Lehighton looks for a possible three-peat in the Schuylkill League, while Northwestern's Kyle Bellhorn and Pleasant Valley's Brad Brickman enter their final seasons as their team's goalkeepers.

Meanwhile, some area programs look to return to the District 11 playoffs, while others will look to end their postseason droughts.Those are just some of the potential story lines on the horizon as the boys soccer season begins Friday.JIM THORPEHEADED IN RIGHT DIRECTION ...As Tony Dixon enters his seventh season as head coach of the Olympians, the team has a chance to make the district playoffs for the fourth time in five years. The Olympians also were Schuylkill League Division I champions in 2012. "The team is full of confidence this year and has set their own goals of making districts and challenging for the division title," Dixon said. "But our success will be built on teamwork and taking advantage of our speed in transition from defense."SENIOR LOADED...After losing only Luke Morris and Carter Rodriguez to graduation, the Olympians have a number of players entering their final season. This year's seniors, who have all been in the program for four years, include Jake Burkhart, Todd Stelling, Cam Condly, Joey Schwartz, Ryan McArdle, Cody Geiser, Phil Struble, Shane Meckes, Logan Hunsicker, and Austin Carilo.TOTALLY COMMITTED...The Olympians made it a point during the offseason to make themselves better players. With this commitment, Dixon believes they can perform at a high level. "The coaching staff and players have worked hard this offseason," Dixon said. "This has resulted in the players showing more confidence and belief in their ability to achieve success this season."LEHIGHTONPOSSIBLE THREE-PEAT...The Indians are fresh off their second straight Schuylkill League title. Now, with two SL titles under their belt, the Indians have the potential to make it a three-peat. It won't come easy, however, with the loss of several key components, but the Indians are familiar with the level of talent in the league. "The Schuylkill League should be very competitive this year," Indians head coach Dave Yob said. "Blue Mountain is always solid. Both Pine Grove and Jim Thorpe return a strong nucleus of veteran players."1-2 PUNCH...With the loss of last year's talented trio of Joe Marks (41 goals, 15 assists), Zach Christoff (14 goals, 12 assists) and Dan Baka (10 goals, 19 assists), the Indians will look to seniors Frank Bokan (29 goals, 18 assists) and Patrick Lawler (11 goals, 12 assists) to pick up right where they left off last season.CHANGE OF SCENERY...After starting three years as a protector in front of the Lehighton goal, Tyler Dietz returns for his final season in a new position. After serving primarily on the defensive front (as the goalkeeper or a defender), Dietz will play as a midfielder this season.ALWAYS ROOM FOR IMPROVEMENT...Despite finishing with an 11-1 record in the Schuylkill League, Yob knows there's always room for improvement. "We will again look to build off last year's record season," Yob said. "While we lost several quality players from last year, we do feel that we will again be competitive. Once again, I am concerned about our overall depth, but we have several younger players who gained valuable experience last year."NORTHERN LEHIGHSENIOR LEADERSHIP...Head coach Jason Ruch says the strength of the Bulldogs lies in the hands of their upperclassmen. The second-year coach feels seniors Nick Miller (GK), Tony Evangelist (Mid.) and Dan Belfonti (For.) have the potential to lead the team in the right direction.VARSITY ONLY...The Bulldogs only have enough players to sport a varsity squad this season. With only 20 players making up their roster, Ruch feels depth will be and is a major concern for NL this season.SET ON IMPROVEMENT...With four seniors, six juniors and the rest of the roster all sophomores, the Bulldogs have set reasonable expectations for the squad this season, which sported a 3-14-1 overall record a year ago. "Goals are to get better every day in training and contests," Ruch said. "We're looking to get better as a team and on the individual level."KEY ON DEFENSE...With the loss of Danny Patterson and Shane Hoppes to graduation, the Bulldogs are without half of their starting defensive unit from a year ago. The Bulldogs are hoping sophomores Quenton Mack and Chris Fine can be the ones who fill the voids.NORTHWESTERNEYE OF THE TIGER...Kyle Bellhorn enters his fourth season as the Tigers goalie. The senior has 36 career shutouts, 18 of which came a year ago. In his time spent between the Tiger posts, Bellhorn has a record of gone on to earn 57-9-1.LEADER OF THE PACK...Nate Hunsicker enters his sixth season as the Tigers' head coach, and assistant coach John Gross has been by his side since Day 1. Assistant coach Derrick Reinert will be in his fifth season. Hunsicker, who played four years of varsity soccer at NW as a goalkeeper, also coached two years of junior varsity. He currently holds an overall record of 80-23-4. The Tigers return as last year's Colonial League champions and also earned a league title under Hunsicker in 2013. They also made 2015 special by winning the District 11 Class 2A title.HEAVY SHOES TO FILL...Gone from last year's championship squad is Times News Boys Soccer Player of the Year JD Haaf. Haaf posted a school-record 46 goals, and added 16 assists. He was one of the spark-plugs in helping the Tigers to a 24-2 record. "He was always a strong presence on the field," Hunsicker said. "He was a major threat that other teams needed to prepare and adjust for each game."NEED SOMEONE TO FINISH...While Haaf led the team with 46 goals, Andrew Goodolf had a solid season with 19 goals and 13 assists. Goodolf will help lead the charge this year, along with Kenny Gawelko (16 goals, 13 assists), Dom Mertz (five goals, 11 assists) and Brad Shafer (six goals, five assists). "I'm concerned about our ability for consistent goal scoring," Hunsicker said. "We counted on JD a lot last year to carry our offense. In the beginning of the season this might be a weakness, but by the end of the year a strength since we have a lot of kids who will become threats for us on the offensive end."PALMERTONMISSING A BEAT...The Blue Bombers will be without Devon Santos, who played a huge role on the team last season. Santos finished with a team-leading 19 goals and ended up with three assists. "Devon Santos was arguably one of the biggest playmakers in the entire Colonial League," Palmerton head coach Ryan Sharkazy said. "He was able to play midfield and striker for us. He was the heartbeat of our team for four straight years."DEFENSIVELY STRONG...Senior Jake Taylor, along with juniors Bryce Beahm and Ryan Yacone, bring plenty of experience back to the Bombers' defensive unit. Taylor and Beahm will look to make things easier for a seasoned goalkeeper in Yacone (Colonial League Honorable Mention last season), while juniors Jarrett Long and Jonathan Hillabrand look to step in to lend a helping hand.NO "I" IN TEAM...Sharkazy stressed the Bombers are buying into the team aspect this year. In years past, the Bombers depended solely on a few playmakers to get the job done. Instead of sitting back and watching those individuals, the Bombers are working more together as a unit to take care of business as a complete team. "So far, everyone has had the 'Earn it!' attitude we will need to be successful," Sharkazy said.CAN FIFTH BE SOMETHING SPECIAL?...Sharkazy enters his fifth season as the Bombers' head coach, and his seventh season with the program after serving as an assistant for two years. The Bombers' mentor is looking to guide his players toward their first appearance in either the Colonial League or District 11 playoffs as they have yet to do so under his guidance.TAMAQUAVERY FAMILIAR TO PROGRAM...Greg Scheeler, the Blue Raiders head coach, is a 2001 Tamaqua graduate. Scheeler played midfield for two years before moving to forward his final two seasons. The former Raider finished with 67 career goals and was a member of the Schuylkill League All-County team. After graduation, Scheeler attained his refereeing license for soccer and has a passion for the sport. His first-year assistant coach Nick Zigmant - a 2000 graduate - is also a Tamaqua soccer alumni.ODD CIRCUMSTANCES...Scheeler is concerned for the well-being of his entire Blue Raiders' program this season. So many odd occurrences happened to Tamaqua a year ago. He hopes that changes this season. "Our first goal is to remain healthy for the season," Scheeler said. "Second is to qualify for playoffs and be a contender. Last year was such a fluke season with injuries. The last practice of the season, even I got injured. I suffered a torn ACL/ Meniscus after a player made contact with me on a noncontact drill. Even our game manager, Rebecca Kanaskie, who films our games, got hit in the head with an errant soccer ball and suffered a concussion. Sometimes you just can't anticipate what life has in store for us."TRUSTING THEIR GUIDANCE...Tri-captains Riley McHugh, Tyler Hollenbach and Alec Verta are all entering their third year with the program. So are seniors Logan Miller, Chris Miller, Donald Ludwig and Ryan Murphy. Scheeler has no problem putting the utmost faith in these players as he marked them as the "strength" of the squad. "We have strong captains providing great leadership on and off the field," Scheeler said. "The upperclassmen's work ethic is setting an example for everyone else to follow."PLEASANT VALLEYLEAVING A MARK...Head coach Chris Pachuta enters his eighth season with the program. The Bears' mentor holds a career mark of 91-45. He has had a lot more success with the Bears than he did when he first started coaching. That was with Dieruff, where he was 7-49-9 in three years.KNOWN WELL IN THE POSTSEASON...The Bears have qualified for the District 11 playoffs every year under Pachuta and have extended their season into districts every year since 1999. The Bears also have qualified for the league playoffs - both Mountain Valley Conference and Eastern Pennsylvania Conference - since Pachuta took over the program. The team finished as MVC runners-up in 2010. "Our goals remain the same that we have every season," Pachuta said. "We want to win the division and contend for the EPC and District 11 titles. I also expect the boys to get better everyday in order to reach some of their goals of playing at the next level.""BRICK" HOUSE...The Bears have a solid foundation in front of their own goal. Brad Brickman returns for his fourth year as PV's starting goalkeeper. The senior Bear is looking to add on to his school record of 23 career shutouts.NOBODY IN HIBERNATION HERE...The Bears return six players - Brad Brickman (four years), Kelvy Gomez (three), Zac Madeira (three), Ryan Prator (two), Jon Mickens (two) and Kyle Dooner (two) - with a combined total of 16 years of varsity experience. So it's easy for Pachuta to point out the program's strength. "Our strength is the fact that we have a lot of letter winners coming back," he said. "Plus, we have a high soccer IQ, which should help push the program forward even more."WEATHERLYONE MAN SHOW...At this point in time, second-year coach Phil Derosiers will lead the Wreckers without the benefit of any assistant coaches.LAST HOORAH...The Wreckers return a seasoned foursome that Derosiers feels will be the team's key contributors. Seniors Jacob White (Def.), Paul Eckert (For.), Zach Peiser (GK/Def.) and Chris Smith (For.) will be the ones Derosiers will look to in order to help the Wreckers be victorious. And with their years of experience, it's the reason why Derosiers is hoping they can do so. "They have each played every year on the varsity level," Derosiers said. "It's just a matter of how much playing time was involved. But this year they are all going to be key assets to the team."A CHANGE IN ATTITUDE...Derosiers would like a change in the atmosphere at Weatherly. Instead of the attitude he saw firsthand a year ago, Derosiers wants the Wreckers to approach games in a different manner this season. "Weatherly has a history of beating themselves before the game is played," said Derosiers. "They used to believe that certain teams are unbeatable and would play like they had already lost. If this attitude can change, they will be a tough team to beat."BELIEVE IN ONESELF...Derosiers is doing his best to put his players in the right mindset. He wants them to truly believe in themselves. He already believes they have the "determination, speed and heart" to earn them success. "I want to take our team to the playoffs this year, and several of our players want to do the same, especially the seniors because it is their last chance," Derosiers said. "I told them that if anyone on the team doesn't think we can make it, they should just leave now because we can do it with the right attitude and working hard."