Football games are never won on a team’s first possession.

But that initial time with the ball can definitely set a tone.

Jim Thorpe took the opening kickoff and marched 78 yards in 12 plays in Friday night’s contest against Minersville to not only take an early lead but give everyone notice of how the evening would take shape.

The Olympians controlled the line of scrimmage on both sides of the ball and established an outstanding ground attack on offense that resulted in a convincing 42-10 victory.

“Our focus was to take the ball first and try and set a tone,” said Thorpe head coach Mark Rosenberger, who was coaching on the sideline for his 300th game. “I loved our physicality tonight, not just our running backs. Our receivers were doing an outstanding job blocking, so that physicality was something we preached all week long because we didn’t feel like we achieved that last week in our game (against Blue Mountain).

“And I thought from the first play to the last play that was something that was important.”

That first play was a 12-yard run by Bobby Levins, the first of four gains of at least 10 yards during the march. Paxton Novack went the final yard for the opening score.

“We got dominated at the line of scrimmage (last week),” said senior lineman Logan O’Shura. “We knew our assignments, we knew they were going to be blitzing a lot, we communicated well and we did a job great. The backs were doing a great job, too, finding all the holes. It was a true team effort.”

The Olympians (1-1) thrived rushing the ball, totaling nearly 200 yards during the first half.

Anthony Kiehl tallied the first of his three scores on Thorpe’s next possession when he broke free for a 58-yard dash to the end zone and added a 5-yard touchdown run midway through the second frame to extend the home team’s advantage to 21-0.

“It starts up front,” said Rosenberger. “As an offensive line, we have to be able to create that opportunity for our backs to get that initial crease and I thought we did a great job with that, but our backs when they got to that second level they did a nice job of making that first cut and then hitting the speed button. ... The running game was really going today.”

While the Olympians’ rushing attack was dominating, the Miners (1-1), meanwhile, could never establish anything on the ground.

For Thorpe, that was by design.

“We were happy with our defensive performance, for sure,” said Rosenberger. “They have some explosive players — their receiver, their quarterback, their running back. They have a good tight end, as well. Our goal coming in was to make them one-dimensional and that was to shut their running game down, and I thought we did a really nice job of doing that with our interior and our linebackers.”

“You’ve got to play to your strength on defense,” added senior lineman Gavin Baker. “If you’re a bigger kid, a stronger kid, bull rush him. If you’re speedier, get right past him. When you play with that kind of intensity and that kind of motor, you win games like this. And that’s what it’s all about.”

Winning seemed inevitable for the Olympians when Angel Rivera took a short pass and scampered 16 yards to the end zone just seconds before halftime to up the margin to 28-0.

Kiehl delivered the dagger midway through the third when he took a double handoff and raced 49 yards to trigger the mercy rule. It also gave him 137 rushing yards on the evening.

“The tone-setting was important,” said Rosenberger. “Bobby (Levins) had some great runs tonight, Anthony had three touchdowns and he came on the scene tonight, so it was just an outstanding football game for us.”

Spencer Gothard closed out the Thorpe scoring in the fourth when he took a pass from Dominic Calcano and broke free for a 75-yard touchdown.

Minersville finally got on the board with 8:08 left on John Lutsky’s 16-yard TD run, but the visitors highlight probably occurred with 1:44 to play when talented kicker Jordan Bowers booted a 52-yard field goal.

COACHING MILESTONE ... Rosenberger is now 173-138 in his career. One of the wins was a forfeit, so Friday night was his 300th on the sideline. “My coaching staff did a wonderful job preparing our kids this week and getting them ready,” he said. “I’m very fortunate to have a dedicated and outstanding coaching staff, not just this year but over my career here in those 300 games.”

STATS ... Jim Thorpe outgained Minersville 463-138. Levins ended with 67 yards rushing and receiving, while Olympian QB Tyler Hoherchak added 66 yards on the ground and 93 through the air.

Jim Thorpe 42, Minersville 10

Minersville 0 0 0 10 - 10

Jim Thorpe 14 14 7 7 - 42

JT - Novack 1 run (Flyzik kick)

JT - A. Kiehl 58 run (Flyzik kick)

JT - A. Kiehl 5 run (Flyzik kick)

JT - Rivera 16 pass from Hoherchak (Flyzik kick)

JT - A. Kiehl 49 run (Flyzik kick)

JT - Gothard 75 pass from Calcano (Flyzik kick)

M - Lutsky 16 run (Bowers kick)

M - Bowers 52 FG