Playoffs?! You bet Carlucci makes his picks

Of course, let Justin write the Overtime column on District 11 playoff predictions. It’s fine; he’ll take the heat for it from the passionate fans supporting their schools. Thanks Emmett!

District action kicks off on Friday and the Times News area has five teams playing this weekend.

Without further ado, here are my predictions for each class. Where’s Ed Hedes when you need a magic crystal ball to look into?

Class 1A

Williams Valley is good. Really good. The Vikings have not posted less than 35 points in any game this year, while holding opponents to seven or less on five separate occasions.

Williams Valley is led by stud tailback Dylan Rabuck, who has 2,149 rushing yards and 35 touchdowns this season. It just seems like even if an opposing defense has 100 players on the field, Rabuck might still find a way to pick up a few yards.

The Vikings are my favorite to run behind Rabuck to a semifinal win over Marian and a D11 championship over rival Tri-Valley, 42-14.

Class 2A

We’re guaranteed another Colonial vs. Schuylkill League battle in the title game.

While neither team is a lock to make it, my bet is on Palmerton and Schuylkill Haven in a grudge match and a rematch after the Hurricanes rolled by the Bombers in 2016 title game, 42-7.

But this year, I think we’re in for a real treat. Palmerton’s Tekoah Guedes has 29 scores and a ton of big-play potential. The Bombers have a bunch of quality wins, including a big one over Saucon Valley.

On the flip side, everyone found it hard to believe that Schuylkill Haven started the season 0-4. But those four games were against Tamaqua, Lehighton, North Schuylkill and Jim Thorpe — teams with a combined 33-5 record — and all of those losses were respectable. All of those teams were a few inches or plays away from contending for the Schuylkill League title, which is a testament to how good Division 1 was this year.

The Bombers are negative in the plus-minus department. Taking care of the ball will be critical in this game, so I’m going with Haven in a coin flip, 28-21.

Class 3A

Man, this class is loaded. There are going to be a ton of storylines throughout this bracket.

Tamaqua and Jim Thorpe will meet on Saturday right from the get-go, as the Raiders want revenge after a Hail Mary loss in Week 9. North Schuylkill has a ton of quality wins and will take on Notre Dame of Green Pond and their star QB Cole DeFranco. And as much a I want to say “Roll Tribe,!” I’m glued to the insane run that Palisades has been on in the second half. Over their last five games, the Pirates have outscored opponents by a 239-12 margin.

I have Palisades and Lehighton advancing to the final with the Pirates posting a 28-24 victory in the championship game.

Class 4A

I’m torn between a pair of EPC private schools here. Bethlehem Catholic and Allentown Central Catholic played an instant classic last week, when Bechai edged ACC, 38-37.

It’s going to be the same exact score this weekend when Bechai does it again. It was encouraging that the Hawks put up 24 points against Parkland this year, which is the most that the Trojans have given up in a single game in 2017. Give me the Hawks, 38-37.

Class 5A

Isn’t this quite the interesting four-team class ... Anyway, I’m looking forward to a Whitehall vs. Southern Lehigh championship game.

I heard Southern has a good offensive coordinator. I’ll take Whitehall by a nose, 28-27.

Class 6A

Do you know how good the Parkland defense is? Only two teams (Whitehall, Bechai) have scored more than 20 points against the Trojans this year.

Seems like a no-brainer to play the chalk here. Parkland over Emmaus, 34-14.

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BOMBERS ARE SPECIAL .,. In last week’s victory over Northern Lehigh, Palmerton’s special teams came up with two big plays.

Cody Waterhouse opened the scoring with a 70-yard punt return for a touchdown, while Mike Eckhart added an 88-yard kickoff return later in the game.

Over the past 25 seasons, that marked the 13th time — and the first for the Blue Bombers — that an area team had both a punt and kickoff return for a TD in the same game.

Of those 13 times, Northern Lehigh has accomplished the feat five times while Jim Thorpe and Northwestern have done it twice.

Over that time span, five players have accounted for both the returns in a single game. They include Northern Lehigh’s Jake Kern (2009), Matt Sutjak (2004, 2005), and Bob Sutjak (2003), Jim Thorpe’s Ngoyi Mukusa (1997), and Northwestern’s Josh Snyder (1997).

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SPEAKING OF KICKOFF RETURNS ... Dylan Frantz of Northwestern not only gave his team the lead when he returned the second-half kickoff 80 yards for a touchdown last Friday against Catasauqua, but he also helped extend a Tigers’ streak.

With his return, it marked seven straight seasons that Northwestern has had a kick return for a touchdown. That is the longest current streak among area teams.

The Tigers still have a few years to go to catch the mark of 11 straight seasons that Northern Lehigh registered between 2003-2013.

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OFFENSIVE EXPLOSIONS ... Two area games last weekend ended up being offensive shows.

The Lehighton-Jim Thorpe showdown, as well as the Pleasant Valley-Stroudsburg contest, featured teams moving up and down the field.

The Indians (643) and Olympians (359) combined for 1,002 yards. In the past 20 years, only one other game involving a Times News area team reached 1,000 totals yards. That occurred on Oct. 7, 2011 when Jim Thorpe (454) and Minersville (568) put up 1,022 yards.

Meanwhile, in the Bears’ matchup with the Mounties, a record-setting 445 passing yards by Aidan McHugh contributed to 957 total yards by the two teams. In the last 20 years, that’s the sixth most combined yards in a TN area game. After the two 1,000-yard games, third is 986 (Jim Thorpe-Line Mountain in 2011), fourth is 975 (Pleasant Valley-ES South in 2016), and fifth is 971 (Lehighton-Tamaqua this season).

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SCHERER ON THE RUN ... Lehighton’s Cody Scherer had quite a game in helping his team Jim Thorpe last Friday.

The Indians’ quarterback topped 200 yards rushing and passing in the contest.

The senior also scored on two touchdown runs, one from 81 yards and another from 74.

Over the past 30 years, no Lehighton player has scored two TDs of 70 yards-or-more on offense in the same game.

Three Indians in that time frame have managed two offensive scores of 65-or-more yards in a game. They include Robbie Frey (66 and 67 runs on Sept. 23, 2005), Kyle Williams (88 and 66 runs on Nov. 8, 1991) and Chris Green (72 and 65 receptions on Nov. 23, 1991).

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CORRECTION ... A week ago, it was noted that in Palmerton’s 56-42 victory over Salisbury, the Blue Bombers allowed the most points in a win since Jim Thorpe’s 48-47 victory over Shenandoah Valley on Sept. 29, 2000.

Actually, the most points allowed in a loss during that time frame occurred in Panther Valley’s 49-48 overtime win against Jim Thorpe on Sept. 21, 2012.