"Mercy rule."

It's become a normal part of the sports vernacular.But it wasn't too long ago that the term was just being introduced to high school sports.The Pennsylvania Interscholastic Athletic Association (PIAA) first adopted it for football during the 1998 season. The rule keeps the clock running, except for a few circumstances, if one team is ahead by 35 or more points during any stage in the second half.Through four weeks of the season, mercy rule games have been quite prominant among Times News area teams.Of the 34 games played so far this season involving area teams, 14 of them or 41 percent have been mercy rule games. All nine area teams have been involved in at least one with Northwestern, Lehighton, Jim Thorpe, Marian and Pleasant Valley all having played multiple mercy rule contests.Sixteen years ago when the rule was introduced, coaches seemed to have a mix reaction to it. The extremely rapid pace of the contest once the mercy rule kicked in left some coaches lamenting the lack of snaps for their reserves.But over the years, coaches seemed to have adjusted.Marian's Stan Dakosty is the only current area head coach who was also coaching when the mercy rule was initially adopted."We have had two mercy rule games this season and in both of them we've had our second and third string players in during the third quarter of the games," said the veteran Colt coach. "With a running clock, you can sometimes only get one possession during an entire quarter. Because of that, you need to get your reserves in as early as possible."Although no records are kept regarding how often games go into mercy rule, it's fairly safe to say that of all the PIAA sports that use a clock and have mercy rule criteria, none are invoked as much or have as big of an impact as football.Although soccer and field hockey have seven-goal mercy rules, both those sports already have a running clock except for a few instances. So the amount of playing time cut short by the mercy rule is minor.Basketball is the other timed sport with a mercy rule but the 40-point second half advantage needed to start the running clock is rare and probably only affects each team once or twice during the course of the 22-game season.That's a huge contrast to the high percentage of football games that have been played with running clocks this season.Despite that, coaches seem to have accepted the fact that the rule is what it is, and their job is to make the best of it - no matter what side of the scoreboard you are on."You never want to embarrass anyone and the mercy rule definitely holds down the score," said Dakosty. "If both the coach of the team that is winning and the team that is losing handle it right, you can get the subs in early enough that they can get some playing time in front of a much bigger audience than they play in front of in their JV games."There is no doubt that the mercy rules cost you a number of snaps during the game. But I think it definitely serves a good purpose."**********RAIDERS IN OVERTIME ... Tamaqua needed overtime Friday night to pull out a 26-23 victory over Schuylkill Haven.The OT win was the fifth all-time for the Blue Raiders which marks the most among Times News area teams. Marian and Lehighton are tied for second with four overtime victories.Tamaqua has also played more OT games than any other area team. The Raiders have needed extra quarters nine times, which tops the seven by both Northwestern and Panther Valley.**********BEARS' LONG TD PASS ... Pleasant Valley got on the scoreboard quickly last Friday in its win over Allen.The Bears' Brandon Kuehner hit Kevin Cruz with an 82-yard touchdown pass on the first play from scrimmage en route to a 47-14 victory.The 82-yard scoring strike is the longest at PV since Aug. 29, 2003 (117 games ago) when C.J. Haffner hooked up with Anthony Wood for an 83-yarder against Liberty.**********TIGERS NEW MARK ... Northwestern's Cam Richardson only caught one pass last Friday against Wilson, but it was a historic one.Not only did the Tiger receiver go 81 yards for a touchdown with the toss from quarterback Frank Dangello, but it also pushed his career receiving total to 1,086. That set a new school record, which had stood for 23 years. The old mark was 1,073 held by Larry Caamano.**********TIMES NEWS 20-SOMETHING ... The nine Times News area teams accomplished something last week that is believed to be a first.Every area squad Jim Thorpe (20), Lehighton (21), Marian (26), Northern Lehigh (20), Northwestern (41), Palmerton (21), Panther Valley (33), Pleasant Valley (47) and Tamaqua (26) scored at least 20 points in their game last Friday.Research shows that since 1978 (a span of roughly 380 weeks), that had never been done before.In the 20-something week, the area schools posted a record of 7-2 (a mark that was accomplished just one time last season). For the year, the nine teams are a combined 24-12. That last time our schools had a combined record that good through the first four weeks was 2006 when they were an identical 24-12.**********PALMERTON SCORE DISCOVERED ... In last week's Overtime, it was questioned whether the 54 points Palmerton scored against Bangor was a school record.The answer to that question is no. The last time the Blue Bombers reached at least 54 points in a game was Sept. 19, 1959 when rolled to a 60-6 victory over Jim Thorpe.**********WINNING WHEN TIED AFTER 3 ... Jim Thorpe, Lehighton and Tamaqua all earned wins last Friday when their games were tied after three quarters of play.For each school, the last time they won a game when it was tied heading into the final frame they did it in overtime.The Blue Raiders were knotted with Catasauqua, 19-19, on Nov. 11, 2011 and used double overtime to post a 33-32 victory.The Olympians and Mahanoy Area were deadlocked 6-6 after three frames on Oct. 15, 2010 before pulling out a 18-12 win in OT.And the Indians were tied with North Pocono, 14-14, on Nov. 11, 2005 before gaining a 20-14 overtime victory.