Jim Thorpe routs Salisbury
SALISBURY TOWNSHIP - After opening the season against two of the top teams in the Colonial-Schuylkill football circuit and starting 0-2, Jim Thorpe got in the win column with a 49-13 rout of Salisbury on the Falcons’ home field.
The Olympians controlled every facet of the game, racing to a 42-0 lead in the first half and pulling most of their starters after intermission.
“I thought we executed on both sides of the football,” said Jim Thorpe head coach Mark Rosenberger. “I thought our kids played with passion, energy and excitement. We’re very happy with our performance tonight.”
Sophomore quarterback Cole Lazorick had a hand in all six of his team’s first-half touchdowns. He threw two to Justin Yescavage and another to Joshua Louk. He also ran for scores of 46, 41 and 6 yards.
“My line absolutely did an amazing job,” said Lazorick, who played only the first half of the game. “I don’t think I got touched. It was like stealing candy.”
Lazorick threw for 100 yards, completing four of his six pass attempts, while adding 97 yards on the ground on just six carries.
“We did well up front,” said Rosenberger. “Cole did an excellent job throwing the ball. (Yescavage) made some outstanding catches. It was nice to see our running game get going with some different schemes that we have. We were well-rounded offensively
“You can see (Lazorick) get better each and every week. He had 100 yards last week. He was very efficient and he keeps on getting better.”
Jim Thorpe scored on each of its first five possessions and had the clock end a sixth march toward the end zone.
The Olympian defense gave up just 52 yards and three first downs in the first half. It forced four punts and 6-5, 270-pound Noah Rosahac was in the Salisbury backfield on nearly all of them.
With good field position on every drive, Jim Thorpe scored quickly with touchdown drives of 4, 1, 5, 4, 4 and 2 plays. The Olympian offense put up 278 yards in a game played mostly on half of the field.
While the Falcons finished with 192 total yards, most of it came in the second half, with a 61-yard touchdown pass accounting for nearly a third of the team’s output. Jim Thorpe had five tackles for loss and two more for no gain in the first half. It allowed Salisbury to run just 29 plays in the first two quarters.
After opening the season with losses against Bangor and Blue Mountain, who were both 2-0 coming into Friday night, the Olympians now picked up some confidence heading into next week’s matchup with Palmerton.
“We have a tough schedule,” said Lazorick. “The first two we didn’t play as well as we should have and it hurt and ate at us. We knew we had to come this week and get a nice big statement win.”
AIR MAIL ... Yescavage caught two passes for 54 yards in the game, while Louk hauled in a pair for 46 yards.
GLIMPSE OF THE FUTURE ... With the mercy rule clock ticking in the second half, the Olympians got the ball to some younger players. Freshman Angel Rivera had four carries four 40 yards and a score, while classmate Aiden Irwin carried the ball six times for 21 yards.
SCARY MOMENT ... The game was stopped for several minutes in the second half as medical personnel attended to Jim Thorpe junior linebacker Zachary Lopez after a tackle. He left the field on a stretcher and as a precautionary measure was taken to Lehigh Valley Hospital to have his neck checked out. Rosenberger said Lopez “had movement everywhere and was talking.. On the field everything checked out.”