The agony and the ecstasy happened for both teams in the final minute of Northern Lehigh’s 14-13 win over Jim Thorpe Friday night.

With 3:40 left in the fourth quarter, the Olympians needed to drive 83 yards for a potential game tying score. On a third down at their own 24, quarterback Brett Balliet found Sal Capria on a 41 yard pass and run play to the Bulldog 35 yard line. The drive continued to the nine yard line when Balliet passed to a wide open Joshua Louk in the end zone with 56 seconds left in the game to bring Thorpe to within a point at 14-13.

After a timeout, the Olympians set up to kick the extra point, but tried to sneak a receiver to the far right, but the Bulldogs adjusted causing Thorpe to call another timeout. This time they went for the tie, but the kick sailed to the right of the upright.

With the lead and presumably getting the ball to run out the clock, Northern Lehigh lined up expecting an onside kick and that’s what happened, but after a huge pile up near the visitor’s sideline, Jim Thorpe recovered the ball with 53 seconds left to play. On first down, Balliet was sacked back at the Jim Thorpe 40 yard yard line and on the next play a fumbled snap was recovered by the Bulldogs to to end the drama.

“It was an ugly win for sure,” said Northern Lehigh coach Joe Tout, “but we found a way to get it done.”

The Olympians opened the scoring in the first quarter after recovering a fumble at the Bulldog 38 yard line. On a fourth down at the 33, Balliet floated a perfect pass to tight end Jave Butler who ran untouched to the end zone for a 7-0 lead with 8:58 remaining in the quarter.

The Bulldogs, who dominated time of possession in the first half, scored on a seven-minute, 80-yard drive with 1:19 left in the first. The big play was on a fourth down and eight at the Jim Thorpe 25 when quarterback Nick Frame threw a screen pass to the right to AJ Jiminez who ran the ball to the eight yard line.

On second and goal, Frame bolted up the middle for a touchdown. The extra point attempt was missed leaving the score at 7-6 in favor of the Olympians.

Thorpe then drove to the Bulldog 32, but the drive ended when Frame intercepted a pass in the left corner of the end zone. With 4:19 left in the half, the Bulldogs drove 59 yards to the Jim Thorpe 21, but with a fourth down and two seconds left, Joshua James intercepted a pass to kill the threat.

Northern Lehigh had possession for most of the second quarter, but its drives were halted by dropped passes and untimely penalties.

“Holding penalties really hurt us,” said Tout. “We moved the ball but there were too many missed opportunities.”

Thorpe took the second half, but a fumble on the Northern Lehigh 38 turned the ball over.

With a 1:47 left in the third, Frame left the game with an injury and did not return. The Bulldogs seemed extra motivated as the moved they chains down to the Jim Thorpe 15 where Jiminez surged through the right side for a score. His two point conversion gave the Bulldogs a 14-7 lead.

When asked if he thought about going for the two point conversion after the Olympians’ second touchdown, coach Mark Rosenberger never wavered in his answer. “We planned all along to go for the tie and the game wasn’t lost on one play at the end. There were other opportunities we left on the field. We just needed to execute better. It was a tough loss, but I’m still proud of our kids the way we battled against a really good team.”

Tout praised his team for their victory, especially after Frame left with an injury. “I give credit to Ayden Oswald for stepping in for Nick,” he said. “This was a team win. We don’t have players who are at the top of the Times News stats list. We play as a team where everyone contributes.”

MEMORABLE MOMENT ... Jim Thorpe senior Jave Butler was pressed into action at tight end for the first time as a varsity player and on senior night, he not only caught his first reception, he tucked the ball into his elbow and scored.

GO FOR IT ... In a game where just two touchdowns were scored by each team and fourth downs were frequent enough, there were only four punts in the game.