It has been said that ties are like kissing your sister.

But in the case of the Tamaqua and Jim Thorpe boys’ soccer teams, that wasn’t the case.

But for totally different reasons.

The Raiders and the Olympians played to a 1-1 double overtime tie in a Schuylkill League Division 1 game on Wednesday.

For Tamaqua, the tie probably felt a little more like victory. After all, this youthful band of Raiders has been slowing (SLOWLY) progressing under head coach Jim Fisher, who watched his team go to 3-6-1 overall, and 0-6-1 in the league.

For Jim Thorpe, the game probably felt a little more like a loss than a tie. The Olympians (6-3-3, 4-1-3) are currently in a hotly-contested three-team battle with Pine Grove and Blue Mountain for the league’s two Division I playoff berths.

“I’m disappointed. We had a lot of chances to score more than just one goal,” said Jim Thorpe coach Mike Dudak. “We had something like 30 shots on goal, and we score only one. That’s been the story for us all season.”

Actually, the Olympians had 15 shots on goal - 11 more than the Raiders. But Tamaqua’s defense was relentless. It was being pressured the entire night, but the Raiders kept digging in and not yielding.

“I like the way we’re playing. Each game we’re improving,” Fisher said. “Our defense played well tonight … especially our back line. (Ethan) DeBonifazio came in and did a nice job replacing Tim Berg after he got hurt in the first half.”

Tamaqua sneaked out in front with 11:46 showing on the first-half clock when Jacob Schlier scored off a free kick by teammate Wyatt Steigerwalt.

Steigerwalt’s kick from about 20 yards out led to a scramble in front of the net that Schlier boomed into the back of the net.

“I thought we got a lot of strong performances,” said Fisher. “We just got Devin (Schlier) back, and he had a heck of a game for us,” Fisher said, “We didn’t have him for the couple games. Brady Sherry had a heck of a night. Our goalie, Jonathan Ulicny, was great in net. And Tegan Devlin is the heart and soul of our team.”

Much to Thorpe’s credit, it did bounce back with a tying goal at the 36:01 mark of the second half after Timothy Dudak punched one in. But that would be the final soring of the night.

“It’s been our nemesis all season,” said Dudak about his team’s inability to score with regularity. Dudak said losing star forward Aiden Clements for the season with a shoulder injury has hurt the offense

“Aiden was our go-to-guy. We’re just struggling to find goals. We dominate games ... we dominate play ... we just don’t score. With the amount of shots and corners we had, we need to put more balls in the back of the net.”

Frustration for sure for Jim Thorpe.

Kissing your sister isn’t always pretty.

HE SAID IT

… ”We had a couple breaks when we should have scored.” Fisher said about Tamaqua missing out on a potential game-winning goal.

BY THE NUMBERS

… Thorpe outshot the Raiders 15-4, had 14-2 edge in corners.

WHERE THEY STAND

… Division 1 contenders Pine Grove (5-0-1) and Blue Mountain (4-1-1) are both slightly ahead of the Olympians heading into the home stretch.

DOUBLE BUBBLE

... After the teams battled to a tie in regulation, a pair of 10-minute overtimes were played with no scoring.