Football

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.

ROSETO – Quarterbacks often run and throw for a lot of yards in high school football games. But what AJ Long did Saturday in a 45-13 win over Marian can't even be measured by the stellar numbers the sophomore put up Saturday on his home field.

Long completed 13 of 20 passes without an interception. He racked up 251 passing yards while throwing for two touchdowns. And he ran for 101 yards and three touchdowns. A few of his incomplete passes were well-thrown balls that receivers could not come up with.

There usually is never a football season that goes by where one football team will give me fits through its entire schedule.

Sometimes it's Lehighton, sometimes it's Tamaqua and once in a while Northwestern Lehigh will be the team that I am snake bit by.

Through the first three weeks of the 2011 season, there's a new team on the block. I haven't picked the results of a Marian game right yet this season.

At the high school football level a team's most talented athlete is used at multiple positions on the field. This is because playmakers are hard to come by in the high school ranks. Northwestern's Ty Cunningham certainly fits the mold of a playmaker.

Cunningham serves as a "jack of all trades" for the Tigers who are off to a 3-0 start this season. The Northwestern senior rushed 17 times for 233 yards and three scores against Wilson last Friday night to earn this week's Player of the Week honors.