Jim Thorpe, the No. 6 seed, heads south to the famed J. Birney Crum Stadium tonight to take on No. 3 seed Allentown Central Catholic for a chance at a major upset and a spot in the District 11 4A semifinals.

Thorpe is a coming off a hard-fought 40-20 loss to rival Lehighton in the Battle for the Route 209 Trophy.

The Olympians’ senior standout at quarterback, Cole Lazorick, threw for 250 yards and three touchdowns in the game and Spencer Gothard hauled in two touchdown catches.

Thorpe (4-6), as it has throughout the season, struggled to stop the run — giving up 258 yards on the ground at over nine yards per carry to the Indians. The Olympians also struggled to run the ball last week, rushing for just 57 yards at 1.8 yards per carry.

Lazorick leads Thorpe in both passing and rushing yards. The senior signal caller has thrown for 1,581 yards with 15 touchdowns and seven interceptions. He’s also rushed for 547 yards and six touchdowns. Freshman Bobby Levins has been a solid player for JT, collecting 586 total yards and eight scores. Connor Zurawa (421 receiving yards, 2TDs) and Spencer Gothard (339 receiving yards, 5TDs) have also been playmakers for the Thorpe offense.

One of Thorpe’s top weapons on offense and defense in senior Josh Louk was lost for the season due to an injury he sustained a few weeks ago.

“We’re certainly in for a tough challenge this week, but as I said last week this team doesn’t give up and they will fight. We’re going to need to create some turnovers and come up with some big plays,” said Jim Thorpe head coach Mark Rosenberger. “Personnel wise, they’re a big team with a lot of speed at wide receiver. Just a big, fast and physical football team.

“They’re an RPO team, so they’re difficult to defend. And their quarterback does a great job of running the offense. Tackling is going to be big for us. We have to be sound in that department, especially in open space.”

Central is coming into this match-up at 5-5 after battling through a tough slate in the Eastern Pennsylvania Football Conference.

The Vikings have been led by their quarterback in Patrick Cahill, who has thrown for 1,505 yards with 15 touchdowns and four interceptions.

ACC has multiple players who can make plays at wide receiver, where it’s led by Tahir Edmondson and his 496 yards receiving and six touchdowns.

On the ground, the Vikings Deon Johnson leads the way with 361 yards and four rushing scores.

“It’s crucial for us to get our run game going in the game. We have to be physical along the line of scrimmage on both sides of the ball,” said Rosenberger. “But we need to get Levins and our fullbacks involved in the run game. We have to be more balanced. We also know weather could have an impact with heavy rain expected, so we need to be able to account for that as well.”