CATASAUQUA - Jim Thorpe ran into a buzz saw Tuesday night.

Top-seeded Allentown Central Catholic carved around and through the Olympian defense en route to a 6-0 victory in a District 11 Class 2A semifinal boys soccer game.

To say the Vikings dominated play from the opening whistle to the final horn might not be a strong enough description. Central’s passing precision appeared as if the ball was being pulled forward and back on a string to perfection. Thorpe was in chase mode and could never get any offense going all game long. In fact, aside from Kieran Mele’s kick from 30 yards out that bounced easily into the hands of Ryan Yen, ACC’s goalie, the Olympians managed no shots on goal for the full 80 minutes.

Jim Thorpe head coach Mike Dudak was impressed with the Viking’s performance.

“I’ll go on record that Central will become the 2A state champs this year,” said Dudak. “They’re that good. They’re deep in their roster, too, and they’re very well coached.”

Two minutes into the game, Central’s Brandon Quinn sped down the left sideline and kicked a bullet that Thorpe’s Jacob Geiser had to dive to his left to make the save. In the next three minutes, the Vikings stormed the goal mouth, eventually forcing an Olympian tripping error that set up a free kick. The Vikings’ Pearce Wagner converted, hitting the back of the net from the 12-yard line.

At the 32-minute mark of the first half, Quinn fired a shot from the left side that ricocheted off a Thorpe defender and into the goal for a 2-0 Central lead.

With 16 minutes to go before intermission, a Vikings corner kick to the front of the net was headed twice before Conner O’Neill knocked home the rebound for a three-goal advantage. Then with 7:10 to go, Quinn got behind the Olympian defense and fed Maksym Komperda, who drilled a shot under the crossbar to send his team into the break ahead by a score of 4-0.

“It is what it is,” said Dudak after the game. “Our strategy coming in was to play super defense to try and frustrate them, but in hindsight, we probably should have put more emphasis on our offensive game.”

In the second half, Central would score two more goals as the game reached the mercy rule mode. With under 27 minutes to play, Geiser made the initial save on a shot in close, but Komperda put in the rebound. Four minutes later, Ben Scandone scored Central’s final goal to send the Vikings into the 2A final on Thursday against Notre Dame-Green Pond - an 8-1 winner over Palisades.

The lone bright spot for Jim Thorpe was Geiser, who made several acrobatic saves. In the second half, he stopped Komperda on a point-blank shot headed for the top of the net. Geiser jumped as high as he could and deflected the ball over the crossbar.

A few minutes later, Geiser jumped out to the right of his goal to clear a shot away, and then raced back into the goal to stop Raphael Wolf’s kick from close range. Altogether, Geiser saved nine shots, and every one was a quality kick in close.

The loss didn’t deter Dudak from praising the efforts of his fourth-seeded team.

“We played as hard as we could right to the end,” said Dudak. “We got this far, and our younger players got a chance to play against a terrific team.”

IT’S A WRAP ... The Olympians finished with a 12-5-3 record, a third-place finish in Division 1 of the Schuylkill League, and a semifinal appearance in the district playoffs. They return 14 of their 22 players for the 2022 season.