Mike Stasko has been waiting for this opportunity for a long time.

The Palmerton junior made his debut as the Blue Bombers premier running back and put on quite a show in the Colonial League season opener on Friday night. He ran for two touchdowns of 96 and 32 yards and caught a TD pass from junior quarterback Garrett Perschy in a 55-34 win over Wilson.Stasko ended the night with 248 yards rushing on 18 carries to set a new Palmerton single game rushing record that was held by Chris Siracuse, who gained 243 yards back in 1998."I heard the announcer say it after the game and I was shocked," said Stasko afterwards. "I didn't think I could do something like that."I've got to give credit to the offensive line. They made it easy for me."He had over 300 yards total offense with the two pass receptions and a punt return.The Bombers took a 20-13 lead on a Perschy sneak on the first play of the second quarter, but the second Palmerton turnover of the night gave Wilson an opportunity to score on a sneak on their own. Recovering a Palmerton fumble at the one, Nick Maston scored and both teams went into halftime deadlocked at 20-20."There was no panic button pushed at halftime," Palmerton head coach Chris Walkowiak said afterwards. "We knew Wilson gave us all we could handle in the first half, but we just weren't playing our game and it was just a matter of executing. Give all the credit to the kids. They came out and played the second half like we are capable of."And that they did.The Bombers came out and scored 21 unanswered points in the third quarter and added two more scores in the final 12 minutes to roll to the win."That start was unbelievable with the three kickoff returns," Walkowiak said. "I've never seen anything like that. Special teams was a huge difference maker. It was great to start off that way."Mike Stasko is special. I can't say enough about him. He goes hard every day at practice and plays like he has to make the team. And that's the type of kid he is and he's the kind that we want rubbing off on the rest of the team."He was just unbelievable."KICKOFF CRAZY ... It was a wild and crazy start as three kickoffs were returned for touchdowns on the first three plays of the game. Toby Sander ran two of them back for the Blue Bombers of 88 and 80 yards. Wilson's Nick Maston sandwiched one in between for 86 yards and with just 49 seconds of off the clock, Palmerton held a 14-7 lead.PERSCHY POWER ... Palmerton junior quarterback Garrett Perschy got off to a slow start but found his rhythm in the second half throwing touchdown passes to Zach Buck, who made a leaping grab and ran it in from 46 yards out and Stasko, who rambled 69 yards for the other. Perschy not only ran for a 35-yard touchdown, but kicked three extra points after taking over those duties in the second half. Perschy is also the team's punter.SOPHOMORE SUCCESS ... Quite a few new names on the Palmerton roster were heard from the pressbox with some sophomores strutting their stuff. Luke Yaindl and Mike Eckhart had a few carries between them offensively, Jacob Taschler handled the kicking chores.BANDS RETURNS ... The Palmerton High School Band made its permanent return to the high school football scene after a few years absence and did and put on an outstanding performance.