Week 10 is rivalry week in the Times News area.

There are plenty of intriguing games on the docket, but the Times News Game of the Week is the contest between backyard rivals Northern Lehigh and Palmerton.

The Bulldogs (5-4) and Blue Bombers (3-6) are looking to end the regular season on a positive note, and there’s no better positive for these two squads than to get a win over the other.

To make the outcome even more interesting, both the Bombers and Bulldogs are still alive for postseason playoff berths.

Palmerton has a better chance. The Bombers need to win Friday night and hope Blue Mountain beats Schuylkill Haven. If that happens, they will be the No. 4 seed in District 11 Class 2A. If they win and Haven also wins, they would probably make the Eastern Conference playoffs. Even with a loss, Palmerton has an outside chance to make the EC playoffs.

Meanwhile, Northern Lehigh’s path to a D-11 Class 3A berth is much tougher. The Bulldogs must win Friday night, and then have Pine Grove, Notre Dame, Salisbury and Jim Thorpe all lose. If that doesn’t happen, the Bulldogs still have a chance to qualify for the Eastern Conference playoffs with a victory over the Bombers.

Both Northern Lehigh and Palmerton have had their ups and downs this season, but both have been competitive with the upper echelon of the Colonial League. Three of the Bulldogs four losses have come by seven points or less and the Bombers had their chances against top tier teams in Saucon Valley and Southern Lehigh. Meaning, the records don’t quite indicate the talent of the two teams.

Skill players will be plentiful in this one. The Bulldogs have proved throughout the season that an opposing defense cannot focus on just one or two players on offense. On the season, Northern Lehigh has had six players carry the ball more than 19 times, with three of those players rushing for over 300 yards. Mike Repsher (717 yards) leads the Bulldogs rushing attack along with fullback Matt Frame (571 yards), and the two have been very efficient, averaging over seven yards per carry.

Last week, in a 28-24 narrow loss to Northwestern, Repsher and Frame combined for 187 yards rushing. On any given night, the Northern Lehigh offense will feature four or five runners — all of whom can take it the distance.

“It’s been nice, we have some playmakers, some guys that all offer something different. For a few years there we went through a dry spell when it came to speed, but now that is certainly one of our strengths,” said Northern Lehigh head coach Joe Tout. “We have guys that are physical downhill runners and we have guys that can get to the outside with their speed, it’s a good mix. All year we’ve been pretty balanced, and we’ve been able to mix and match and over the last few weeks we’ve really been clicking offensively.”

The Bombers have been known over the past few seasons for their exceptional athletes at the skill positions. This season is no different with do-it-all players Jordan Nelson and Andrew Sabo. Over the last two seasons, Nelson has done a little bit of everything on both offense and defense for Palmerton.

This season, Nelson has rushed for 337 yards, leads the team in passing with 568 yards and has caught 15 passes for 213 yards. Sabo has been special for the Bombers as well, leading the team in rushing with 634 yards and 12 scores, while catching 19 passes for 109 yards.

Nelson broke a significant Palmerton record on defensive side of the ball last week after collecting 13 tackles against Salisbury.

Nelson has now tallied 425 career tackles, breaking the all-time Bombers’ record set by his brother Tre Nelson (413).

There’s no doubt that it will be a battle of what team’s skill players can make more plays come Friday night.

“On both sides, I think the focus is going to be where the playmakers are lined up. There is a lot of speed and guys that can make plays in space that will be in this game,” said Palmerton head coach Chris Walkowiak. “But over the years, this game has been decided by whatever team was more physical, so establishing physicality early on will be key.

“For us, we need to try and get out to a quick start. Too many times this season we’ve had to play from behind, and many times we’ve come back to tie games. I love our fight and our resiliency for being able to do that, but we need to do be able to dictate what we want to do and when you’re playing from behind a lot of the time you can’t achieve that.”

The future of these two programs is on the line in this one as well. Northern Lehigh is a team on the rise after going 0-10 two seasons ago, the Bulldogs went 5-5 last season and are looking to put together their first winning season since 2014. Northern Lehigh also lost five straight to the Bombers before defeating Palmerton 47-21 last season.

After qualifying for the District 11 2A championship in 2016 and 2017, but struggling over the past two seasons, the Bombers are looking for an upset victory over their rival to help them get back on track next season in a new league and divisional alignment that will see them playing schools their own size.

The past is always remembered in a rivalry, the present always offers the spoils of victory, and a win in this one could help build for the future for these two programs.