Jim Thorpe was looking for a fast start.

The Olympians couldn’t have asked for much more Monday against Tamaqua.

Three first-half goals sparked Thorpe to a 6-3 win over Tamaqua in a Schuylkill League Division 1 contest.

While Tamaqua was playing its season opener on Monday, Jim Thorpe was coming off a 6-0 loss to Pleasant Valley in its first game of the season on Saturday, where the Olympians trailed 5-0 in the first half.

Senior Cael Heaney finished with a hat trick, and registered the first two goals of the contest on assists from Hayden Meckes and Hayden Hurn in the first half.

“He’s our leader,” Olympians’ coach Mike Dudak said of Heaney. “He did a great job leading tonight, but (basically) we’re a very young team … it gives us an opportunity to play a little more offensive.”

Junior Noah Geiser added a score to make it 3-0 for Jim Thorpe (1-1, 1-0 SL) before halftime on an assist from Meckes, and opened the scoring in the second half off an assist from Henry Snyder to push the lead to 4-0.

“We didn’t exactly light it on fire,” said Tamaqua head coach Jim McCabe. “We gave up two (easy) goals; we were there (defensively), but theirs went in.”

The Blue Raiders (0-1, 0-1) found the back of the net when Cooper Ansbach scored at the 33:03 mark of the second half.

But the Olympians answered, as Heaney scored his third goal of the game on an assist from Geiser to make it 5-1.

Dudak wants his team to push the ball down the field, and the coach liked what he saw Monday.

“Normally we like to play more of a possession game,” he said. “But I liked the way we played fast against them. It’s something that we are going to try and do more of, and with a young team and only two seniors, it will give us a chance at trying that approach.”

Tamaqua also got a pair of goals from Wyatt Steigerwalt in the second half.

Dudak liked the way both Ehren Hassler and Conor Holland played. Hassler assisted on Hurn’s goal after the first of Steigerwalt’s scores.

“Hassler played extremely well in the middle,” Dudak pointed out. “Holland dominated the middle of the field; when you do that chances are you’re going to have a pretty good overall game.”

BY THE NUMBERS … Both sides had three corner kicks. Kevin Bazan made 10 saves for the Blue Raiders, while Blake Barberio stopped seven shots for the Olympians. Tamaqua had 11 indirect kicks, and one direct, while Thorpe had five indirect kicks.

BANG … Steigerwalt’s blast from over 40 yards out for the third and final goal for his team was impressive. He let loose, and it was just right on course hitting the back of the net. “He can do those types of things,” McCabe said about the strong-footed senior.

UP NEXT

... Jim Thorpe travels to unbeaten Pine Grove (2-0) Wednesday, while Tamaqua will visit Pottsville (0-1).