Thursday, November 3, 2011
Playing meaningful games late in the season is the goal of all high school football teams.
For six of the nine teams in the TIMES NEWS coverage area, that's exactly what they will be doing as the regular season concludes this weekend.
Northern Lehigh has qualified for the District 11 Class AA playoffs while Marian has a very slight chance of making the District 11 Class A playoffs. Most of the drama surrounds the Eastern Conference playoffs where Marian, Tamaqua, Northwestern, Pleasant Valley and Lehighton are all alive.
Thursday, October 27, 2011
It's hard to believe, but the 2011 high school football season is already into the home stretch.
The first eight weeks of the season haven't been extremely successful for the majority of area teams. Heading into this week's action, Northern Lehigh is the only local team with a winning record. The Bulldogs (7-1) are also the only area team that appears likely to be headed to the District 11 playoffs.
But despite the lack of overall team success, the season has produced some outstanding individual highlights so far.
Thursday, October 20, 2011
It was a week full of fantastic finishes on the local high school football scene.
Unfortunately for area teams, almost all of them ended up on the losing side of the thrilling finishes.
Four of the eight games involving TIMES NEWS area teams were decided on scoring plays late in the final quarter with three of them occuring in the final three minutes.
Marian, Lehighton, Panther Valley and Northwestern all suffered heartbreaking losses while Northern Lehigh was the only area team on the winning side of a fourth quarter comeback.
Thursday, October 13, 2011
With only four weeks remaining in the regular season, the lead of this week's OVERTIME column will focus on the playoff outlook for some area football teams.
The bad news is that if the playoff started today, only one TIMES NEWS area team would be attending the District 11 dance.
Northern Lehigh, which is currently holding the fourth and final playoff slot in Class AA, would be the sole invitee. The Bulldogs will be in the playoffs if they can win out and have a shot even with one more loss.
Thursday, October 6, 2011
The talk first surfaced back in July, when the PIAA Board of Directors unanimously passed at its first reading a proposal to cut the PIAA football season from 16 weeks to 15 weeks..
The final decision should come by the time the Board concludes its two-day meeting tomorrow.
Thursday, September 29, 2011
There was plenty of good news for the Panther Valley football team on Friday night.
Not only did the Panthers beat Jim Thorpe for their first victory of the season, but they also saw Brock Mitchell return to the field.
Mitchell, a second-team All-State tight end a year ago, suffered a serious leg injury in an ATV accident back in December.
The injury, which required several surgeries, cost Mitchell the entire 2010-11 winter and spring sports seasons and left him questionable for this football season.
Thursday, September 22, 2011
Three weeks into the 2011 football season, only two of our nine local football teams are still unbeaten.
Marian's loss to Mahanoy Area last Friday night, left Northwestern and Northern Lehigh as the lone 3-0 teams in the TIMES NEWS coverage area.
This week's OVERTIME column will have some information on both the Tigers and Bulldogs, including a look at Northwestern's two-man rotation at the quarterback position.
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There is an old saying in football that if you have two quarterbacks, you actually have none.
Thursday, September 8, 2011
The high school football season kicked off last Friday night and that means it's time for another season of OVERTIME.
OVERTIME is the football column that goes inside the numbers and behind the scenes to provide you with stories, facts and trivia about our area teams.
Week one of the 2011 season produced interception, fumble and kickoff returns for touchdowns; a Blue Raider stat that hadn't been matched in nearly a quarter of a century, and an opening night victory by Palmerton's rookie head coach.
Thursday, November 11, 2010
Just three TIMES NEWS area football teams will be taking part in postseason action this weekend.
Pleasant Valley qualified for the District 11 Class AAAA playoffs and will host East Stroudsburg South on Friday night.
Northern Lehigh and Jim Thorpe both qualified for the District 11 Class AA playoffs and will face each other on Saturday night in Slatington.
Thursday, November 4, 2010
With just one week remaining in the regular season, as many as five TIMES NEWS area teams could still qualify for postseason play.
Northern Lehigh and Pleasant Valley already have spots in the District 11 playoffs secured.
With a win over Palmerton on Friday night, the Bulldogs will be the No. 1 seed in the four-team Class AA field. Even with a loss, they will be either the No. 1 or No. 2 seed, which means that they are guaranteed a home playoff game next weekend.
