Big play ability can turn the tide of any game.

Flush with playmakers, both Jim Thorpe and Marian showed in Week 1 victories that they are capable of taking control of a game with splash plays on offense, defense or special teams.In rivalry games, such plays can be even more critical.Friday night, it was Jim Thorpe that made the most of its chances en route to a 27-0 non-league victory over Marian."It feels great. The more we can be versatile with our players and spread the ball around, the more successful we're going to be offensively, so we have to keep on doing that," said Olympians head coach Mark Rosenberger. "We have versatile athletes that can play multiple spots and make these plays for us. And our speed is also pretty good."And it showed Friday night.Three quick touchdowns in the second quarter put Jim Thorpe (2-0) in control.Justin St. Hill found the end zone from two yards out with 8:21 to play in the second to open the scoring and put the Olympians up 6-0.The "Red Swarm" defense got the Colts (1-1) off the field with a three-and-out. Nick Rosahac found Kendall Herron for a 58-yard score on the second play of Jim Thorpe's ensuing possession, and St. Hill's two-point conversion made it 14-0 with 6:34 to play in the first half.Marian went three-and-out on its next drive, and the Olympians cashed in again. But this time it was the special teams unit making plays, as Shawn O'Toole's raced 55 yards on the punt return to put Jim Thorpe ahead 20-0 with 4:48 to play in the second quarter."Two weeks in a row, I definitely thought we won the special teams battle, and that's important. Shawn O'Toole with that great run back that he had, and diving into the end zone was excellent," Rosenberger said. "If you can win that facet of the game, it makes it that much easier for the offense and defense."After managing just 64 yards of total offense in the first half, the Colts put together a solid drive early in the third quarter, moving to the Jim Thorpe two-yard line.But the Olympian defense held, stopping Marian on fourth-and-goal to keep the score 20-0."We had some opportunities," said Colts' head coach Pat Morgans. "We're a young team with some growing pains ... some execution things. But I'm proud of our kids."Most of the game, they went toe-to-toe with one of the best teams we're going to play on our schedule. It was three big plays. It was three big plays, but other than that, I thought our kids played hard, and I'm proud of them. We'll just keep plugging away."The last of those big plays came when Rosahac (10-of-13, 207 yards passing) hit tight end Dylan Dailey for a 75-yard touchdown with a little over three minutes left in the third quarter."We have a lot of offensive weapons, so if we get the ball to them they're probably going to score most of the time," Rosahac said. "So if we can get the ball out to them, we can get a lot of these plays like we had tonight."TRICKERY... Though Marian didn't have much success moving the ball in the first half, the Colts did find success using some unconventional play calling. On the third play of the game, running back Seth Paluck took a pitch from quarterback Mason Miller and looked down field, where he found Keith McCall (three catches, 82 yards) running wide open for a 42-yard gain. The drive stalled, however, and Marian punted on 4th-and-22 from Jim Thorpe's 35.I'LL TAKE THAT... Zack Falls had a big game for the Colts, recovering two fumbles and finishing with nine tackles. Zach Boyer led Marian with 10 tackles, while Paluck also tallied nine stops.SIDELINED... Miller left the game with a leg injury after taking a hit on a fourth-down play midway through the third quarter. Morgans did not know the extent of the injury, saying only that Miller would have tests on Saturday. McCall finished the game at quarterback.