Just when it looked like Lehighton was on the ropes and reeling, it found a way to counterpunch favorite Jim Thorpe on Monday in the opening round of the District 11 Class 2A boys soccer tournament.

But the Indians weren’t alone in their ability to fight back.

In a game of momentum swings, it was the Olympians who landed the biggest blow as Cael Heaney’s goal in the second overtime lifted them to a 4-3 victory.

The 11th-seeded Indians were on the cusp of a blowout loss, getting drilled with shots on goal by the speedy Olympians who enjoyed a pair of two-goal leads.

But the Tribe figured a way to create some offense of its own as it rallied late to tie the game and eventually force overtime.

That’s when Heaney provided the game-winner with 10:41 left in the second overtime.

It was part of a huge game by Heaney, who finished with two goals and an assist to help keep Jim Thorpe’s season alive.

“We really had to fight for the win,” said Olympian junior Noah Geiser, who also scored a goal for his team. “You know, I thought we let up. We didn’t put pressure on the them after we had that 3-1 lead.”

The Olympians’ two-goal lead could have been even greater if it weren’t for the performance of Lehighton goalie Bryce Miller, whose play kept Thorpe off the board early even though it had smoked nine shots at him in the opening half.

Finally, in the second half, Jim Thorpe cracked the scoring column when Heaney tallied with 35:53 remaining.

Thorpe increased the lead to 2-0 on a nifty play that saw Heaney take a free kick and Ahren Hassler streak across the front of the post and knock home a header for 2-0 lead.

“We’ve worked on that play for the past three or four days,” said Jim Thorpe coach Mike Dudack. “Ahren (Hassler) has good size. We got him in the box and let him make a play.

But just when it looked like the Olympians were in firm control, Lehighton stormed back. getting their first goal at the 17:21 mark in the second half when midfielder Jacib Anthony tallied to make it 2-1.

The Olympians came right back to go ahead 3-1 when freshman Cayden Spence, a freshman, gave his team some breathing room with just 10:07 to go in regulation.

Unfazed, the Tribe kept hustling, kept working and banged home two straight goals to forge the first overtime. Gabriel Reed’s score put a whole lot of excitement into the Tribe with 7:26 remaining as he once again made a one-goal game.

“Once we got up we didn’t to seal the deal,” Dudack said. “When you get up two goals, you can’t sit on it ... sometimes it takes a three or four-goal lead to put a team away.”

Trailing 3-2, Lehighton got the biggest goal of the season, tying it with less than three minutes to play. Anthony’s second goal of the evening brought his teammates to their feet and eventually forced overtime.

“It showed a lot of heart to get us into overtime,” said Lehighton coach Dave Yob. “The kids just ran out of gas.”

Thrope had a penalty shot with 2:30 left in the first 15-minute overtime period that could have ended it, but came up empty. The Olympians rifled off six shots during the session, but Miller kept swatting them away.

But Thorpe eventually got the ball past Miller early in the second extra period on Heaney’s second goal of the night.

Dudeck said he has installed a new offensive system, which gave his team a different attack.

“We moved seven of our 11 players out of their normal position,” said the Thorpe coach. “We’re still experimenting with it, but it helped us create a lot of offensive chances today.”

SHOOTING IT … Thorpe outshot Lehighton, 21-10. Both sides had five corners.

SEASON SWEEP ... Thorpe defeated Lehighton twice during the regular season in Schuylkill League play, posting 3-1 and 4-0 victories.

UP NEXT ... The Olympians advance to the quarterfinal round on Wednesday where they will be at Notre Dame of Green Pond in a 6 p.m. start

ON THE MOVE … Lehighton and Jim Thorpe will both move into the Colonial Conference next season. Yob has a horde of returnees but knows the task at hand is a mountain to climb. “I’ve seen a lot of those teams play… we have our work cut out for us, he said.”

FINAL GAMES …The Tribe had two seniors play their final game - Jacob Hall and Avery Hosler.