by Carol Keefer & Emily Rohlfing, Reporters

The Jim Thorpe Olympians varsity football team has had an outstanding season so far. The team, at the time of writing, is 7-1. To learn more about how the team does so well and what goes into being a successful football team in the Anthracite league, Coach Oliver has agreed to answer a few questions about the team and the responsibility of balancing school-work and maintaining a positive attitude that comes with it, while also preparing for the monumental game the team will play against the Tamaqua Blue Raiders.

“Honestly, I’m very confident in our team; I believe this team is a type of team that’s going to be on a banner one day. I’m happy to be a part of it so that I can be on that banner too,” stated Coach Oliver in regards to the level of confidence the team has leading into this week.

Coach Oliver credits the team’s physical appearance and athleticism with being the core of the team’s strength.

“We’re very athletic upfront. We’re very nasty on defense. We hit everything that moves. We’ve only given up 13 points I believe, so that’s a huge strength,” said Oliver.

The Olympian football team is known for their ability to maintain confidence and play until the last second of the game. Coach Oliver stated that it’s one of the things he loves most about being a coach for the team.

Coach Oliver stated, “I think the biggest thing is that our team has a lot of experience and a lot of senior-laden experience, so these guys that have been battle tested… I mean obviously anyone that’s seen the Tamaqua game last year, it’d have been very easy to put their heads down with forty-six seconds left, but we came back to win with a touchdown in the last second of the game. We have a lot of confidence in this group and, until the end of the game, we feel like we’re in it no matter what the score is.”

Overall, Coach Oliver says that he is proud of his team’s work this season and he is satisfied with the position that they are in.

“I feel very good about the season. The thing that I would take away is the fact that we beat North Schuylkill for 99% of that game, but that 1%… that one play took the lead from us. In big games against big, tough teams, it’s very difficult to give up a big play and come back from it… which we did. We just ran out of time at the end and I really think we’ll get to see them again at districts and I think it’s going to play out a little bit better on our end,” said Oliver.

In the next few games, Oliver and the Jim Thorpe community are hoping to see more physicality from the team in order for them to secure victories and a spot in district playoffs.

“I hope we tattoo people on defense, I hope we’re physical, I hope we set the tone right off the bat. If we can get a special teams play or two… it’s going to be hard for any team, if we get up fourteen on them, for them to catch up because our defense is nasty,” said Coach Oliver.

Although balancing school-work and football may seem like a difficult task for most teams, Oliver says that the boys stay on top of their work and even have their own system to ensure that they’re passing their classes and eligible to play in the games on Friday nights.

“The biggest thing is–our football players, we haven’t really specifically talked about it, but it’s a model that I always followed as a kid and I feel like they do the same thing. I like to call it SLAG– Scholar, leader, athlete, and gentleman. I think for the most part we do a good job of that. We typically don’t have anyone ineligible– we’ve had one guy miss a week, but none outside of that. Typically with most teams, you’ll see multiple guys be ineligible so I think our guys tend to every area of that. As scholars, leaders, athletes, and gentleman they have pretty much owned up to what they were supposed to do in the classroom as well as in the community.”

The Olympian football team has a few rituals and philosophies to keep them motivated, excited, and pumped up before and during the games.

According to Oliver, “For me personally, we do a Rick Flair moniker that goes really well with the guys. I probably can’t get into specifics, but if you talk to them I think that they get a little pumped up. We do a halftime one as well that gets the guys real fired up so it’s got to be something that we keep in-house. We don’t want to specify because we don’t want other teams out there stealing it. However, one of my biggest football philosophies that I can share has always been to pound the rock and play great defense… every now and then you like to throw a trick play in there. Physicality– you’ve got to set a presence and you’ve got to set a tone, even on special teams– some guys have got to fly around and hit people. I think you do that for the first two or three quarters. If you play a little hurry up, you wear teams down and then in the third and fourth quarters, they don’t want to be there and it’s the best feeling in the world. When you start leaning on a team, or leaning on a guy, and he don’t want to be there– it’s the best feeling on earth.”

Aside from the season-altering game against Tamaqua, the team will also be playing rival school Lehighton in an attempt to win the 209 trophy back and bring it home to Jim Thorpe. Coach Oliver is confident that the team can do exactly that.

“I think we’re the better team; I think we want it more. We’re hungry. They weren’t better than us last year, but they made a few more plays and that’s the crazy thing about football– not always the best team wins. But this year, I think we’ll get up on them early, we’ll put our foot on the gas– they like to spread the ball around– and I think we’ll get a few pick-sixes. We’re going to put it on them.”

The Jim Thorpe Olympians are hoping to advance to 8-1 on the season following their game against the undefeated Tamaqua Blue Raiders on Friday. The team has had a wonderful season and the Jim Thorpe community is hoping to send the team off to District XI playoffs as district champions. However, a loss to the Blue Raiders could very well shatter their district champion dream.