The irony about getting into the postseason is that every good team will lose their last game of the year except one.

Jim Thorpe now stands in pretty good company with Northwestern, Palmerton, Parkland, and Northampton, who have a combined record of 39-8 this season.

There was no shame after a 40-7 loss to North Schuylkill in the District 11 Class 3A title game on Saturday night.

Coach Mark Rosenberger said, simply, “They’re a better team than us.”

The fact is the Spartans are a better team than most, having been recently ranked No. 1 in Pennsylvania, and from anyone who has seen them play, the Spartans have an excellent chance to go all the way and win the state championship.

Take nothing away from the season this Olympian team has played. In August, they took the field against Blue Mountain with a roster comprised mostly of young and inexperienced linemen in front of an unproven quarterback, three unheralded running backs, and a group of receivers who weren’t in the record books with any big plays or big games.

An opening-season loss did nothing for the Olympians to distinguish themselves, but a win over a playoff bound Palmerton team did raise an eyebrow or two.

The next few weeks was win one, lose one, win one, lose one for the Red, White, and Blue until a 34-0 win over Tamaqua started them on the road to something much more impressive than the 3-4 record they had at the time.

“We have great character kids,” said Rosenberger after the game on Saturday. “They were very coachable. Our practices were enjoyable. They were learning the game, and we could see the progress coming.”

That progress resulted in four straight victories.

Jim Thorpe stormed into the district playoffs, and just like that, their young and inexperienced linemen from the start of the season were the names of Tiernan McCartney, Paul Rutledge, David Wiley, Nathaniel Lopez, and Noah Rosahac.

That unproven quarterback was Brett Balliet, who was proving himself during every game of the winning streak.

Those unheralded running backs by the names of Cameron Tinajero, David Fiorito, and Sal Capria were making game-winning runs.

The receivers catching passes up and down the field were Derryl Fisher, Drew Wimmer, and Bryson Heydt.

This bunch of Olympians peaked at the right time of the season, and no game proved their competitive progress more so than their stunning win over Notre Dame Green Pond in the district semifinals.

Routed by the Crusaders in a late September game, Thorpe returned to the field of its defeat to seek revenge for the big loss.

And getting revenge is what they did, as Notre Dame’s high-powered offense that had amassed over 500 passing yards in their first game, was held the second time around to less than half that number.

The Crusaders had put up seven touchdowns in their September win, but now were held to just 18 points by the Red Swarm defense.

These Olympians had made their mark in school history by being the first JT team to get to a district final since 2004.

“The bottom line is that this group of young players and our seniors have been positive contributors to our program,” said Rosenberger

The better team did win the game on Saturday night, but as these “positive contributors” stood in line on this cold November night to receive their runner-up medals, every Jim Thorpe player held their head high as Rosenberger presented each of them with their awards.

“We’re very proud of this team,” he said.

Pride is something that has to be earned with coaches and fans through the will to do what it takes to get better and to win.

This 2021 Jim Thorpe Olympian football team did just that.