Panthers, Colts ready to renew rivalry

Panther Valley travels to Marian Friday night. Both teams are coming off wins, and will look to keep the momentum going as the season winds down.

Panther Valley at Marian

Friday, Oct. 5, 7 p.m.

Here’s what you need to know:

LEADING THE CHARGE ... Senior receiver Keith McCall is making his impact felt on the outside. He tallied five catches for 91 yards last week, and hauled in six passes for 109 yards the previous week.

“Last year, Keith kind of took one for the team and played quarterback when wideout is his best position,” Marian coach Pat Morgans said. “He came in this year, sprained his ankle, and it kind of set him back a little. Now he’s getting healthy, and he’s starting to show people what he can do at wideout.”

CLOSE ONE ... The Panthers (2-4) edged Shenandoah Valley 14-13 last week for their first win since Week 1. The Panthers are hoping to build on that momentum this week.

“We have to sustain drives this week,” said Panther Valley coach Scott Price. “We have to win the time of possession and keep our defense off the field. We want to put pressure on them by making them play from behind.”

TURNOVERS KEY ... Panther Valley dominated the turnover battle during its Week 6 win against Shenandoah. The Panthers forced four turnovers, while committing just one of their own.

TRENDING ... The Colts’ offense set a season-high in total offense with 219 yards during the Week 6 victory over the Battlin’ Miners.

ON A ROLL ... Marian has won the last seven meetings against Panther Valley.

“We have to contain the quarterback,” Morgans said. “We can’t let him make big plays. We also have to stop (Blake) White, keep the receivers in front of us and not give up the big play.”

LESSON LEARNED ... The Panthers came close to ending Marian’s winning streak in the rivalry a year ago.

“I look at last year’s game as a learning experience,” said Price. “It was a game we had the lead in the fourth quarter, and then the wheels fell off. I know a lot of us have been waiting for this rematch. I don’t think either team’s record indicates how good we really are. This should be an exciting game”

Pottsville at Lehighton

Friday, Oct. 5, 7 p.m.

Here’s what you need to know:

LAST 3 ... The Indians are 1-2 against the Tide across the last three meetings. However, last season, Lehighton was victorious by a 54-33 margin.

HITTING THEIR STRIDE ... After a 20-13 win over Blue Mountain last Friday, the Indians have now won three straight and appear to be firing on all cylinders moving into the second half of the season. “Coming off a big game for us last week, a big win, we’re just hoping to keep the momentum rolling. I think our kids, physically and mentally, are in a good place right now, and we just want to build on what we’ve been doing the last two weeks,” said Indians’ head coach Tom McCarroll.

CLUTCH ... Lehighton QB Chris Whiteman and his favorite target, Zach Crum, came up big for the Indians during last week’s 20-13 win against Blue Mountain. Crum had six catches; four came on third down, and one came on fourth. Crum also blocked a critical field goal attempt on defense.

COMPLETE EFFORT ... The Indians held Blue Mountain to 207 yards of total offense, and got a strong effort from running back JJ McDowell in last week’s win. “The one thing that I mentioned to a few people after the game was that it was the first time this year where we were able to control the line of scrimmage on both sides of the ball. Offensively, we really sustained our running game for the first time. JJ McDowell went over 100 yards, and it showed that we were able to be a little more balanced than we have been, and anytime you can establish the run, it certainly opens up some other things. And on the other side of the ball, I think our front seven, especially our defensive line, and linebackers, were able to rally to the ball a little bit more than they have early in the season. We made some tweaks defensively, and the kids are really picking up on that. Anytime you can control the line of scrimmage on both sides of the ball, you certainly have a good chance for success,” said McCarroll.

CLOSE ... Lehighton and Pottsville rank eighth and ninth, respectively, in points scored this year among all Schuylkill League Football teams.

LOOKIN’ TO REBOUND ... Pottsville is coming off a 35-6 loss to Tamaqua. The Raiders were the first Schuylkill League team the Tide faced this season.

Salisbury at No. Lehigh

Friday, Oct. 5, 7 p.m.

Here’s what you need to know:

500 ... Northern Lehigh fell to 3-3 after dropping a Colonial League game to Southern Lehigh last week, 42-0. “We gave up three big plays early last week that dug us in a hole. We weren’t able to sustain drives early in the game. So we kept putting our defense on the field. We were never able to grab any momentum at all during the game. Southern Lehigh should get a lot of credit. They hit on all cylinders last week. On film they looked good, but would have mistakes at critical times or turnovers. They didn’t do that against us and played a very good game,” said Northern Lehigh head coach Joe Tout.

SERIES ADVANTAGE ... The Bulldogs are 12-3 against Salisbury since 2004. However, the Falcons have won two of the last three meetings. “We are focusing on the basics. Staying on our blocks, following the design of the play, and executing the play. Our starters were shutout the last two weeks, so we need to get some confidence back. Salisbury presents a challenge because they run a 3-3 defensive, but are a bit unorthodox in their alignment. They will stunt from all over the place to try and blow up plays. If we pick up the stunts, big plays will be there. We had the best Tuesday practice of our year , and our kids responded to us telling them we needed a great week of practice. So we feel very good about the way our team is responding this week,” Tout said.

COMING OFF A DUB ... Salisbury defeated Catasauqua 35-7 last week.

STEPPING UP ... Senior quarterback Jacob Kemp was 8-of-8 for 92 yards during the win. He added 106 rushing yards on just 10 carries. “Salisbury’s offense is somewhat similar to Southern Lehigh in that they run some base Wing-T concepts. They are a scary team offensively. They may have the most team speed we have faced this year. Budha is one of the top players in our league, and we need to focus on stopping him and their quarterback as far as the run game. They have multiple backs that they give the ball too. The reality is they are very good offensively, and they are going to gain yards. We must make them drive the ball and not give up the big play. They have made some mistakes as well, so if we force them to have longer drives our odds of them making a mistake will increase,” said Tout.

ES North at Pleasant Valley

Friday, Oct. 5, 7 p.m.

Here’s what you need to know:

MAGIC NO. 9 ... Pleasant Valley (0-6) `has won the last nine games against East Stroudsburg North. Last year, the Bears won by a 34-14 margin. Coming off a 31-21 loss to rival Pocono Mountain East, Pleasant Valley will look to get its first win of the season on Senior Night. “It wasn’t just the Bucket Game – and it’s huge – but we have a lot of good senior leaders, and we have a lot of good leadership from our underclassmen. And they’re just sick of losing. We saw it against Dieruff, where we finally put together a game where we were a little bit more aggressive, we had some attitude, we were moving the ball down the field. And then against East, we finally, with the help of it being a rivalry game, were able to put more together. We just looked a lot better. That attitude, that edge, has carried into this week so far in practice, and hopefully it carries into this Friday night and we can just keep rolling. We’re going to put this thing together eventually, and hopefully it’s this Friday,” said Bears head coach Matt Kosciolek.

LOOKING FOR NO. 1 ... ES North (0-6) was defeated by Dieruff last week, 42-6. The Huskies haven’t scored more than 18 points in any game this year.

FULL MOON ... PV’s Nasai Moon had a monster game last week and earned the Times News Player of the Week award. He now has 666 rushing yards (8.43 YPC) and five scores. “We like to do the zone-read stuff. But with Nas being a running back, that’s different, because he’s never making the reads. The hesitation is, putting him back there catching snaps, now he’s our primary runner, and he’s also now responsible for reading a guy. That’s usually (quarterback) Jack’s (Stephens) job, who can handle it, because that’s the only thing he does. We hate to put so much on the kids because he’s also got to play defense, so there’s always that fear of overload. And that’s kind of been our hesitation moving forward. But last Friday, we wanted to see what happens, and it worked out perfectly,” said Kosciolek.

SLOW STARTS ... The Bears will look to strike early and often. They’re currently getting outscored by a 102-8 margin in the first quarter this season.

Palmerton at Catasauqua

Friday, Oct. 5 at 7 p.m.

Here’s what you need to know:

BOUNCE BACK … After a 49-0 loss to Northwestern Lehigh, the Bombers will be looking to bounce back this week against Catasauqua. Offensively, Palmerton couldn’t get much going against the Tigers with just 107 yards of total offense. The Bombers have been most successful when they’ve been able to run the football, so getting back on track in the run game and establishing the run early will be key against the Roughies. Andrew Sabo leads the team in rushing with 327 yards, with Aaron Stasko right behind him with 324 yards. Jordan Nelson might also be called on to give the run game some extra sizzle as he’s rushed for 149 yards and has been taking more and more snaps at quarterback, moving from his wide receiver position over the past two weeks. “Week in and week out, our goal is to establish the run, so we need to obviously do a much better job of that this week. If we don’t run the ball effectively, then it makes it harder for us to spread the ball around on the outside to our playmakers, so a key for us will be to get our running game going early and often” – Palmerton head coach Chris Walkowiak.

TRICKY OFFENSE … Catasauqua runs a version of the Navy offense, which is obviously something that Palmerton doesn’t see very often. The flexbone offense forces a defense to be disciplined, reading not only the quarterback but the multiple running backs in the backfield that could possibly get the ball. Andrew Martinez (QB), Wil-Quon Clemons (RB) and Adam Reinhart (WR) are all players to watch for offensively for Catty. “We have to contain their quarterback number one, he’s a good player, and if he gets to the edge or gets some space he can make things happen. Also, we don’t see the triple offense much, so we need to be disciplined, we have to read our keys and make plays,” said Walkowiak.

GOING ON A RUN … The Bombers need to put a strong run together to end the season if they want to be a part of the District 11 2A postseason. At 1-5, even if they win out and finish 5-5, it’s not a guarantee Palmerton will be a part of districts. The Bombers have Catasauqua this week, then Wilson, Salisbury and rival Northern Lehigh. The good news is the four remaining teams on their schedule have a combined 6-18 record.

Jim Thorpe at Blue Mtn.

Friday, Oct. 5 at 7 p.m.

Here’s what you need to know:

BACK ON TRACK … After a tough 8-6 loss to North Schuylkill in muddy field conditions at home last week, the Olympians will look to get back on track with a tough road contest against Blue Mountain. Even with one loss, Thorpe still controls its own destiny and isn’t out of the Schuylkill League Division 1 battle yet with a showdown with still undefeated Tamaqua later in the season. But this week’s game against 4A Blue Mountain is a must-win if it wants to keep its division and district championship playoffs hopes alive. “Every game is important, but obviously, we need to get back on track this week and re-establish a lot of what has been working for us,” said Jim Thorpe head coach Mark Rosenberger. “Last week was a tough loss, we fought hard, and I think defensively overall we played pretty well. We need to bring that same effort to the table this week and just execute a little better; this is a week where we need to bounce back.”

STOPPING THE RUN … Blue Mountain likes to run the football, and it has done it consistently week in and week out this season. The Eagles average 220.5 yards per game on the ground and have two hard-charging running backs in Ben Kramer (657 yards) and Brent Kaunas (403 yards) that if given a hole, can do serious damage. “They’re a physical hard-running football team. They have two good downhill runners that have speed and if they get going they’re hard to bring down, so obviously getting penetration and getting to them before they hit the hole will be key. We also have to limit any and all big plays, and play with a sense of urgency every time the ball is snapped. One big play hurt us last week, so we need to prevent that,” said Rosenberger.

AIR IMPORVEMENT … As the season moves forward, the Olympians will need to get more production out of their passing game. There were times last week when Thorpe needed to rely on the passing game in key situations, but nothing ever materialized. In order to compete and finish out games against Schuylkill League Division 1 competition, moving the ball through the air is a must. The Olympians are averaging just under 60 yards passing per game, with only five passing scores.

So. Lehigh at Northwestern

Friday, Oct. 5 at 7 p.m.

Here’s what you need to know:

FROM ONE TO SIX... In its win over Bangor, Northwestern’s Deven Bollinger had four completions and all of them were to Justin Rodda. In downing Palmerton last week, Bollinger and backup quarterback Joshua Gornicz combined to throw six touchdown passes – a school record for a single game – and all were to different receivers. Ryan Haas, Nick Henry, Derek Holmes, Justin Holmes, Tyler Lobach and Rodda each caught passes for touchdowns.

RECORDS FALL... In addition to setting the school record for touchdown passes in a game, Bollinger set the team record for individual touchdown passes in a game, with five. He also passed his predecessor, Frank Dangello, to become the school’s all-time passing leader with 3,853 yards. The record-setting passing game wasn’t a result of throwing more passes. Northwestern averaged just over 15 passes per game coming into last Friday and threw 16 times in the win over the Blue Bombers.

“They were stacking guys in the box to shut down our running game, and it opened things up for Deven, and he made some really good throws and was hitting guys right in stride,” noted Northwestern heaed coach Josh Snyder.

CHALLENGE MET... After committing too many penalties for his liking over the first five weeks of the season, Snyder and the other coaches challenged their players to be flagged for no more than just the two penalties against Palmerton. The team did just that with a penalty on an extra point and one for delay of game.

“They’re always one of the tougher teams in the league; they’re the biggest school and they have some good athletes. Right now, their backs are against the wall and they need wins, and so they’re going to come in looking to knock us off,” noted Snyder.