The weather is still warm, the kids are still enjoying the summer, but make no mistake about it, football is right around the corner.

There's no better indicator of that than the Schuylkill County Football Coaches Association annual Media Day.Coaches and players from all over the coal region gathered at Mountain Valley Golf Course in Barnesville to give football fans just a little taste of what's to come before two-a-days start next week.In attendance, were the Anthracite Football League teams, including the five Times News area teams in that league Lehighton, Jim Thorpe, Marian, Tamaqua, and Panther Valley.Coaches and players are known to not put too much if any stock in pre-season polls, but for the fans it's something to talk about at the neighborhood coffee joint the next day.According to the media in attendance, the North Schuylkill Spartans are the favorites to win the AFL this season. The Spartans went 9-0 in league play in 2014 and received 17 first place votes.For the second consecutive season, Lehighton was chosen to be the league runner up. The Indians received four first place votes and return a ton of talent from their postseason qualifying squad from a year ago."We have some key guys coming back, but we also lost some playmakers from a year ago, including two lineman," said Lehighton coach Tom McCarroll. "We have some good young guys competing to fill those spots and we're confident that they will step in and be able to do the job."Marian is expected to take a significant step forward this season as they return a ton of talent in 2015 as well. The Colts come in at No. 4 in the rankings and are looking to make a run at the AFL title."Our goals never change, we always want to be in the position to play meaningful games in November and qualify for the postseason," said Marian coach Stan Dakosty. "Our senior class is playoff experienced, having won an Eastern Conference title as sophomores and getting to a district final a year ago, so that always helps and trickles down through the team."If you are Jim Thorpe coach Mark Rosenberger, the lower the Olympians are ranked in the pre-season poll the better. That's because prior to this season Thorpe was ranked 7th in 2013 and 2014. The result was an AFL title in 2013 and a 7-3 record last season. The Olympians come in at fifth this year."A year ago we didn't finish strong and that's because I think the teams we faced were actually physically stronger than us," said Rosenberger. "I think we really closed the gap for this season. Across the board, this is one of our more stronger teams we've had and you can really see the difference from a year ago."Tamaqua sits sixth in the rankings and is hoping a strong senior class can get it back to the District 11 AA playoffs."In the past when we've had success we've had a strong senior class leading the charge," said Tamaqua coach Sam Bonner. "We also have a lot of competition that we expect in camp and that's always great. When you have kids competing hard everyday than you're going to get the best results."Second year coach Matt Davis and his Panther Valley Panthers are picked to finish 10th in the AFL as they're looking to improve on a 1-9 2014.Davis hopes that year two will bring more consistency from all the units on his team and that the Panthers can gain some momentum right out of the gate."The kids know what to expect from us and also what is expected from them now," said Davis. "The key for us is to get an early win, so we can gain some momentum. We didn't have a chance to do that at all last year and I would like to see what kind of team we can be if we can do that."All the expectations and pre-season rankings are always fun, and as noted, it gives area football fans a lot to debate before the season kicks off on Labor Day weekend.One thing is for sure, this year's AFL will once again be ultra competitive and it will be exciting to see who will be at the top as the season unfolds.