The little things.

A few small mistakes, one or two key negative plays and just simply the ball not bouncing your way could end up being the difference between a win or a loss.

For Jim Thorpe, that was unfortunately the case on Friday night as the Olympians lost a tough one to Pottsville 16-7.

Points and possessions were scarce in this one and it was the Crimson Tide that made the most of their opportunities in the first half.

Pottsville didn’t waste any time going 75 yards in 10 plays on its opening possession of the game to take a 6-0 lead at the 6:01 mark.

A connection between Tide signal caller Andrew Allen and Maxwell Clews for 51 yards sparked the drive with JuJu Bainbridge finishing off the march with a 3-yard plunge.

The Tide increased their lead to 13-0 late in the second quarter with just under 50 seconds to go on a roll out from Allen that found a wide open Shay Strencosky, who took it in from 16 yards out.

It was yet another lengthy drive from Pottsville, as it went 78 yards in 11 plays. The key play of the drive came on a fourth-and-10 play from the JT 26. Allen and Donovan Durham hooked up for a 10-yard pitch-and-catch on a quick timing route to extend the drive.

“There was no panic tonight. These wins are hard to come by. We had five or six possessions, that was it, and we scored on three of them. It was a great job by Coach Rosenberger and his staff and their team. We were taxed tonight,” said Pottsville head coach Mike Brennan.

“We were coming off an emotional game last week. And we knew coming down here that it wasn’t going to be easy. I’m just really proud of all of our kids. Our quarterback Andrew Allen made some really good reads and choices for us and was also big in the kicking game. He also did a great job of keeping all the guys together tonight; he’s a great leader for us.”

The Olympians were able to move the ball in the first half, but a few penalties and negative plays kept them out of the end zone. A promising opening drive for Thorpe stalled after a bad snap resulted in a 21-yard loss and an eventual turnover on downs at the Pottsville 36 after JT drove it down to the Tide’s 14.

And on Thorpe’s second drive of the game a false start forced it to punt from their own 44.

The Olympians came out for the second half receiving the ball and yet again put together a promising drive grinding up yards in the run game, driving down to the Pottsville 10.

Opening runs of nine and 10 yards from Josh Louk and Bobby Levins would set the tone for JT. Thorpe would come through with five first downs on the drive.

However, it would be another possession that would end in disappointment for the Olympians.

From the 10 on a fourth-down play, Thorpe quarterback Cole Lazorick rolled left and found Louk in the left side of the end zone near the sideline. Louk secured the ball, but the referees concluded that Louk did not get a foot down in play resulting in a turnover on downs around the five minute mark of the third. It was certainly a close call that did not fall Thorpe’s way.

“Our effort was tremendous tonight. Our kids are playing extremely hard. We’re asking a lot of our guys to go both ways. I thought our guys gave everything they had against a high quality team in Pottsville and we were right there,” said Jim Thorpe head coach Mark Rosenberger. “There were some small execution things that we need to get ironed out that hurt us.

“Penalties, negative plays; those are things we need to get cleaned up. We definitely need to do a better job of taking advantage of our opportunities as well. Those are all the things you need to do to beat the high quality programs. But again, the effort from our players tonight was tremendous.”

Early in the fourth, JT would finally punch one in after a 14 play, 84-yard drive. Lazorick hit full back Nick Faust on a screen pass that went 19 yards on a key fourth down play from the Pottsville 28 to help set up the score, which came on a Levins 1-yard rush.

The Thorpe touchdown cut the deficit to six with 9:47 left in the game.

But again, Pottsville then made the most of its next possession, and again it was Allen that made plays to keep the drive alive.

A huge scramble from Allen on a third down play at the JT 34 went for 21 yards, and a few players later Allen connected on a 31-yard field goal to extend the Pottsville lead to 16-7.

The Olympians got the ball back with around four minutes remaining and were able to get down to the Pottsville 43 after a few nice throws from Lazorick, but another untimely negative play put Thorpe back at its own 45, and it wasn’t able to mount any more momentum from that point on.

AMAZING ALLEN … Allen was the difference in the game for Pottsville. The junior QB threw for 136 yards and a touchdown and also ran for 41 yards, extending drives with his scrambling ability. Lazorick also had a solid game for JT, throwing for 124 yards and rushing for 60.

RUSHING ATTACK … Not counting Thorpe’s two negative plays from two errant snaps, the Olympians had a nice night on the ground, rushing for 190 yards on 37 carries. Louk led the way with 82 rushing yards on 11 carries. The JT defense was also good against the run, holding the Tide to just 83 rushing yards.

Pottsville 16, Jim Thorpe 7

Jim Thorpe 0 0 0 7 - 7

Pottsville 6 7 0 3 - 16

P - Bainbridge 5 run (kick failed)

P - Strencosky 16 pass from Allen (Allen kick)

JT - Levins 1 run (Flyzik kick)

P - Allen 31 FG