TAMAQUA — Seven games without a win was too many for Josh Delp.
The Tamaqua senior ended that streak by scoring a hat trick in the Blue Raiders’ 3-2 win over Jim Thorpe in Saturday afternoon’s Schuylkill League Division I contest at the Tamaqua Soccer Complex.
“It’s been a struggle since we lost so many in a row,” Delp said. “But it feels good to come back out here and win.”
Delp scored the game-winner after flicking a header forward at midfield and chasing it down for a breakaway goal that gave Tamaqua a 3-1 lead in the 75th minute.
“I saw the ball coming to me and the adrenaline just took over,” Delp said. “I figured I had my chance and I ran and took it.”
Delp’s second goal, however, was probably his finest. Just five minutes before his final tally, he corralled a loose ball in the offensive third and slotted a shot to the top right corner of the goal that thumped off the back framework inside the net.
His first goal came in the third minute after a move inside around a defender opened his scoring lane.
It was Delp’s first hat trick of the season, despite residing near the top of the league scoring list. He has had four two-goal games, and Saturday’s performance raised his season total to 14 strikes.
The Raiders (5-8-1, 3-5-1 D-I)compiled six losses and a tie in their last seven games. Their last win was a 6-1 victory over North Schuylkill on Sept. 10.
This one nearly slipped away, too.
Luke Morris tied the game at 1 with a rocketed shot from near the center circle that tucked under the crossbar in the 51st minute.
After Delp’s late goals, Thorpe’s Jorge Macareno scored on a sprawling header to the left of goal in the 77th minute to cut the Olympians’ deficit to one.
“First off, we played well and we took the lead, but it’s never safe with us,” Tamaqua coach Ian Blyth said. “It’s never a guarantee. You’ve always gotta get that second goal. I said to them they have to score before they equalize. If they do, the momentum will be with them.”
Jim Thorpe (5-6, 3-4) nearly did take the lead with two good chances following Morris’ goal. Morris swung a corner to the near post minutes later that proved difficult to clear, and Tamaqua keeper Hunter Banavage was forced to cut off a 57th-minute cross with Jim Thorpe’s Matt Miller sniffing around goal.
“The thing with Jim Thorpe is they play the game right,” Blyth said. “A lot of teams you could say it’s just two average teams doing whatever they can to win. Whereas they actually have a game plan every time they go onto the field.”
Jim Thorpe’s first-half chances came primarily from forward Jian Gentile. The junior got three good looks at goal between the 15th and 25th minutes, but the first saw him outnumbered and the second two were shots off the outside of his boot that just curled wide right.
“It was just that final pass. We’ve had trouble all season with it,” Jim Thorpe coach Tony Dixon said. “You just can’t teach it. It’s got to be natural.
“We could’ve won it. We should’ve won it with how we played. But hey, that’s the way it goes.”
Blyth believed such was also the case in the first meeting between the two sides Sept. 8. The Olympians won 1-0.
“We got out by the skin of our teeth,” Blyth said. “But I’ll take 18 of them every year and get 18 wins versus the ones we’ve been taking this year.”
Game Summary
Jim Thorpe (5-6, 3-4) 0 2 — 2 Tamaqua (5-8-1, 3-5-1) 1 2 — 3
Tam —Delp, 3rd minute
JT —Morris, 51st minute
Tam —Delp, 70th minute
Tam —Delp, 75th minute
JT —Macareno (Williams), 77th minute
Shots on goal: Jim Thorpe 14, Tamaqua 10. Corner kicks: Jim Thorpe 4, Tamaqua 4. Saves: Jim Thorpe (Rodriguez 7, Miller 0) 7, Tamaqua (Banavage) 10.