SCHUYLKILL HAVEN —Jim Thorpe junior running back CJ Selby served as the Olympians’ second act at the running back position last season.

This year, it appears like he’s primed to be the leading man.

Used primarily as a complement to star senior running back Justin St. Hill a year ago, Selby was still effective, rushing for 681 yards and nine scores.

In the Olympians’ 2018 opener against Schuylkill Haven, Selby proved that he is now the star of the show.

Selby along with his supporting cast in the offensive line will certainly earn rave reviews from critics after Friday’s performance as the hard-charging junior rushed for 229 yards and three scores to help Thorpe come away with a 28-0 victory over the Hurricanes.

“Tonight I had a lot of success in the wild cat, and honestly that’s not even me, that’s my offensive line. I don’t think I was touched once behind the line of scrimmage tonight and they were opening up nice holes for our running backs,” said Selby. “It just feels really good to get off to the start I did tonight, my first actual start as our starting running back. But I couldn’t have done any of it without my guys up front.”

The Olympians showed their ability to push the opposition off the ball from the onset with a six-play opening drive that resulted in a 29-yard Selby touchdown run. Thorpe controlled the line of scrimmage and the tempo throughout the first half, with Selby adding another score in the second quarter on a 42-yard scamper just before the end of the half.

Schuylkill Haven, which couldn’t move the ball much on the evening (80 total yards) still played scrappy in the first half, keeping the game closer than what Jim Thorpe would’ve liked.

“Jim Thorpe is a good football team and we knew this was going to be a tough game. For as bad as we looked at times tonight, we were still down just two scores going into halftime. Our kids scrapped and played really hard for the entire game,” said Schuylkill Haven head coach Mike Farr. “Tonight it was evident that they were just better in the box than we were. But we’re still a good football team, we’re not throwing in the towel.”

For as good as the Olympians were on offense (417 total yards) they were arguably better on the defensive end. The Red Swarm defense was in midseason form, holding the vaunted Schuylkill Haven rushing attack to just 80 yards. That included holding Kobe Brish, one of the best rushers in the state last season, to just 76 yards on 16 carries.

“We preach physicality, playing fast, and swarming to the football and our defense certainly executed on all those things tonight. Brish is an outstanding football player, and we did a good job keeping him in check tonight, which is something we worked hard on all week,” said Jim Thorpe head coach Mark Rosenberger.

Selby added his third score of the night on the first play of the fourth quarter on a nifty 19-yard run and then later in the fourth, first-year starting quarterback Roberto Santiago put the game away with a 47-yard sprint.

FUMBLITIS ... The Olympians could’ve been even more successful on the night on the offensive side of the ball if it wasn’t for some fumbling issues. The center exchange in Jim Thorpe’s shotgun formation needs some definite ironing out as the Olympians fumbled four times, losing two of them.

THREE AND OUT... The Jim Thorpe defense forced the ‘Canes to punt seven times.

PASS ON PASSING ... The Olympians threw the ball just twice, while Schuylkill Haven dropped back just four times without a completion.