Cole Lazorick can alter a game with his arm or his legs.

The Jim Thorpe sophomore made an impact with both, as he threw three touchdown passes and ran for three more scores during the Olympians’ 48-13 victory over Salisbury last Friday. Lazorick also completed four passes for 100 yards and ran five times for 97.

That performance earned him the Times News Football Player of the Week and helped Jim Thorpe earn its first win of the season.

“It was a big win,” Lazorick said. “It felt really good to get a nice one after the first two weeks. My team did a great job; the line did amazing, the receivers did great, the defense played great. But hopefully this carries into this week, where we have a big game against Palmerton. We’re just looking to have fun and come out here and do our thing.”

The evolution of a football program – and player – is an ongoing process.

Olympians’ head coach Mark Rosenberger has seen his young squad continue to develop through the first three weeks of the season.

“He’s a superior athlete,” Rosenberger said of Lazorick. “We knew coming into this year he was going to be a very athletic kid that can do both of those things (run and throw), so we’re excited with him only being a sophomore, first of all, and for the things that he’s done so far. He just keeps on getting better each and every week. That’s what’s going to happen, the more experience and varsity reps at quarterback that he gets, I think the better you will continue to see him become.

“He did a very nice job of running our option offense this week, and that really worked out well. But again, you can just see the growth. In the passing game, his ability to check from one read to the next read had gotten a lot better as well throughout the course of the season, and it’s all coming together for him. I think the pace of the game is slowing down a little bit for him.”

Lazorick’s playmaking ability was on full display Friday, with touchdown throws of 30 and 24 yards to freshman Justin Yescavage, and a 40-yard TD pass to sophomore Josh Louk.

On the ground, Lazorick bolted for scores of 46, 41 and five yards.

“I feel like I’m a lot more comfortable from Week 1,” said Lazorick. “I feel like Week 1 I was forcing a lot of things, not taking time in my reads. I realize it’s OK, you have to take time with your reads, so I feel like I’ve evolved a lot since Week 1 and now I feel a lot more comfortable with it.

Coach (Frank) Miller, Coach (Mark) Rosenberger and Coach Craig (Zurn) have helped me out a lot, as well as all the other coaches, and they’ve helped me improve my game a lot.”

Lazorick’s athleticism and ability to understand what a defense is giving him means a play is never dead until the whistle blows.

“I really like my ability to try to extend the play,” he said. “I really try to never give up on a play; I hate throwing the ball away, but sometimes you have to do it. But I do try to, if it’s a pass play and I can’t get anything going, I do try to get something going with my legs.

“It’s huge to just be able to make an extra play. You look at some plays, receivers aren’t open, you think the quarterback’s going to get sacked and then he gets a five-, 10-yard gain out of it. So it’s absolutely huge to just keep your eyes up and try to keep moving.”

It’s a dual-threat combination Rosenberger is happy to have on his team, which outgained Salisbury 378-192 on offense last week, and finished with 278 yards rushing.

“That’s part of his skillset,” the coach said. “He’s a very athletic kid, so he has the ability to run the football, which is a threat, so when he is scrambling around he is keeping his eyes open and trying to look for receivers that are open. That’s a big part of his game as well. But it all comes with varsity experience, and you can see him getting better each and every week, each and every day at practice.”

That development is something Rosenberger believes will continue for his squad as the season moves on.

“I was very happy,” he said of the win. “We have a lot of young kids playing varsity football for the first time, so getting that win, getting that confidence is crucial. The excitement level was much higher this week at practices; you could see the growth in our young team here throughout the course of the season so far. So we’re really happy about that.

“But we turned the page on Monday, and started all over for this week against Palmerton.”