After Week 1, three of our pigskin pickers sit atop of the leader board along with defending champion. Bob Ford. Emmett “Bossman” McCall, Sam “The Man” Matta, and “Handy” Andy Steinmetz and our photo guy finished the week with records of 11-4. Pat “the” Matsinko and Yours Truly are game behind. Already in trouble and in danger of falling out of the race is “Bad” Brad Hurley whose nickname appropriately describes his 8-7 week of picks, dropping him three games off the pace.

Two games stumped all 10 staffers — Northern Lehigh’s win over Wilson and Northwestern’s overtime victory over Notre Dame. Our hats go off to Northern Lehigh Coach Joe Tout and Northwestern coach Josh Snyder for proving us all wrong.

Defense dominates

Both Jim Thorpe and Lehighton stymied their opponents’ offenses in opening victories.

The Red Swarm shut out a very good running team in Schuylkill Haven while the Indians posted nine behind the line of scrimmage tackles in their win over Fleetwood.

All 10 writers think the Olympians will make it a long night for visiting Marian on Friday as CJ Selby and his cast will find both short and long trips to the Colts’ end zone.

The Indians will try to stop Haven’s Kobe Brish and except for Matta, Steinmetz and Justin “FM” Carlucci, the rest of us think Lehighton will do exactly that as JJ McDowell and Shane Williams will score enough points to earn the Indians their second straight win.

Tigers on the prowl

After last week’s thrilling OT win over a good Notre Dame team, Northwestern Coach Josh Snyder has his Tigers hungry to run to the playoffs. Quarterback Devon Bollinger and running back Nick Henry combined for 263 rushing yards in Week 1, will be let loose again to feast against Salisbury. We’re unanimous. Tigers take two straight!

A Matta of the Mind

Sam “The Man” looked into his crystal ball and he’s the only picker who likes Palmerton to upend Southern Lehigh. The Bombers were punched in the mouth last Friday while the Spartans had a respectable loss to strong Saucon Valley team. Well that’s Sam, whom we know, has a mind of his own as he looks to gain a game up on the leaders.

Raider rampage

Talk about a punch in the mouth, Tamaqua will hit Mahanoy Area tonight with their three-headed offensive monster as running backs Nick Breiner and Nate Boyle and quarterback Braydon Knoblauch are all coming off big games against Line Mountain. We think Tamaqua will put up big numbers on its side of the Friday night lights.

Déjà vu all over again

Panther Valley tries to begin 2-0 for the second straight season. Hamburg comes to Lansford to face last week’s Times News/Lehigh Valley Health Network’s Player of the Game — Panther Valley quarterback Ethan Reis. Reis completed 16 passes, including one for a TD. He also ran for a score in the win over CMVT. Pickers are split on this game, with six of the 10 favoring the Panthers.

A strikeout and a home run

In baseball, they say you’re only as good as tomorrow’s starting pitcher. In football, you can say you’re only as good as who you play next. After a drubbing last week, Pleasant Valley should return the favor and hit a grand slam against William Allen according to all 10 of our grid pick experts.

See you next week!