Jim Thorpe’s 20-0 win over Salisbury last night was the tale of two different halves.

Struggling to sustain drives with only four first downs and eight yards passing in the first half, the Olympians (2-2) found themselves in a scoreless tie at halftime with the winless Falcons.

The next 24 minutes were a different story.

Thorpe struck twice in the third quarter and once in the fourth to send the feisty Falcons to their fourth consecutive loss.

After Thorpe’s Cameron Tinajero bolted off left tackle for a 36-yard run on their first play from scrimmage to the Falcon 33-yard line, the offense lost four yards. On a fourth-and-14, Travis Benson pinned Salisbury back with a perfectly placed punt to the 2-yard line.

Neither team could muster much offense, but the Falcons threatened to score at the end of the first quarter when they drove to the JT 8-yard line with the big play being a 41-yard pass from quarterback Nicholas Beck to Jacob Bucchin. On a second and goal, Beck was sacked by Jason Bowen and Tinajero.

A 21-yard field goal attempt was missed at the start of the second quarter keeping the game scoreless.

Thorpe had an excellent opportunity to put the first points on the board just before the intermission when Bowen recovered a muffed punt, setting up his team with a first-and-goal at the Falcon five. Salisbury backed the Olympians into a fourth down from the 16, where a field goal attempt was missed with 2.5 seconds left.

“We were sloppy and we were missing our blocks when we tried pulling into our trapping plays,” said Jim Thorpe head coach Mark Rosenberger.

“But we made some adjustments with our blocking schemes at halftime and kept their confidence up.”

Thorpe took the second half kickoff and quarterback Brett Balliet led his offense on a five-minute drive that nearly backfired after a fumble on the Falcons’ 1-yard line pushed the line of scrimmage back to the eight.

Balliet then threw a dart to Derryl Fisher in the end zone for a 7-0 lead with just under six minutes to go in the third.

On the ensuing kickoff, kicker Kieran Mele recovered his own onsides kick and the Olympians were back in business at the Salisbury 49-yard line.

“That was a momentum changer for us,” said Rosenberger.

The surprise play seemed to take some of the life out of the Falcons when on the very first play afterward, Balliet found a streaking Bryson Heydt down the middle on a 45-yard pass-and-run play.

From the four, Sal Capria broke a tackle off the right side and scampered in for the TD and a 14-0 JT lead.

Salisbury’s next drive into Thorpe territory ended when linebacker Jave Butler recovered a fumble.

Thorpe scored again late in the fourth when Balliet hit Fisher on a slant pass for a 30-yard touchdown.

Rosenberger was pleased about his team’s better performance.

“It was an ugly win,” he said, “but we made some big plays on offense and our defense was solid, especially our linebackers who kept their scrambling quarterback in check for the whole game.”

FOLLOW THE BOUNCING BALL ... There were six fumbles in the game, four by the Falcons and two were recovered by Thorpe.

IT’S HOW THE ‘O’ GOES ... With only eight passing yards in the first half, Balliet and Company added 126 more and two touchdowns through the air in the last two quarters. In total offense, the Olympians rushed and passed for 275 yards after only gaining 89 before the intermission.

UP NEXT ... Jim Thorpe travels to Easton on Friday to take on the undefeated Crusaders of Notre Dame-Green Pond.