Palmerton will host Notre Dame on Friday, in what has the making to be a Colonial League classic.

Notre Dame at Palmerton

Friday, Sept. 14, 7 p.m.

Here’s what you need to know:

MISTAKES

… Mistakes and big plays have killed the Bombers this season — a team that has shown on a weekly basis that they’re better than their 0-3 record — but costly turnovers that have resulted in scores or setting up the opposition for a score have contributed to Palmerton’s struggles. The Bombers are minus-six on the season in the plus/minus department, but improved last week in a hard-fought loss to Saucon Valley, not turning the ball over and cutting down on the big plays. “We’re getting better there, we’ve been working on it and last week our kids took care of the football. It’s something we know we need to continue to get better at if we want to go where we want to go.” – Palmerton head coach Chris Walkowiak.

CONTAINING COLE

… Palmerton must be able to slow down and contain Notre Dame 3A All-State quarterback Cole DeFranco if it wants to have a chance in this one. DeFranco, who threw for 3,424 yards and 31 touchdowns last season, has picked up right where he left off a year ago. DeFranco has already thrown for 930 yards (310 yards per game) and 10 scores. Palmerton will also need to keep an eye on dynamic receivers David Sanders Jr. (489 yards) and Isaiah DeJesus (237 yards). One positive for the Bombers is that although they’ve struggled against the run (299 yards per game) they’ve been good against the rush, allowing just 57 yards per game. “I don’t know if you can stop him, but you have to contain him. They throw the ball a lot, and he has a quick release and he can hurt you with his feet just as much as he can hurt you with his arm, so getting pressure and knowing our assignments will be key. We need to communicate and be in the right place and then make plays,” said Walkowiak.

STARTING FAST

… There’s no doubt Palmerton needs to get out to better starts this season. The Bombers have been outscored 33-7 in the first quarter. Setting the tone early against Notre Dame is vital for Palmerton if it wants to come away with its first win of the season. Although the Bombers have gotten off to slow starts, they’ve shown the ability to battle back. After falling behind 21-0 last week vs. Saucon Valley, the Bombers battled back to get within one, 21-20 in the third quarter.

Panther Valley at Tamaqua

Friday, Sept. 14, 7 p.m.

Here’s what you need to know:

ON A ROLL

... The Raiders have won the last eight meetings against the Panthers. Last year’s game was a 48-14 Tamaqua victory.

SCORING AT WILL

... Tamaqua has scored 119 points across the first three games, two points more than it scored last year at the same time. Before that, the Raiders haven’t scored at least 119 points since 1926, when they notched 175 points across the first three. They defeated St. Clair 97-0, Schuylkill Haven 66-0, and lost to Summit Hill 13-12. “Defensively we need to keep filling the holes and play fundamental, fly-to-the-football type of defense,” said Tamaqua head coach Sam Bonner. “Offensively, I thought there was some stuff on film that we picked up on that we didn’t do as well last week, as far as puling and trapping, drive blocks, and a few mental mistakes. We just need to work on getting better every week.”

FIFTY

... The Panthers have scored exactly 50 points through their first three games both this year and last year.

BEEN A WHILE

... The Raiders have posted back-to-back-to-back shutouts to start the year. The last time the Tamaqua program accomplished that feat was in 1944, when it started the season with five-straight shutouts, defeating Frackville 40-0, Ashland 12-0, Mount Carmel 21-0, Shenandoah 33-0, and Coaldale 12-0. The Raiders finished 8-2 that season. “What I like about our defense right now, is that we don’t have any one guy that’s making 15 or 20 tackles . It’s not just one guy making plays, and I like that,” Bonner said.

CLOSE TO MILESTONES

... Tamaqua’s Nick Breiner has 2,852 career rushing yards and 278 career points.

Emmaus at Pleasant Valley

Friday, Sept. 14, 7 p.m.

Here’s what you need to know:

HIGH-POWERED

... Emmaus has scored 161 points through the first three weeks of the season. The Hornets are outscoring opponents 53.4 to 23 during their 3-0 start.

FIRE IT UP

... Leading 27-21 at halftime last week against Whitehall, Emmaus pulled away over the final two quarters, as it outscored the Zephyrs 29-0 in the second half en route to a 56-21 victory. Quarterback Ethan Parvel completed 8-of-11 passes for 98 yards and two scores, and added 71 yards on the ground with two more touchdowns. Running back Lubens Myers carried the ball 22 times for 165 yards (7.5 yards-per-carry), while Brandon Camire added 86 yards rushing and one score on just four carries. Deonte Castro caught four passes for 66 yards and also found the end zone once.

NEW LOOK, SAME RESULT

... Parvel accounted for 45 touchdowns and over 3,100 yards of total offense as a Whitehall junior last season before transferring to Emmaus. Parvel led the Zephyrs to a District 11 Class 5A title a year ago.

HIGH MOON

... Nasai Moon rushed for 135 yards on 15 carries in Pleasant Valley’s 63-0 loss to Northampton last week. Gabe Masker added 40 yards rushing on eight carries. “Watching film, the teams that they’ve played have had some success running the ball. I like to play at 100 mph, so obviously, this week, I have to go against what I want to do offensively because it just doesn’t suit us this week. They’re a very well-coached team, and they have very good athletes. They are just playing peak football right now early in the season, and we’re still struggling to find the right pieces within ourselves. So this week is gonna be kind of a different role for us, where we’re kind of taking a step back in terms of slowing things down and just do the little things right. It’s been three weeks of just kind of miscues here and there, so we’re gonna try and really slow things down, and just take it one series at a time, and try and pull something out in the end,” said Kosciolek.

WIDE MARGIN

... Pleasant Valley has been outscored 138-14 this season. Including last week’s loss to the Konkrete Kids, the Bears were also shutout in the season-opener, a 42-0 loss to Liberty.

Jim Thorpe at Kutztown

Friday, Sept. 14, 7 p.m.

Here’s what you need to know:

QUICK STARTS

… The Olympians haven’t wasted any time setting the tone in its first three contests, having outscored their opponents 99-0 in the first half. “Our offensive coaching staff does a great job of preparing the game plan, and then our players need to get credit as well for executing. I think in all three phases we’ve just clicked early on in games. The defense has played lights out, giving us good field position, and last week we scored our first touchdown on a special teams score, which got us fired up and going.” – Jim Thorpe head coach Mark Rosenberger.

ROUGH START

… Thorpe’s opponent this week in Kutztown has had a rough start to the season. The Cougars are winless, having been outscored 127-12. The Kutztown offense is averaging just 78 yards per game offensively, while surrendering 222 yards per game on the ground on the defensive side of the ball. This figures to be a tough matchup for the Cougars, as the Olympians are averaging 49 points per game, 461 yards per game on offense, while having given up just 52 yards per game defensively. In fact, no teams have yet to score on Thorpe this season.

STARTS UP FRONT

… Coming into the season, it was widely regarded that the Olympians offensive and defensive line were going to be stout, especially on the defensive side of the ball. Both units have lived up to the hype to this point. While the big boys up front on offense may not get a ton of credit, the opposition surely knows how good Thorpe’s offensive line has been as they’ve cleared the path for the Olympians’ rushers to run for an average of 10.5 yards per carry. “I’ve been coaching here a long time, and this is right up there with the best offensive line group that I’ve coached. You never hear any complaining from them, they’re smart, they communicate and they work hard. They put in the extra work, and it shows,” said Rosenberger.

Pen Argyl at No. Lehigh

Friday, Sept. 14, 7 p.m.

Here’s what you need to know:

FIRST LOSS

... After starting the year 2-0, Northern Lehigh dropped a 28-6 contest to Bangor (2-1) last week. The Bulldogs trailed by just a 7-6 tally after the first quarter. “Our biggest take away was we need to limit turnovers,” said Northern Lehigh head coach Joe Tout. “Bangor is a very good team, and we took away any chance of winning by having untimely turnovers and not making plays when we had opportunities.

We dodged a big bullet when Bangor wasn’t able to get a snap off right before half at the one yard-line. We felt like we had momentum at half, but we didn’t capitalize on it early in the second half and that hurt us.”

SPLIT!

... These two teams have split their last four meetings. Last year, Pen Argyl squeaked by Northern Lehigh, 34-27.

WHICH BARR?

... Pen Argyl senior Todd Barr ran for 161 yards on 21 carries last week and added two scores. The week prior against Saucon Valley, he carried the ball just once for minus two yards. “Barr is the player we need to stop on Pen Argyl’s team,” Tout said. “He played QB the first two games and was at tailback last week. So, we are preparing for him at both positions. We felt we saw a very good backfield last week, so we feel like we are prepared. They are a big team, so that concerns us. Both lines are big and their linebackers are their strength. When they are on offense, we must contain Barr and be prepared for play action. They don’t throw often, but when they do, they take shots. We cannot allow them to have the big play. We must also recognize their tricks; each game they run an unusual play or formation. So when something looks different, we need to recognize it.”

ODD OR EVEN?

... The Bulldogs have a plus-eight scoring margin against their opponents in quarters one and three. However, in quarters two and four, Northern Lehigh has outscored its opponents by a 34-point margin.

Wilson at Northwestern

Friday, Sept. 14, 7 p.m.

Here’s what you need to know:

YOUNG WARRIORS

... The Wilson Warriors come into Tiger Stadium with a young team looking for their first win of the season. They were able to hang with Northern Lehigh for much of the game in Week 1 before being blown away by Palisades in Week 2. Last week, the Warriors were driving to tie the game in the fourth quarter against Salisbury when an interception that was returned for a touchdown wiped out their chances.

Wilson got off to a 4-2 start last season before losing its final five games of the season and finishing 4-7. One of their early losses was to the Tigers, who beat them 29-26 at Wilson High School.

FOCUS, PEOPLE

... With a disappointing 35-34 overtime loss to Palisades last week, coach Josh Snyder is keeping his players focused on the here-and-now and not on what happened last week. For the first time this season, Snyder ran his team through practice in full pads with full contact this week, just looking to reinforce how important each game is.

“I told our guys that this week is the most important game of the season because it’s our next game,” said Snyder, stressing to his team that they can’t look back or they’ll find themselves in trouble.

Snyder also believes Wilson is the type of team that has the ability to surprise some teams along the way, and doesn’t want his team taking anything for granted.

WHO’S NEXT?

... Nick Henry left the Palisades game with an injury and will be out against Wilson. The team’s leading rusher has three straight 100-yard games and will be missed, but with depth at the skill positions, the Tigers should be able to cover the loss. Deven Bollinger has rushed for two 100-yard games from his quarterback spot, while Justin Rodda and Tyler Lobach have chipped in when needed out of the backfield. Jayden Allen also figures to get more carries for Northwestern with Henry out of the lineup.

Henry also handles the punting for Northwestern, but Bollinger has practiced as the team’s punter and took one punt in the season opener and one last week against Palisades. Snyder figures to have Henry back for Week 4 against Bangor.