It's hard to beat the excitement of a home opener.

The fans, the bands, the familiar locker rooms, the initial entrance into the stadium ... all those things help make Friday night special for high school football teams.As difficult as it is to top the excitement for a typical home opener, the Palmerton football team will do just that this weekThe Bombers will take their 2017 home opener to a higher level Friday night against Saucon Valley by debuting its new turf field."I'm excited, the players are excited, the school is excited and the community is excited," said Palmerton coach Chirs Walkowiak. "We're really grateful to be getting an opportunity to play in what has turned into a state-of-the-art facility."Walkowiak said he can sense a little extra juice in his team in the lead up to Friday's game."The home opener is always special," he said. "But I think our players realize how special it will be to play the first game on the new surface, and are really looking forward to it."The Bombers weren't able to use the field during the preseason as some final touches on the field and stadium forced them to spend the first two weeks of fall camp practicing in Lehighton.But Walkowiak said they have been able to get some time on the field in the past week."We got on it for the first time last week and have had about four or five practices on it," he explained. "I think it was important for our kids to get a chance to check out the surface before we play Friday night."The field, which will also be used for girls soccer, boys soccer and field hockey in addition to football, is everything that the school distirct hoped it would be, according to athletic director Andrew Remsing."We now have the nicest field in the league and probably one of the nicest in District 11," said Remsing. "I can't wait for Friday night so that we can show it off to the community."I know the whole town is excited to see it. It should be a great crowd."Walkowiak knows the anticipation for the unveiling of the new turf is going to be high, but he knows one way to make it even more special."We're all looking forward to getting on the field, but we are also making sure our players stay focused on the most important element on Friday - the game."The memory of the first game on the new field will be even more special if it's a winning memory. That's our goal."********TAKING IT TO THE HOUSE ... Shawn O'Toole helped Jim Thorpe post a victory over Marian last Friday when he received a punt and took it 55 yards for a touchdown.The punt return for a score was the first by an Olympian since Sept. 25, 2009 (82 games ago) when Josh Dean went 57 yards to the end zone against Panther Valley.Since 2000, only two other Thorpe players have returned punts for touchdowns. They include Craig Zurn, who did it three times, and Jason Figura.************TWO-WAY TOUCHDOWNS .... Pleasant Valley's Brent Beck did his part in trying to lead the Bears past Central Catholic last week.The senior scored on a 21-yard touchdown run and also returned an interception 23 yards for a score.Over the last 20 years, which covers a span of 214 games, Beck is just the fifth PV player to score a touchdown on both offense and defense in the same game.The others are Nyiem Nevarez (2013), Dean Bumbulsky (2011), Jamie Irvine (2004) and Anthony Wood (2002).************MILLER FOR THREE ... Northwestern's Hunter Miller provided his team's only points last week when he booted a 39-yard field goal.Since 1989, the senior's kick is the eighth-longest among Times News area teams. In the past 28 seasons, there have been only seven field goals of 40 yards or more. The longest was a 43-yarder by the Tigers' Tom Caamano during the 1996 season.Miller's three-pointer also kept a long streak going for Northwestern. The Tigers have now kicked at least one field goal in 12 straight seasons, the longest such streak among TN teams, and 23 of the last 24 years.In the last 12 seasons, the school has 32 field goals, which is more than Tamaqua (8), Jim Thorpe (5), Northern Lehigh (5), Palmerton (5), and Panther Valley (3) have combined.************KEYES THROWS TD PASS ... Pleasant Valley lost a heart breaker to Central Catholic last week when the Vikings rallied from a 21-point deficit.The Bears opened the scoring when Brandon Keyes tossed a 12-yard touchdown pass to Mike Napolitano.Keyes, who threw at least one TD in every game a season ago, has now gone 13 straight games throwing a touchdown pass.The last Times News area player to do that was Tamaqua's Nate Edmonds, who also had a string of 13 straight (the last seven games of 2012 and the first six games of 2013).Panther Valley's Casey Lawrence was the last area player to have a longer streak, which was 14 (last two games of 2008 and all 12 games of 2009).************PANTHER DEFENSE ... Panther Valley's defense held Hamburg to only 97 yards of offense during a shutout win last Friday.The last time the Panthers held a team to fewer yards was Sept. 5, 2008 (92 games ago), when they limited Schuylkill Valley to just 72 in a 34-0 victory.The shutout against the Hawks was also PV's first blanking since Nov. 6, 2009 (74 games ago), when they defeated Minersville 28-0.