ASHLAND — Jim Thorpe’s first loss of the season was the result of too many fumbles and too much of North Schuylkill’s Zack Chowansky.

The Olympians had to battle uphill in their 41-20 defeat that began on a misplay on their first possession. On second down, a snap sailed over QB Davier Calcano’s head that led to a fourth down punt.

The Red Swarm defense held on downs, forcing a Spartan punt, but after a procedure penalty, another snap from the JT 13-yard line sailed into the end zone and North Schuylkill ended Thorpe’s 17-quarter shutout streak with a safety and a 2-0 lead.

The Olympians fumbled five times and lost three to the Spartans during the course of the game.

“We made too many mistakes,” said Jim Thorpe head coach Mark Rosenberger. “We can’t turn the ball over against a good team like North Schuylkill and we gave up too many big plays.”

Those “big plays” were mostly due to the hard running of Chowansky, who rumbled for 224 yards and three touchdown runs — two of them going for 42 and 85 yards. North Schuylkill quarterback Jaden Leiby chipped in with 119 yards, most of them on his scoring runs of 19 and 85 yards.

Down 14-0, the Olympians fought back when Calcano finished a 75-yard drive with a perfect pass to Noah Snisky in the right corner of the end zone.

Snisky, who caught four passes for 146 yards in the game, would complete a deep post catch-and-run play for a 40-yard TD at the 11:11 mark of the second quarter, bringing his team to a one-point deficit at 14-13.

“We spotted them 14 points, but we bounced back and got back in the game, which showed we have good character,” said Rosenberger.

The Spartans completed a 10-play drive when Leiby faked a dive play and optioned around right end for a 19-yard score to put his team up by seven at the half.

North Schuylkill received the second half kickoff and on their third play from scrimmage, Leiby scooted around right end and then cutback for a 65-yard run to paydirt.

Chowansky scored from seven yards out on a toss right at the start of the final quarter, but Jim Thorpe answered when CJ Selby took a wildcat snap and blasted in from two yards out.

Despite his team’s mistakes, Rosenberger saw a silver lining in an otherwise gloomy day for the Olympians.

“We did some nice things,” said Rosenberger. “Calcano threw the ball very well and Snisky had a huge game for us. We can be proud of that, but we have to get better against physical teams.

“We blew too many assignments on defense. Give credit to them. They are big, strong, and physical. Now we have to get ourselves ready for Blue Mountain.

SUPER SNISKY ... Jim Thorpe’s wide receiver Snisky made great catches, especially on a 30-yard sideline route where he stretched out to catch the pass in his fingertips.

BLACK AND BLUE ... The physicality of the game was evidenced by several injury timeouts and 14 total penalties.