Pottsville looks to bounce back against Jim Thorpe in home opener

Pottsville hosted Tamaqua on Friday night at Veterans Memorial Stadium. (Photo by Bob Lipsky)

POTTSVILLE — Teams often show their most improvement between Weeks 1 and 2.

Pottsville head coach Mike Brennan hopes that’s the case Friday when the Crimson Tide play their home opener against Jim Thorpe at 7 p.m. at Veterans Memorial Stadium. (The game will air live on WPPA 1360 AM and A-106/105.9 FM, beginning with pregame at 6:45 p.m.)

The game will be the Schuylkill/Colonial Cooperative opener for both teams. In addition to the Tide and Olympians, the realigned Red Division includes Bangor, Blue Mountain, Lehighton, North Schuylkill, Northwestern Lehigh, Southern Lehigh and Tamaqua.

Pottsville (0-1) got off to a slow start in last Friday’s 27-13 loss at Shamokin Area. The Indians jumped out to a 20-0 lead with about four minutes left in the first half. The Tide outscored Shamokin 13-7 after that, but the hole was too deep to climb out.

“The not so good was that physically, we were handled up front,’’ Brennan said Wednesday. “We weren’t able to run the football, one of the things I think we had to do with a young quarterback. We had to establish the running game to take the pressure off Andrew Allen. In the second half it was quite the opposite. We had to put everything on his plate.

For a preview of the rest of Friday night’s action, visit https://www.t102sportsnow.com/2024/08/30/week-2-preview-colts-dawgs-tangle-again/

 “The good part is that defensively we battled in the second half,’’ the coach added. “We played extremely hard. We bent a little bit, turned them away. We didn’t give up a touchdown until late in the fourth (quarter). … I was proud of our kids, the way they fought, the way they battled. To get it to one score and to keep it to one score for almost the entire second half, I was proud of our kids because we were outmatched by a much bigger, more mature, more physical and on the edge an extremely athletic football team that’s going to win a lot of games.’’

Allen, Pottsville’s sophomore quarterback, completed 13-of-27 passes for 160 yards. He connected with Tsirell Curry for a 69-yard scoring strike. JuJu Bainbridge scored the Tide’s first touchdown on a 2-yard run.

Meanwhile, Jim Thorpe (1-0) started the season with a resounding 38-15 victory over Palmerton last Friday night.

Quarterback Cole Lazorick had a huge night, passing for 266 yards and four touchdowns and rushing for 118 yards and two more scores.

Lazorick had plenty of help, too. Running back Josh Louk rushed for 100 yards on just five carries and caught two passes for 19 yards and a TD.

Wideouts Aaron Curran (5-108, 2 TDs) and Justin Yescavage (3-94) found themselves on the receiving end of Lazorick’s tosses. The QB connected on touchdown passes of 14 10, 62 and 30 yards.

“Very similar skill guys to Shamokin in terms of what they can do on the edge,’’ Brennan said. “Cole Lazorick is extremely talented. Great straight-ahead speed, great escape-ability, keeps plays alive, has the arm strength to take a shot vertically down the field.

“They always play scrappy,’’ he added. “(Jim Thorpe) Coach (Mark) Rosenberger does a great job with his offensive scheme, he always has. … Our skill guys have to match them. They’re a very good football team. … It’ll be a tough game for us in our home opener.’’

Pottsville will look to do a much better job in the trenches as the Tide gained just 41 yards on the ground on 24 carries. Meanwhile, Shamokin rushed 52 times for 316 yards.

“You’ve got to be able to run the football. You’ve got to be able to come out of the blocks and run the football,’’ Brennan said. “We put a lot of onus on our offensive line to do that. We have to take care of the football and play clean. We’re not an experienced enough or good enough football team at this point to go out and play otherwise.

“We have to take care of our business,’’ he added. “We have to be very sound defensively. We have to play with tremendous effort every snap. We’re not going to manhandle everybody. We’re not going to be able to out-athlete everybody. So that’s got to be our battle cry, and our kids understand that. We’re going to have to win football games on toughness and grit.’’

Friday, Brennan will lead Pottsville from the locker room to field level for the first time at Veterans Memorial Stadium.

Both the players and coaches have been waiting for this day to arrive. They practiced all week in the oppressive late-summer heat, and now it’s go time.

“It’s been a long time since we started this process in the winter,’’ Brennan said. “We felt good about what we did in the winter. We felt like we didn’t have enough time to totally get caught up … we need more than an offseason in the weight room to get our program where it needs to be physically. … To play your home opener, just to be able to run down the hill and compete. It’s Labor Day weekend. Hopefully we’ll have a big crowd. … We worked very hard to put a good product on the field, and this is our first opportunity at home to do that.

“The kids are fine,’’ Brennan added. “We feel like we’re battle-tested (facing) Mount Carmel and Shamokin. We still feel like we’re a good football team. It’s going to be a one-day-at-a-time thing this week at practice, one play at a time on Friday night. … They’re resilient. They came back this week and worked extremely hard in difficult conditions.’’