It was a special week for special teams in the Times News coverage area.

Pleasant Valley returned both a kick and a punt for a touchdown in its game against Pocono Mountain West.Palmerton blocked a punt for a score against Notre Dame.But probably no special team play was bigger on Friday night than Jim Thorpe's blocked extra point against Schuylkill Haven.With three minutes remaining in the game, the Hurricanes scored a touchdown to pull to within 14-13. But with the possibility of overtime looming and Jim Thorpe's unbeaten season on the line, the Olympians' Antonio Madera raced off the edge to block the kick.Thorpe was then able to run out the clock and improve to 5-0 on the season."We consider special teams a crucial part of the game," said Olympian head coach Mark Rosenberger. "We dedicated a good deal of time during pre-season camp to our special teams units and we also make time in our practice schedule every Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday during the season to work on special teams."I think you've seen this season how important special teams play has been for us. We played a number of close games and in every one there have been plays by our special teams that were crucial to us winning the game."Jim Thorpe's last three victories have come by a total of eight points. Not only have the Olympians blocked conversion attempts in all of those games, but in last week's win against Haven and a 7-6 win earlier this season against Tamaqua, the blocks occurred in the final minutes to prevent game-tying kicks."We actually have two coaches that are in charge of our special teams," said Rosenberger. "Mike McGonigal handles our coverage units and Craig Zurn is in charge of returns and kick blocks."After we break down film of our upcoming opponent, the coaching staff will come up with special team schemes that we feel will exploit the weakness we find. Mike and Craig then work on implementing them during the week. We adapt and change our schemes every week based on what we see on film."While Jim Thorpe's biggest special team plays have been blocked kicks, Pleasant Valley's special teams have made a name for themselves in the return game.The Bears' two kick returns last week give them three in five games this season."We put great emphasis and pride into our special teams," said Bear head coach Dave Pacchioni, who also serves as the team's special teams coordinator. "We really stress speed when we are putting together our coverage and return teams."We like to use skill people, tight ends and linebackers on those units. We have just one lineman on any of our coverage or return units. We think speed and athletic ability are the way to go on those teams."Like Rosenberger, Pacchioni said commitment to making sure your special teams are truly special has been a key."We insist on 100 percent effort and going full speed when we do special team reps at practice," said Pacchioni. "We won't make the kids do five or ten reps, but we expect them to be going all out on the reps we do run. I think that type of all-out attitude pays off in the game."Rosenberger said an important factor when it comes to special teams is deciding what players are on each unit."At a smaller school like ours, where you have a lot of two-way players and there isn't a lot of depth, you have to walk a fine line between making sure your kids get off the field to get a break and making sure you have capable players on special teams," said Rosenberger. "For example, our kickoff coverage team has seven starters on it because in past years we had given up some huge plays in kickoff coverage that really hurt us."So now we don't just put someone out on special teams to give another player a rest. They have to be a quality player for us to use them on special teams."Numbers aren't a problem at Pleasant Valley where the Bears have a roster twice the size of Jim Thorpe, but Pacchioni said finding quality players to put out on the field is still the priority."We use a lot of starters," he said. "Probably about 75 percent of our special team players are starters. We make our kids earn the privilege to play on our special team units."That has paid off for Pleasant Valley as Nyiem Nevarez and Eric Marbury have both returned punts for TDs this season and Matt Sheehan has run back a kickoff."All three of those kids are great athletes," said Pacchioni. "They all have a little bit different running style but the common denominator is they all have great speed."Quality players, schemes to exploit weaknesses, and plenty of practice time has proven to be a perfect combination for both the Jim Thorpe and Pleasant Valley special teams so far this season.**********STILL UNDEFEATED ... Jim Thorpe and Northwestern both posted wins last week to improve their records to a perfect 5-0.Before this season, the last time at least two Times News area teams started with 5-0 marks was 2006. Ironically, it was Jim Thorpe and Northwestern (along with Marian) that accomplished the feat.That year, the Olympians actually started 8-0 before losing their first game while. The Tigers, meanwhile, couldn't do better than their five-game winning streak, losing in Week Six.**********PICK-SIX MASTER ... Pleasant Valley's Nyiem Nevarez intercepted a pass in last Friday's win against Pocono Mountain West and returned the pick 60 yards for a touchdown.For Nevarez, that accomplishment is nothing new. In his career at PV, the senior defensive back has now returned five interceptions for touchdowns. Over the past 22 seasons, nobody else in the Times News area can claim that honor. Panther Valley's Jake Dunn has done it four times between 2007-09 while four others (Northwestern's Austin Bleam and Manny Gaspar, and Jim Thorpe's Jason Figura and Jared Schrantz) have done it three times.**********CENTURY MARK SQUARED ... In Jim Thorpe's win over Schuylkill Haven Friday, the Olympians' Shane Snisky and Robert Heller both rushed for 100 yards. Snisky finished with 158 while Heller added 116.How common is it for the Olympians to have a pair of 100-yard rushers in the same game?Since 1993 Jim Thorpe has played 226 football games and in 15 of them, or 6.6 percent, the Olympians have had two players rush for at least 100 yards.**********FOURTH QUARTER RALLY ... Northern Lehigh trailed Palisades by a 13-0 score after three quarters of play last week.The Bulldogs, however, used two fourth-quarter touchdowns to rally for a 14-13 victory.The last time a Times News area team trailed by 13 points or more heading into the fourth quarter and still won the game was Nov. 5, 1994. On that day, Jim Thorpe trailed Pius X by a 24-7 margin but tallied 20 points in the final frame to earn a 27-24 victory.**********CAM THE MAN ... Northwestern's Cam Richardson pulled off a rare hat trick in Friday's victory over Saucon Valley.The Tigers' senior skill player had a touchdown run, caught a touchdown pass, and also threw for a score in his team's 39-14 win.As uncommon as that feat sounds, the same trifecta was accomplished by a Times News area player four years ago.On Oct. 1, 2010 Northern Lehigh's Jake Kern managed the same thing. Kern caught a 16-yard scoring pass from Dylan Hofmann, reached the end zone on a 36-yard scamper, and tossed a 12-yard TD pass to Caleb Johnson.**********ALWAYS SCORING ... Eight of the nine Times News area teams have not been shut out this season.But only two teams currently have a stretch of not being shut out in more than 40 straight games.Jim Thorpe leads the way with a streak of 44 straight contests in which it has scored, while Tamaqua is close behind at 42.The longest streak among TN area teams is believed to be a 61-game stretch Northern Lehigh had from 2007-2012.