Sam Bonner knew he had something special in tailback Nick Breiner.

"Nick is going to be a good player for us. He's a strong, quick kid with speed and he's ready to get the ball," the Tamaqua head coach said prior to the season.After another impressive performance last Friday against Mahanoy Area, Bonner's preseason prediction has proven to be accurate.Breiner carried the ball 16 times for 128 yards and three touchdowns against the Golden Bears. His performance propelled the Blue Raiders to a 35-7 victory and earned the sophomore Times News Player of the Week honors."Going into the start of the year, I pretty much said that to everybody, that he was going to be the guy replacing Bud (Moyer), and he was going to be the guy that was going to have to carry us, at least on the ground," Bonner said. "I think he's shown that he's more than capable of doing that."Breiner has been an integral part of Tamaqua's 2-0 start this season. He has an area-best six touchdowns to go along with 205 rushing yards, which is good for second in the area."It's an honor. I love playing for Tamaqua football," Breiner said. "It's a real honor to be their starting running back and get the W's that we're getting this year."Moyer was the focal point of the Tamaqua offense in 2015, carrying the ball 222 times (fourth-best in the TN area) for 1,152 yards (sixth-best) and scoring 21 total touchdowns (fourth-best).Though he didn't see the ball as often as Moyer, Breiner did see the field, recording 52 carries for 293 yards, while finding the end zone three times playing mostly as the team's fullback and Moyer's lead blocker."Fortunately, last year, I think the last five or six games (of the season) he started at fullback for us so Bud was right behind him kind of telling him kind of where to go and what to do," Bonner said.That experience is paying dividends so far."Bud taught me a lot. He was a real good back for Tamaqua - a good linebacker, too," Breiner said. "He taught me a lot on both sides of the ball. He was a real good player."It didn't take long for the sophomore to establish himself as one of the Blue Raiders' top playmakers this season, returning the opening kickoff 81 yards for a touchdown in a 49-13 rout of Minersville in Week 1. Breiner finished with 77 yards on the ground and two rushing touchdowns on just 12 carries.In both victories this season, Tamaqua has led 35-7 at halftime.But in order to knock off undefeated Schuylkill Haven Friday, Bonner knows his team is going to have to be ready to play for 48 minutes."I think we've been pretty much clicking pretty well on offense," Bonner said. "I think it's a matter of putting four quarters together against a very good Schuylkill Haven team."Breiner has fully embraced his role as the lead back. And the Blue Raiders are eager to prove they're going to be a contender in the Schuylkill Football League.So far, both have delivered on their potential."I think he (Breiner) sees that we're a tailback-oriented offense and he realized that he's going to have to be the man," Bonner commented. "He got some quality carries at the end of the year for us at fullback and I think he saw the potential to have a big, breakout year like I've been saying."