KUTZTOWN — It’s one thing not to allow any points.

But now Jim Thorpe’s defense wants to score them.

The Red Swarm returned three fumbles for touchdowns on Friday night, leading the Olympians to their fourth straight victory.

And yes, they also kept their shutout string alive with a 62-0 rout of Kutztown.

“That (the defensive scores) was great,” said senior defensive end Dylan Dailey, who scored the game’s first touchdown when he scooped up a loose ball and ran 29 yards to the end zone. “We’ve been working on our strip-sacks and other things at practice.

“We always take pride in our defense ... The shutouts are nice, but we won’t get cocky about it. It’s great being 4-0, but we’re not satisfied with that. We have big expectations.”

Dailey, who had three tackles for loss in the first half, wasn’t the only Thorpe defender with a touchdown. CJ Selby, known more his offensive prowess, duplicated his teammate’s effort with a 29-yard fumble return in the opening quarter, while Nate Rosahac also picked up a Kutztown miscue and recorded six points.

“A lot of great things happen when you create turnovers, and we scored three defensive touchdowns today,” said Olympian head coach Mark Rosenberger, whose team led 55-0 at the half. “The kids really fly around and make plays.

“But to be honest, we didn’t play very well in the first quarter defensively. We didn’t give up a whole lot of yards, but we did some things that are uncharacteristic of us defensively. There are things we need to correct and things we need to work on.”

It would be hard to convince Kutztown of that fact.

The Cougars ran 33 plays in the first two quarters and 16 of them went for negative yardage. Nine of them were sacks where Kutztown quarterback Josh Worman hardly had any time to throw.

“We have a nice rotation going with our front four,” said Rosenberger. “With that rotation occurring, it definitely helps keep our guys fresh and the pressure we get with our front four is really top-notch.”

Speaking of top-notch, the Olympians’ offensive line also got the job done.

The guys in the trenches created big lanes for the backs to run through. Selby took advantage on his first carry of the game, breaking free for a 31-yard gain that eventually led to a 12-yard touchdown. He also powered in from 19 yards out late in the second quarter that resulted in a 49-0 Thorpe lead.

“I thought offensively there were some nice holes for our kids to run through,” said Rosenberger. “Selby had a nice game with limited carries, (Dominic) Madera had some nice runs, and overall upfront our offensive line was great, creating big holes to run through.”

Madera got in the scoring column with a 15-yard run near the end of the opening half, while quarterback Roberto Santiago and running back Jarrin Geisinger also reached the end zone on short runs.

FLAGS FLYING ... One area of concern for the Olympians was penalties. Jim Thorpe was flagged 15 times for 110 yards. “That was obviously a glaring issue that we had today,” said Rosenberger.

SAVING THE SHUTOUT ... Thorpe blocked a field goal late in the third quarter to keep the Cougars off the scoreboard.

ONE MORE SCORE ... Jason Bowen added the Olympians’ final points in the third quarter when the freshman running back reached paydirt on a 25-yard run.

UP NEXT ... Jim Thorpe host Midd-West on Friday. The Mustangs, who Rosenberger said defeated his team in a passing scrimmage during the summer, has played all District 11 teams so far this season. They are 2-1, beating Marian and Shenandoah while losing to Blue Mountain.