Despite the fact that only two teams in the Times News coverage area had winning records, the 2016 high school football season has produced more District 11 playoff teams from the area than any other year in history.

The obvious reason is the expansion of the District 11 playoffs from four classes to six this season. The increase in classes and the fact that two of the classes have eight team fields means that 32 teams qualified for districts this, season compared to just 20 a year ago.Pleasant Valley (8-2), Jim Thorpe (6-4), Palmerton (5-5), Tamaqua (5-5), Marian (5-5), Lehighton (4-6) and Northern Lehigh (4-6) will all take part in this weekend's district playoffs.The seven area teams in the district playoffs tops the previous record number of six teams that happened in both 2006 and 2007.Among area teams, Lehighton has the longest consecutive streak of district playoff appearances. This will be the fourth straight season the Indians are in districts, following a streak of five straight years without any district appearances.Marian has now made districts three straight seasons and four of the last five years. Pleasant Valley, three of the last four years, and Palmerton, two of the last three years, have also been recent participants in the playoffs.Both Tamaqua and Northern Lehigh will be making their first districts appearances since 2012. For the Bulldogs, the recent absense follows on the heels of a streak where they made districts 14 of 15 seasons between 1998 and 2012.Jim Thorpe will be playing its first district game since 2010.In addition, an eighth local team - Northwestern (5-5) - will play in the Eastern Conference playoffs.Panther Valley (2-8) was the only area team not to qualify for postseason play this season. The Panthers last district appearance was in 2009.Previews of all eight postseason games are featured in today's paper.************SHUTOUT TURNAROUND ... Tamaqua suffered a 19-0 loss to North Schuykill on Oct. 21, but rebounded the following week with a 27-0 victory over Marian.Being shut out one week and turning around and posting a shutout the next is a rare occurrence for the Blue Raiders.The last time it happened was during the 1971 season. On Sept. 10, Minersville handed Tamaqua a 6-0 loss during the first week of the year. The Raiders, however, responded with a 23-0 victory the next week against Mount Carmel.************CENTURY MARK AGAIN ... Palmerton's Mike Stasko returned an interception for a touchdown last Friday during a 21-7 victory over Northern Lehigh.That score allowed Stasko to surpass the 100-point mark for the second straight season. The senior, who had 128 points a year ago, now has 104 this season.Since 1970, he is the only Blue Bomber to accomplish that feat. Among Times News area teams, his is the 13th player over that time frame to record back-to-back 100-point seasons. The other 12 include Lehighton's Wyatt Clements, Jacen Nalesnik, Robbie Frey and Clayton Andrews; Northern Lehigh's Cody Remaley, Ryan Hluschak and Brad Walters; Northwestern's Harry Hall and Josh Snyder; Jim Thorpe's Gary Storer; Marian's Mike Tracy; and Tamaqua's "Bud" Moyer.************THORPE'S ST. WORKHORSE ... Jim Thorpe's Justin St. Hill had a game to remember in leading his team to an 18-7 victory over rival Lehighton.The senior carried 34 times for 246 yards and two touchdowns in the Schuylkill League win.Since 1988, only two Olympian players have carried the ball more times in a game than St. Hill's 34. Shane Edwards had 37 attempts on Oct. 1, 2010, while Phil Redline had 36 on Oct. 27, 2007 and 35 on Oct, 13, 2006.As for the yardage, the only Olympian with more was Gabe Robinson's 260 on Sept. 24, 1999. Thorpe's Robbie Heller also had 246 in a game last season.************TIGER TOUCHDOWN TOSS ... Northwestern opened the scoring in last Friday's game against Catasauqua with an 86-yard touchdown pass from Deven Bollinger to Trevor Cunningham.The scoring strike is the longest in Tiger history, bettering the 84-yarder from Frank Dangello to Dylan Snyder on Sept. 15, 2012 against Wilson.************BOMBERS BAKERS DOZEN ... Palmerton's Garrett Perschy completed a 14-yard pass to Tanner Burnett in last Friday's win over Northern Lehigh.While there doesn't seem to be a whole lot of significance in that reception, there actually is some.Burnett was the 13th different Blue Bomber player to catch a pass this season. That figure is tops among area teams this year.Over the past 20 years, there have been only two other occasions when a team had more receivers catch a pass during a season. Marian had 14 different players catch a pass during the 2004 campaign, while Palmerton also had 14 during the 2014 season. As a side note, the team with the fewest amount of receivers in one season was three by Northwestern in 1997.