Jim Thorpe's Cole Lazorick (Photo by Leroy Boyer)

BANGOR — Finding a way.

That’s how Jim Thorpe head coach Mark Rosenberger described getting a win Friday night against host Bangor, which entered the contest seeking its first victory this season.

The Olympians, although outgained, came up with key plays in crucial situations to come away on the good side of a 35-21 score in a Schuylkill-Colonial Red Division contest.

“It was their Senior Night, and they’re a well-coached football team,” said Rosenberger of the Slaters. “Their kids played hard and credit it to those guys. But our kids found a way to get it done. We battled adversity throughout the course of the game, we had kids playing different positions, and you have to give our kids credit because they figured out a way to win a football game.

“They’re not always pretty. Sometimes they’re ugly. And every one counts as much as the ones that are pretty, so I’m just proud our kids’ effort. We’re playing a lot of young kids and they figured out a way to get the job done tonight.”

It definitely wasn’t easy.

Bangor (0-9, 0-8 Red) moved the ball well in the first half on the ground, and then was effective through the air in the second, but when the Olympians needed a key play or a key stop, more times than not they got one.

That trend started early when after the Slaters opened the scoring with an impressive drive, Thorpe’s Angel Rivera took the ensuing kickoff back for a touchdown.

Olympian quarterback Cole Lazorick contributed his own big play the next time his team had the ball, breaking loose for a 57-yard touchdown run, but his biggest run arguably came midway through the third quarter.

With the visitors clinging to a 21-13 lead and not able to pull away from winless Bangor, Thorpe (4-5, 2-5 Red) faced a fourth-and-3 from its own 46. Rosenberger decided to roll the dice and go for the first down. Lazorick kept and picked up 14 yards to keep their drive going, and seven plays later he tossed a 9-yard TD pass to Bobby Levins to extend the advantage.

“We asked the kids if they wanted to go for it, and they said, ‘Yeah, let’s go for it.’ And Coach (Frank) Miller had a great call, as he’s done all year for us, and we got it done. Our line did a nice job of creating a running hole for Cole. We got a nice push on that play. … It was a huge part of the game. It was a little bit risky at that point in time, but we had confidence in our line, and we have confidence with the ball in No. 8’s hands.”

“They actually asked us, do you want to go for it?” added Lazorick, who finished with 140 yards rushing. “We all said we wanted to go for it and get the first down and get some momentum back. It was huge for them to give us that opportunity, and we trust them so much as much as they trust us. And it was great to get that first down there.”

Despite gaining that momentum, Bangor answered to make it a one-score game again.

The Slaters then seemed headed for a possible tying score, driving to Thorpe’s 21-yard line. But the Olympian defense stiffened and forced a turnover on downs when Paxton Novack came up with a clutch sack.

“We practice all week trying to get a shutout and not to give up any yards, but obviously things in football don’t always go that way,” said Lazorick. “Sometimes you’re going to have your backs against the wall, but when we would give up a 20-yard rush or something like that we knew we’d have to come back and get a stop, a sack, or do something. And the guys responded. We made big plays when we had to.”

Following the key stop, Thorpe used a flea flicker with Lazorick hitting Spencer Gothard for a 49-yard gain. Moments later, it seemed the JT quarterback had given his team an insurance tally with a 5-yard run but a penalty negated the score and pushed the ball back to the 20.

Lazorick, however, responded with a scoring strike to Levins to make it 35-21 with 2:17 to play.

“It was a beautiful pass by Cole,” said Rosenberger. “Cole’s been getting it done for us, running the ball tonight but also throwing the ball in some key situations. He’s an excellent football player and that was a senior to a freshman right there. And credit to our O-line in that spot. They gave an opportunity to get that ball off and the kids made a play. … It was a great throw, a great catch and excellent protection.”

“It was tough, because it was a walk-in touchdown to go up two scores and it gets called back,” said Lazorick. “And now you’re sitting in a (third-and-16). We saw the middle of the field open and we took advantage of it, and I knew Levins was going to make the play. I just had to get it to him, and he made the catch.”

Bangor attempted a final push to close the gap, but Logan O’Shura stripped Slaters quarterback Lincoln Rehrig to seal the win.

GROUND GAME … Bangor’s Lucas Hurd rushed for 169 yards in the opening half, but Thorpe’s defense shut down the run game in the second. Hurd only had 11 in the final two quarters.

OUTGAINED … The Slaters ended with 338 yards of offense to the Olympians’ 311.

UP NEXT … Jim Thorpe ends the regular season on Friday against rival Lehighton.

Game Summary

Jim Thorpe 35, Bangor 21

JT (4-5, 2-5)         14         7         7          7  —    35

Ban (0-9, 0-8)        7         6         8         0  —    0

B — Hurd 15 run (Mueller kick)

JT — Rivera 68 kickoff return (Flyzik kick)

JT — Lazorick 57 run (Flyzik kick)

JT — Novack 8 run (Flyzik kick)

B — Hurd 1 run (kick failed)

JT — Levins 9 pass from Lazorick (Flyzik kick)

B — Karasek 8 pass from Hurd (Hurd run)

JT — Levins 20 pass from Lazorick (Flyzik kick)