It was a finish deserving of a name.

Trailing Tamaqua with seconds remaining last Friday night, Jim Thorpe strung together three completions. The final one was a 37-yard touchdown pass on the game’s final play to pull out a dramatic 30-26 victory.

• “The Drive”

• “The Pass”

• “The Immaculate Non-Deflection”

• “Miracle on the Hill”

Pick one of those names or come up with one your own.

One thing is certain, however. No matter what you name it, Jim Thorpe football coach Mark Rosenberger is just happy to call it a win.

“Definitely a memorable moment,” Rosenberger said. “Players, coaches, the entire sideline just running on to the field to celebrate. It was emotional, It was exciting, it was a great feeling.

“That’s the first time in my coaching career I can remember winning a game on the last play of the game like that.”

The Drive

Taking over on its own 42-yard line with no time outs and just :40 remaining, Jim Thorpe had little margin for error. One sack or one tackle in the field play, would all but end the Olympians’ fading hopes of staying unbeaten.

“We work on our two-minute offense during pre-season camp and then one day every week or two during the season,” said Rosenberger. “We run a fast-paced offense to begin with, so I think that leads to our kids being comfortable in that situation.

“The big difference between our regular offense and the situation Friday night was that we also had to be aware of the clock. You work on the finer details of the two-minute offense in practice so that in the games the kids just react. In addition, the coaching staff is reminding everyone of the importance of getting outs of bounds before each play.”

Thorpe’s practice paid dividends.

After a first down incompletion, quarterback Nick Rosahac hit Shawn O’Toole for a 13-yard gain near the sideline, allowing O’Toole to get out of bounds on the Raider 45. Another incompletion was followed by an eight-yard screen pass to Kendall Heron, who also got out to stop the clock.

“I think the tight end screen to Kendall was one of the most overlooked plays in the game,” said Rosenberger. “Kendall broke a couple of tackles and then had to carry two Tamaqua players on his back to get out of bounds. If he doesn’t make that play, the clock runs out.”

Facing a 3rd-and-two call after the screen, Rosahac’s next pass was incomplete, stopping the clock with just :06 remaining.

The Pass

There wasn’t enough time remaining to try to get a quick first down and get out to stop the clock.

Jim Thorpe had just one play remaining. It was all of nothing.

“The play we called was designed to go to Shawn (O’Toole), who was running a backside post route,” explained Rosenberger. “But the play we called wasn’t the play we ran. Shawn ran the post, but Justin (St. Hill) didn’t see the call. He was in the slot and just ran a streak route down the seam. That wasn’t the pattern he was suppose to run on that play, but it turned out pretty good for us that he did.”

Rosahac dropped back and threw a rope down the center of the field. St. Hill, the Olympians’ outstanding running back and also part-time quarterback, admitted after the game that he wasn’t even sure what his route was suppose to be on the play — he just knew he needed to get to the end zone.

Six seconds and 37 yards later, St. Hill and the ball arrived in the end zone at the exact same time.

The Immaculate Non-Deflection

The Pittsburgh Steelers had the Immaculate Reception and with a Saint (Hill) being part of the Olympians’ miracle, it only seems fitting to give this play a similar name.

With two Jim Thorpe receivers and two Tamaqua defenders all converging toward the goal line and the center of the field at the same time, the pass appeared destined to be knocked down or deflected. But somehow it made it through the maze of players crossing in front of St. Hill untouched and found its way into his arms.

Miracle on the Hill

Tamaqua’s Stadium Hill was packed for the matchup between two area teams who had a combined record of 12-2 entering the game. It’s a pretty safe bet to say that with the back-and-forth nature of the second half, no one left early.

“Both fan bases were really into the game,” said Rosenberger. “It was a great game from a fans’ perspective because both teams were so resilient. Every time it looked like one team took control, the other would answer back.”

With an undefeated regular season still in play, with league and district titles on the table, and with a potential state playoff run also a possibility, Rosenberger said Friday’s victory could benefit the Olympians down the line.

“Not only was it a great win for us, but I think it’s going to reinforce couple of things we preach to our kids,” Rosenberger said. “First, the kids saw how important it is to play the entire 48-minutes, and how important every single play can be.

“Secondly, we didn’t have a very good week of practice before the Tamaqua game. I think seeing how close we were to a loss on Friday has added a little extra spark and intensity for our kids. It’s been noticeable at practice this week.”

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IT’S MILLER TIME ... Northwestern’s Hunter Miller had a night to remember last week against Southern Lehigh.

The senior kicker not only booted two field goals, but his first one was a 47-yarder.

That set a new school record, which was previously held by Tom Caamano, who had a 43-yarder in 1996. The 47-yarder is also believed to be the longest in Times News history.

Miller also became the 13th area player over the last 30 years to kick more than one field goal in the same game. Of the other 12, four are Northwestern graduates — Chris Horn, Brandon Miller, Jordan Grube, and Jeremy Rex.

The others include Pleasant Valley’s Dean Krcic, Ryan Habick, and Malik Krcic; Lehighton’s Jacen Nalesnik and Cory Whitehead; Jim Thorpe’s Tyler O’Shura; Tamaqua’s Lance Williams; and Palmerton’s Eric Haydt.

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POINTS GALORE ... Lehighton used 596 yards of offense last Friday (possibly the most in school history and definitely the most over the past 30 years) to earn a 54-33 victory over Pottsville.

Besides the offense, the scoring is also noteworthy. In the last 40 seasons, there has been only one other Indians game in which more than 87 points were scored.

On Oct. 1, 2010, Lehighton lost a game to Pocono Mountain East in which 103 points were scored. The final of that game was 62-41.

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MARIAN’S PICK-SIXES ... In last Friday’s victory over Shenandoah Valley, Marian’s Matt Doherty and Jake McLaughlin both returned interceptions for touchdowns.

The Colts also received pick-sixes from Zack Falls and Max Nolter earlier this season in a game against Panther Valley.

This marks just the third time over the last 25 years that an area team has had four players return interceptions for touchdowns in the same season.

The other teams were Lehighton in 2015, who had five (Wyatt Clements, Tyler Cann, Nick Chambers, Zack Crum, and Tanner Haydt) and Northern Lehigh in 2004 (Matt Lilly, Matt Sutjak, Shawn Leadbetter, and Frank Gnas).

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PASSING FANCY ... Pleasant Valley’s Aidan McHugh had a memorable game in last Friday’s victory over East Stroudsburg North.

The sophomore quarterback, who has taken over for the injured Brandon Keyes, set a school and area record when he threw for 352 yards.

Included in those yards was a 94-yard touchdown pass to Mike Brown. Over the past 20 seasons, there have been only four TD passes longer in the Times News area. One went for 99 yards and was caught by Jim Thorpe’s Gabe Robinson (Nov. 7, 1998). The other three went for 95 yards. Catching those passes were Tamaqua’s Matt Wagner (Oct. 31, 2003), Palmerton’s Kyle Versuk (Sept. 22, 2000) and Jim Thorpe’s Don Evans (Sept. 15, 2000).

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DOUBLE CENTURY MARK ... When Justin St. Hill caught the game-winning catch on the final play of Jim Thorpe’s game against Tamaqua last Friday, he also passed 100 yards receiving in the contest.

Coupled with the 122 yards rushing yards, he became just the ninth area player (and first Olympian) to record both 100 rushing and receiving yards in the same game (since 1988).

The others include Palmerton’s Mike Stasko (2016) and Ryan McGrath (2001); Pleasant Valley’s Austyn Borre (2015) and Rob Getz (2011); Northwestern’s Trevor Cunningham (2016); Tamaqua’s Tyler Hope (2013); Northern Lehigh’s Caleb Johnson (2012) and Lehighton’s Scott Vrablic (1996).