With playoff fever circulating under a brisk autumn night, Jim Thorpe’s Red Swarm defense and its big play offense defeated Palisades 33-0 Friday night.

With their second consecutive shutout, the Olympians are primed to gain a probable rematch against Notre Dame-Green Pond after next week’s final regular season game with Lehighton.

Thorpe’s Derryl Fisher had a monster performance against the Pirates.

He caught five passes for 135 yards. He scored two touchdowns, one on a 41-yard TD pass from quarterback Brett Balliet and another on a 31-yard interception return, one of two picks he had in the game.

Fisher awed the home crowd with his yards after catches, breaking tackles and juking around and through the Pirates secondary - especially on a reception of a 37-yard option pass from Cameron Tinjanero on JT’s first possession of the second half.

“I was trying to get as much yards as I can,” said the senior wide receiver. “I just tried to get them to miss. I think it was my best game of the year.”

“Derryl has made some big plays for us in the past few weeks,” said Olympian head coach Mark Rosenberger. “He’s been outstanding on both offense and defense.”

The game’s outcome was undecided after the first half. Thorpe (5-4) had the better of the play, but a nine-play drive to the Pirate 1-yard line was pushed back with a procedure penalty and the Olympians settled for a 22-yard field goal by Keiran Mele.

Their next drive, also on nine plays, was halted at the Palisades 4-yard line where Mele connected again from 21 yards out.

The Pirates (2-7) could not run the ball all night long, gaining just 10 rushing yards in the first half and 34 total on 26 carries. They were able to move the ball through the air, however, as quarterback Jaden Newton completed 16 passes to six different receivers during the game.

“Our defense was dynamic,” Rosenberger said. “Palisades is a tough team, better than their record shows, and they got some of their injured starters back so we knew we’d be in for a battle.”

Thorpe’s Ethan Gavornik factored into two key plays early in the third quarter. He recovered a fumble at the Pirate 41-yard line. On the very next play, Balliet found Fisher down the left sideline for a score and a 12-0 JT lead.

Then, the Olympians executed a perfect onside kick up the middle that was also recovered by Gavornik. Three plays later, Balliet hit Bryson Heydt across the middle of the end zone to make it 19-0.

“Brett had a nice game and made some really good throws, and the onside kick was a big spark for us,” said Rosenberger.

“We got contributions from offense, defense, and special teams. It was a great team win.”

Fisher’s electric interception return put Thorpe ahead 26-0 with 10 minutes left in the game. Two minutes later, David Firoto took a handoff on a jet sweep around right end and outran the Pirate pursuit for a 58-yard TD.

Jim Thorpe’s run defense was unyielding all night long with big stops from defensive tackle Noah Rosahac and linebacker Jave Butler making plays on fourth down and tackles behind the line of scrimmage0.

FAMILY NIGHT ... It was a win-win event for the Rosenberger family with Coach Mark’s team’s victory and his daughter Carsen being voted homecoming queen. Mark’s other daughter, Mackenzie, was also a member of her sister’s royal court. Eddie Weaver was voted homecoming king.

UP NEXT ... Thorpe closes out its regular season at home Friday against Lehighton in the battle for the Route 209 trophy.