Raise your hand if you thought the 2020 high school football season would ever get to the point where teams would play postseason games.

We’re guessing not many hands are being raised.

Because in reality, the chances of having a season at all - much less one that produced playoff games - was very much in doubt just two short months ago.

The start of the season was delayed as the PIAA and Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Wolf took turns issuing statements and holding meetings that were initiated because of COVID-19 concerns.

The resulting back-and-forth left schools, coaches and players wondering if there was going to be a fall sports season in the state.

Even after the PIAA announced that football teams could begin practice on Aug. 24 - two weeks later than the initial start date - and play their first games on Sept. 11, some individual school districts delayed their starts even further.

Eventually, however, every school in District 11 that has a football program was able to start its season.

“It’s been great to see the kids have the opportunity to play,” said District 11 Football Chairman and Northwestern High School Athletic Director Jason Zimmerman. “As much as we pushed for the season to start and give us a chance, I’m not sure anyone thought we would have made it this far.

“Although there were a few speed bumps along the way, all-in-all our school safety plans handled the issues, and schools adjusted and worked together to help each other out.”

There have definitely been some speed bumps along the way.

• Pleasant Valley had to delay its targeted start date of Oct. 2 by two weeks due to COVID-19 cases in the high school.

• Northwestern had to cancel a midseason game because of a COVID-19 case involving a member of the team.

• Even though Tamaqua was able to play a full eight-game schedule, it wasn’t without some issues as athletic director Mike Hromyak had to find a replacement for Tri-Valley in Week 3, and then for North Schuylkill last week.

• There have also been a number of canceled games during the past two months involving District 11 teams not in the Times News coverage area.

Despite all of that, however, there have been a lot less problems than had been anticipated.

Five area schools - Jim Thorpe, Lehighton, Marian, Panther Valley and Tamaqua - will be playing their eighth regular season game this weekend; Northwestern will be playing game number seven; Palmerton and Northern Lehigh will be playing their sixth game; and Pleasant Valley its third.

And although many athletic directors have said during the course of this season that they are taking the season on a week-by-week basis and not looking ahead, it does appear as if a week from tomorrow the District 11 playoffs will get underway.

A total of 36 teams will be involved across six classes. It will take 30 playoff games to decide the champions.

Heading into this week, Northern Lehigh (2A), Jim Thorpe (3A) and Northwestern (4A) have already clinched D-11 berths, and none of the nine area teams have officially been eliminated. If the playoffs started today, Palmerton and Panther Valley would also be in the 2A playoff field, Tamaqua would be in 3A, and Lehighton would be in 4A. Only Marian (1A) and Pleasant Valley (6A) are currently outside looking in as far as postseason play is concerned.

There will, however, be some differences with the district playoffs this season:

• The District 11 champ will not advance to the PIAA state playoffs.

• More games will be played on the home field on one of the teams than at neutral sites.

• The crowds will be smaller, as stadium capacity will continue to be limited.

• There are also COVID-19 rules in place, allowing any team having virus issues to play the game no later than Monday following its scheduled date, or it will have to forfeit.

Despite the differences, the bottom line is it appears as if there will be District 11 playoffs, which is a victory for the players, coaches, administrators and everyone else involved with football in the district.

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LOU ON THE LOOSE ... Panther Valley’s Lou Clouser continues to be the area’s leading rusher, adding to his total with a 248-yard performance Saturday against Shenandoah.

Clouser registered the most yards rushing by a Panther player since Oct. 4, 2002 (184 games ago) when John Koehler had 257 against Mahanoy Area during a 20-0 victory.

The senior running back is looking to become the school’s first 1,000-yard rusher in a season since 2013, when PV had two of them (Kyle Ferryman and Richard Nase).

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NORTHERN LEHIGH HAT TRICK ... Northern Lehigh’s rushing attack paved the way for a 56-27 win over Salisbury Friday.

The Bulldogs collected 519 yards on the ground, with three of their players going over the 100-yard mark. Matt Frame finished with 211, while Mike Repsher collected 144 and Joe Abidelli ended with 107.

The last time Nolehi had a trio of backs all go over 100 yards in the same game was Sept. 29, 2006 (155 games ago) during a 32-7 win over Notre Dame. In that contest, the Bulldogs were led by the rushing of Justin Bayda (130 yards), Adam Hluschak (114) and Andrew Arnold (104).

Also on Friday, Repsher took a punt and returned it 65 yards to the house. That marked the first punt return for a TD by a Bulldog since Oct. 21, 2011 when Dylan Hofmann got free for a 72-yard return against Bangor.

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JIM THORPE RARITIES ... A couple of things happened in Jim Thorpe’s game against Pottsville that Olympian fans aren’t used to seeing.

Mark Rosenberger’s club finished with 11 points in their loss to the Crimson Tide. That ending score isn’t that common, as it took a field goal along with a touchdown and two-point conversion to reach that figure.

The last time Thorpe ended a game with 11 points was Sept. 4, 1993 (294 games ago) when it dropped an 18-11 decision to Minersville.

Also in the loss to Pottsville, Chris Condly got the Olympians on the board first by kicking a 35-yard field goal. The last time Jim Thorpe held a 3-0 lead in a football game was Sept. 18, 1987, or 359 games ago. In that game, an Alan Guth 32-yard field goal accounted for the game’s only points as Thorpe edged Saint Clair by that 3-0 score.

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INDIANS ON THE GROUND ... Lehighton’s JJ McDowell had a huge games last Friday, leading the Indians to a 28-20 win over Pine Grove.

This week’s Player of the Week ran for 253 yards and three touchdowns.

Since 1988 (when the Times News started running individual statistics), Lehighton has had more players rush for 250 yards-or-more in a game than any other area team.

A total of nine backs have reached that plateau, with McDowell joining Taquan Bradley-Chambers, Robbie Frey, Joe Semanoff, Cody Scherer, Vinnine Andrews, Dave Muffley, Jacen Nalesnik and Todd Wolfe.

Closest to Lehighton is Tamaqua with six, while Northern Lehigh is next with five.

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BOMBERS’ LONG TD PASS ... Palmerton freshman quarterback Matt Machalik threw three touchdown passes against Palisades during a 30-20 loss last Friday. His first one, which tied the game at 7-7, was a 91-yarder to Ethan Recker.

The last time the Blue Bombers had a scoring pass of 90 yards or more came on Sept. 22, 2000 (212 games ago), when they had a 95-yarder against Southern Lehigh. That TD pass was thrown by Craig Steigerwalt and caught by Kyle Versuk.

Since 1996, there have been a total of nine touchdown passes of 90 or more yards among area teams. The longest is a 99-yarder by Jim Thorpe in the 1998 season.