Pine Grove Cardinals kicked off to start the Homecoming game against the Jim Thorpe Olympians. Jim Thorpe took an early 6-0 lead with a touchdown in the opening minutes. Pine Grove came up with the stop on the PAT and got the ball. Pine Grove was off to a slow start going down 26-0 at the end of the first quarter. The Cards would bounce back a bit and score their first touchdown and go into halftime with a score of 47-7. The rest of the game was closer with Jim Thorpe scoring 3 touchdowns and Pine Grove scoring 1 in the second half. The game ended 66-14 in favor of the Olympians.

Coach Shiffer said, “I thought our offense showed promise, Mason made some good plays. I think our defense could improve, taking one more step and making the play. Our tackling could improve and just finishing the play.” He thinks the defense could use some work and the offense has improved. He has high hopes for the upcoming game and thinks if a few defensive adjustments are made they could win.

The Cardinals should find some positives in the outcome of the game and be able to build off of it for their next game.

Evan Karenda, junior kicker and cornerback, said, “ The game didn’t go how we liked but there were some bright spots such as the pass game improving and getting some special teams opportunities.” 

This game was the first game in the past three that the Cardinals had scored a passing touchdown. Hunter McConnell, junior lineman, said, “The pass is the pass that’s why it’s called the pass.” McConnell said this because they barely had any pass attempts even on their pass plays. He wasn’t too happy about how the performance was but thought that the fact they scored was a plus.

The Cards will have the opportunity to show  their improvements against Palmerton.