Kevin Vitti didn't touch the football for the first 42 minutes of Jim Thorpe's game against Tamaqua.

Vitti didn't carry the ball or catch a pass, but he had a huge hand in the Olympians' victory literally.After a late Tamaqua touchdown made it a one-point game, Vitti and the Olympians' special teams made a special play.The 6-2 Vitti went up high to get his hand on and block the potential game-tying conversion. That play proved to be the difference as Jim Thorpe pulled out a 7-6 Anthracite Football League victory."We spend a lot of time working on all aspects of special teams play," said Olympian coach Mark Rosenberger about the block. "(Coach) Craig Zurn works hard with our kick blocking unit and it paid off tonight."We got a good push up front and Kevin was able to get some penetration and block the kick."In a game in which both offenses struggled, it was only fitting that all of the key plays were made on either special teams or defense."It was a heck of a defensive effort by both teams," said Tamaqua coach Sam Bonner. "I thought we had some chances, but we really struggled to finish drives.Penalties, fumbled exchanges, turnovers ... we really hurt ourself with mistakes."The stats show that Tamaqua had a huge edge in first downs (12-5) and also outgained the Olympians (147-83). But the miscues Bonner referred to kept the Raiders' offense from getting into the end zone."We are the kind of team right now where every play counts," said Bonner, whose team lost its starting quarterback and two starting lineman to injuries in week one. "We really don't have much of a margin for error."Little mistakes here and there are going to be the difference between wins and losses."It was a Tamaqua mistake that set up Jim Thorpe's only touchdown.On the first possession of the game, a low snap on fourth down forced the Raider punter to go down on one knee to scoop up the ball. He was ruled down at the spot and Jim Thorpe took over at the 12-yard line.Three Rob Heller runs produced the touchdown and Bailey Becker added the extra point for a 7-0 Olympian lead with 9:25 left in the first quarter."It was huge to get an early lead, especially with how the game played out," said Rosenberger. "When you get a break like we did on that punt, you have to take advantage of it and our kids did that."Although Rosenberger liked what he saw from his team in that possession, he wasn't pleased with the overall play of the unit."You have to give a lot of credit to our defense," Rosenberger said. "Our mistakes on offense put our defense in some difficult situations but they really responded."It was a total team effort by the defense. We had so many different kids making plays, the line, the linebackers, the defensive backs, they all came up with huge plays."Despite the strong defensive effort, the game was in doubt the entire way. It got especially tight after a Jim Thorpe turnover led to Tamaqua's only touchdown.A Dean Richards interception at the two-yard line ended a Tamaqua threat with 7:07 remaining in the game. But on the Olympians' third play from scrimmage following the turnover, a fumble in the backfield was scooped up by Colin 'Bud' Moyer and returned for a touchdown.Moyer's touchdown came with 5:25 remaining. But Vitti's block preserved the Thorpe lead.Tamaqua got the ball back for one final possession, but turned it over on downs deep in its own territory and Thorpe ran out the clock."We're excited to be 3-0," said Rosenberger. "But we're not satisfied. We still have a lot of work ahead of us. We need to clean things up. We had some key penalties that hurt us and also turned the ball over a couple of times."That said, there is a lot to be gained from a tight victory like this. It's great for team chemistry and team unity."