his team’s performance.

“I didn’t see this coming,” he said. “We had a great win last week and a good week of practice. They were opportunistic with our mistakes, but I thought we would still bounce back.”

The Indians (2-3) forced a punt on JT’s first possession of the third quarter. After Fronheiser picked up a first down at midfield, Thorpe’s Cameron Tinajero intercepted a pass to stop Lehighton’s short drive.

Following a scoreless third, Fasolino - who finished the night with 119 yards rushing on eight carries - scored his second TD, this time on a bolt through a big hole off right tackle for 39 yards. Tinajero put the icing on the cake with a late fourth quarter 1-yard touchdown.

Lehighton got on the board with a 15-yard TD pass from Brady O’Donnell to Dakota Staddmueller.

“We had too many self-inflicted wounds,” said McCarroll, “and we didn’t respond. It just snowballed on us. Right now, I’m not sure what our team is. It’s been a roller coaster ride and we have to figure it out about how we can keep a good mental approach.”

Rosenberger was pleased with his team’s attention to fundamentals.

“We lined up properly on offense and on defense, and we got good leverage with our tackling. It was an overall great team effort.”

RETURN OF THE RED SWARM

... After last week’s setback, JT’s defense returned to their mark of excellence, holding Lehighton’s vaunted passing attack to just 67 yards aided by four picks and three batted pass attempts at the line of scrimmage.

BRAGGING RIGHTS AGAIN

... With the win, Jim Thorpe keeps the Route 209 trophy for another year and widens their margin of victories over the Indians - holding the prize begun by Ed Ruisz, who started the tradition more than a decade ago as the speed coach for both teams.