There were three “surprises” on opening night of the high school football season last week, and “Mad” Brad Hurley nailed two of them to help him jump into a one game lead in our Times News Grid Picks standings.

Besides nailing Jim Thorpe’s win over highly-touted Schuylkill Haven, Hurley was the only staff member to pick Palmerton to defeat Northwestern. I could have asked permission to peek into his crystal ball before I make my picks this week, but right now, I’m feeling pretty giddy because I’m in a three-way tie for second place with Emmett “Bossman” McCall and Justin Carlucci. Never have I been so close to the top of the pile. Can I quit now and take home a piece of the silver medal?Pick of the week stunnerMcCall must have been spying on Wilson at their practices. Either that or he paid off Pen Argyl to tank the contest. Losers of 15 consecutive games and 19 or their last 20, the Warriors stopped their streak with a 43-8 drubbing of a Pen Argyl team that had nine victories last year. Oh, what the turn of the calendar pages can do for a football program from year to year!Marque matchupThis week’s feature game among area teams is Jim Thorpe at Marian — a pair of Week 1 winners.The staff is unanimous in choosing the Olympians to go 2-0.Thorpe was impressive on both sides of the ball in defeating Schuylkill Haven while the Colts tripped up Fairfield to hand new coach Pat Morgans his first win.Thorpe proved it can run the distance with speedsters, Justin St. Hill and C.J. Selby. Quarterback Nate Rosahac made some nice throws through tight coverages to show opposing teams that the Olympians possess a balanced attack.Marian will try to exploit the Red Swarm defense with running backs Seth Paluck and Matt Doherty. QB Mat Miller has multiple receivers in his arsenal to move the chains.Adding some intrigue to the game is the fact that Morgans was a former Jim Thorpe assistant coach while veteran Olympian head coach Mark Rosenberger was a former Colt assistant.The fact that both schools consider this one of their bigger rivalry games adds additional spice.The skinny from TJTJ Engle is so determined to stay out of the grid picks basement this season that he’s punted away his selections to Wyatt, his 12 year-old son who chose his dad’s winners for the first week and gets the ball again for another try.“If I didn’t change a couple of Wyatt’s picks, I would have had only two wrong,” said Engle.So we’ll see how Wyatt does this week, especially since he has selected underdogs Lehighton, Pleasant Valley, and Shenandoah to win games. It could be a make or break week for TJ and Son.Who knows?It’s nearly a split staff as to who will win when Catasuqua visits Northern Lehigh tonight. Both had setbacks last Friday with the Bulldogs losing big to Southern Lehigh while Catty lost 33-14 to Salisbury. Speaking of Salisbury, the Falcons visit Northwestern this week. Despite the Tigers losing big to Palmerton in Week 1, only “Handy” Andy Steinmetz, Justin Carlucci and yours truly think the Falcons win this in a close one.Key games and namesEach week there are games where we all agree on the victor. So if we are right or we are wrong, nothing moves in the standings,Our unanimous picks for tonight are Jim Thorpe, Southern Lehigh, Panther Valley, Tamaqua, Notre Dame and Saucon Valley so you can wash them off the board.Engle, McCall and I have a shot to gain ground if Steelton-Highspire defeats North Schuylkill.Same goes with Liberty to knock off Easton except replace my vote and give it to Carlucci on that one.Engle and Son’s pick of Shenandoah over Minersville and Pleasant Valley to upset Allentown Central Catholic are risky but could be very rewarding.“Hot” Rod Heckman, Engle, and Sam “The Man” Matta get a jump if Lehighton sends Schuylkill Haven to its second loss.Only Steinmetz and Carluccci tabbed Whitehall to beat Emmaus.Come Sunday, after the final horns have sounded from all 15 games in this week’s Picks, we’ll see who gets to sit in the king’s chair for next week.