Palmerton will try to extend its winning streak this Friday against Mahanoy Area.

Elsewhere, Northern Lehigh will look to build on last week’s victory to create more momentum as the regular season winds down, and Tamaqua hosts Jim Thorpe in a matchup of two area programs looking to bounce back after losses a week ago.

Mahanoy Area at Palmerton

When: Friday, Oct. 15 at 7 p.m.

Storyline of the Week

: Streaking Bombers look to win sixth consecutive game this week against the Bears

Palmerton (6-1) returns home this week after a long trek to Pine Grove that ended in a 51-7 victory over the Cardinals. It was the Bombers fifth straight win. Yet again, the Palmerton defense was able to generate a bevy of turnovers, as they forced three interceptions and a fumble in the first half against Pine Grove. The Bombers are an impressive (+11) in the turnover department. Matt Machalik came through with his third interception in the game, returning it 100 yards for a touchdown, his second interception returned for a touchdown this season. Mahanoy Area (2-5) will present somewhat of a different challenge with its triple option rushing attack this week. Ben Manley and Colm McGroarty are the main options in the Bears run game, as they combined for 190 yards on the ground a week ago against Schuylkill Haven in a 20-14 overtime win over the Hurricanes. On the flip side, Palmerton has been running the ball well as of late with Stephen Jones, Ty Sander, Machalik and others. Jones tallied 110 yards on just 11 carries against Pine Grove. The Bears showed they can be susceptible to a good rushing attack, giving up a combined 239 yards to Aiden Myers and Connor Goehring from Schuylkill Haven. Comparing the Hurricanes as a common opponent, Palmerton defeated Haven 56-20. Palmerton is also averaging 48.8 points per game during its winning streak, and has outscored its opponents 244-35 during its run. “Any time you go up against the triple options there are some concerns, because it’s not something you see very often. So, early on it’s important for us to come out and play physical and establish physicality in the trenches,” said Palmerton head coach Chris Walkowiak. “I like the way we’ve been running the football of late as well. I think our offensive line has done a nice job and is really starting to come together, as well as our runners. We’re just going to take what they give us. We need to execute, and one thing we’re focused on is getting off the field on third down to avoid their ability to control the clock with their run game.”

Players to Watch:

Daniel Lucykanish, Palmerton

Lucykanish had a touchdown reception of 41 yards last week and leads the team in receiving with 336 yards on 18 catches. He also has 151 yards rushing and three rushing touchdowns.

Ty Sander, Palmerton

Sander has been coming on as of late for Palmerton and is third on the team in rushing with 264 yards and two touchdowns.

Colm McGroarty, Mahanoy Area

McGroarty, who plays quarterback, rushed for 97 yards last week against Schuylkill Haven.

Jim Thorpe at Tamaqua

When: Friday, Oct. 15 at 7 p.m.

Storyline of the Week

: District 11 3A playoff positioning is on the line in this matchup as both teams look to bounce back after losses from a week ago.

Who can establish their run game, and who can take better care of the football, will determine the winner in this one. The Olympians (3-4) and Raiders (2-4) are both physical football teams that like to run it, so expect a lot of ground-and-pound this week. Warren Stewart looked good running the football for Tamaqua (122 yards) last week against Palisades, but the Raiders rush defense struggled, giving up 125 yards rushing and three touchdowns to Pirates’ running back Steven Lilly. Thorpe has been running the football well of late with Cameron Tinajero and a host of other players, but also struggled against the run last week against Northern Lehigh, allowing 273 yards on the ground. Tamaqua lost to Palisades 35-7, and Thorpe dropped a tough one to Northern Lehigh 27-17 in Week 6. “It has been tough and close ballgames between us for the last few years now. They have been getting the better of us in those close ones, but we know any time we face off with them it’s going to be a physical game,” said Tamaqua head coach Sam Bonner. “We need to come out and play that physical brand of football from the start, and we need to clean up some of our mistakes from last week. We missed some common sense assignments that hurt us. So, we will need to be better there this week.” Both the Olympians (-3) and Raiders (-4) have struggled to take care of the football this season. Jim Thorpe has turned it over frequently in all of its losses. The Olympians had three turnovers against the Bulldogs, and a few miscues with bad snaps in the game as well that led to the loss. Rushing touchdowns of 55 and 35 yards after those Thorpe miscues helped extend Northern Lehigh’s lead to double digits after the Olympians closed within three. “It’s always a tough game between us and Tamaqua, and it’s almost been like an extra rivalry game over the years. But for us, we need to try to come out and eliminate some of our turnovers and mistakes, and also giving up the big plays that have really just hurt us in big games this year,” said Jim Thorpe head coach Mark Rosenberger. “If you look back at all of our losses, self-inflicted mistakes have really been a problem. So, we need to come out and play fundamental and disciplined football this week.” The winner of this one will have a leg up on qualifying for the District 11 3A postseason. Jim Thorpe is currently ranked third, while Tamaqua is on the outside looking in at No. 5.

Players to Watch:

David Fiorito, Jim Thorpe

Fiorito has been a bright spot of late in the Olympians rushing attack. He is third on the team in rushing with 143 yards and one touchdown.

Steven Kostecky, Tamaqua

Kostecky has been a solid target in the Raiders passing game throughout the season. He ranks second on the team with 160 receiving yards, and leads the team in receiving scores with three.

Saucon Vy. at Lehighton

When: Friday, Oct. 15 at 7 p.m.

Storyline of the Week

: Can the Indians regroup after another tough loss?

Last week against Bangor, the Tribe took an early 7-0 lead, but as has been the case all season, mistakes and turnovers turned the direction of the score into what became a rout by the Slaters. The first-half blues have been an issue for Tom McCarroll’s team this year, as they have been outscored 203-77 before the intermission. Against Bangor they had no answer for their rushing attack, which produced 50 points with just two passes thrown. “We need to take a step back and work on becoming a better football team,” said McCarroll. “It’s been a combination of things that have limited out opportunity for success. After we scored against Bangor, a tipped pass was intercepted and then we tried a trick play and we got hit and fumbled the ball.” McCarroll explained that “the bounces of the ball” have been working against his team, and that has left his young squad with a struggling mindset. “We have to find a way to get through the adversity,” he said. “There’s no instruction manual for this. We just need to trust each other.” Regarding Saucon Valley, McCarroll sees a team that is much better than its 3-4 record. “They have a dynamic dual-threat quarterback,” said McCarroll. “He has an outstanding skill set. He’s physical, but he’s also elusive and he runs downhill.” Lehighton will put in a couple of defensive wrinkles to try to keep the Panthers from moving the chains. “We just have to stay positive, and if they answer one of our scores, we can’t get low and let negative emotion take us away from our focus,” he said.

Players to Watch:

Hunter Crum, Lehighton

Crum has scored exactly half of his team’s touchdowns through the first seven games, and continues to be the Indians’ go-to-guy in key down and distance situations.

Zach Miller, Lehighton

Miller has been a dependable running back, having gained 231 yards thus far while averaging nearly four yards a carry.

Dante Mahaffey, Saucon Valley

The senior quarterback has over 1,600 all purpose yards, and his running and passing prowess has led to 16 touchdowns for the Panthers this year.

Nativity at Marian

When: Friday, Oct. 15 at 7 p.m.

Storyline of the Week

: Plugging away

Veteran Marian head coach Stan Dakosty found plenty of positives despite last week’s 35-7 loss to Williams Valley. While he knows his team has much to improve on, Dakosty knows the squad also has a lot to build on. “We actually moved the ball fairly well until we got inside the 30-yard line,” Dakosty said. “We were inside the 35 five times, and couldn’t generate (anything). I thought we played some pretty decent defense for the most part, but they made some big plays on us and they’re a very good football team. We’re thinking long term with the program ... we’re building it from the bottom up. Our junior and senior classes that we have are fairly smaller classes, and we’re just trying to get better every week. We play another good football team this week. We only fumbled the ball once last week I believe, so we’re showing signs of improvement. The attitude of the kids has been great; they’re working hard at practice, and we’re excited about having three games left to play and trying to do our best.” Marian gave up 367 yards to Williams Valley last week. The Colts’ defense will now prepare for a Nativity (4-3) squad coming off a 42-17 loss to Tri Valley last week. The loss snapped a three-game winning streak for Nativity. The Hilltoppers have scored 199 points in seven games this season, but have also given up 198. “We’re playing some really good football teams,” said Dakosty. “Nativity’s got a senior-laden ballclub, like some of the other teams we’ve faced, so we’re going to have to play really well against them. But I look forward to going to practice every day, and we’re trying to build the program one step at a time. Obviously winning is the goal, and we want to get there. We’re trying hard to get into the win column, and try to move on from there.”

Players to Watch:

Cody Miller, Nativity

In a 36-27 win over Mahanoy earlier this season, Miller completed 8-of-11 pass attempts for 149 yards with three scores. He also ran the ball 18 times for 123 yards and two touchdowns. On defense, Miller also came away with an interception.

Luis Teron, Marian

Teron had a 50-yard kickoff return last week against Williams Valley that helped give the Colts good field position. Being able to make splash plays on special teams could help spark the offense.

Matt Martin, Marian

A 42-yard run by Martin helped the Colts get into the red zone Saturday against Williams Valley, but they were stopped on a fourth-and-one. Martin ran for 106 yards.

Pen Argyl at No. Lehigh

When: Friday, Oct. 15 at 7 p.m.

Storyline of the Week

: Tough D

Northern Lehigh’s defense allowed just one touchdown in Friday’s 27-17 win over Jim Thorpe after surrendering 673 yards to North Schuylkill the previous week. “We definitely took it to heart the amount of yardage we gave up at North Schuylkill,” said Bulldogs’ head coach Joe Tout. “And we’re not the only team to do that; they’re a juggernaut right now, especially offensively. But defensively, we made that a big point of emphasis, just the understanding that if you’re going to win games in November, you have to be a complete team. We don’t want to get into shootouts. We put our defense in some bad positions as well Friday, so I thought overall defensively we played very well. Austin Smyth at defensive end, he had probably his best game for us. Jim Thorpe would line up unbalanced in certain sets, so we took a little different approach, we went to a 5-2 defense, and started putting Matt Frame at nose, and he disrupted a lot there. We also kept him at backer in that set. They didn’t run it a whole lot after that initially, so I don’t know if it was us disrupting it, or if they thought there were other things they wanted to do. And Brett Misera had two interceptions, that was big because we were worried with the amount of counters that they ran. If we can force teams to pass, or throw more, with our athleticism we feel we’re going to get turnovers.” Tout also noted the squad is focusing on special teams this week, limiting the type of big plays that allowed Jim Thorpe get back into the game last week. Offensively, finished with 273 yards on the ground against Thorpe. The challenge this week is a Pen Argyl (0-7) team that narrowly missed out on its first win a week ago, falling 28-26 to Salisbury. “The films that we have on them, I think they’ve kind of been looking for an identity offensively,” said Tout. “Early on in the year, they were in a lot of empty sets. Now, they’ve kind of gone back to a two-by-two, with a back in the backfield running it a little bit more. But they spread it. I think they have multiple receivers with 20 catches. So we feel like our strength is our secondary, so we feel like that’s something we feel pretty good about heading into this. But we’re telling our guys not to be overconfident; don’t let a player beat us on a route.”

Players to Watch:

Cole Dorshimer, Pen Argyl

Dorshimer completed 16-of-28 pass attempts for 228 yards and three scores with one interception last week against Salisbury. Dorshimer also added 28 yards rushing on 11 carries.

Damian Tyminski, Pen Argyl

The sophomore was Dorshimer’s favorite target against the Falcons, hauling in eight passes for 175 yards and two scores.

Matt Frame, Northern Lehigh

Frame finished last week’s win over Jim Thorpe with 120 yards rushing and a touchdown, while also delivering key blocks to open up lanes for his teammates.

Panther Valley at Tri-Valley

When: Friday, Oct. 15 at 7 p.m.

Storyline of the Week

: The Panthers look to build upon their improvement from last week.

Last Friday against Shenandoah Valley, Panther Valley led 7-6 at the half, 14-12 after three quarters and 21-20 late in the fourth quarter before dropping its fifth straight game of the season. It was a disappointing loss, but coach Rick Jones has no concerns about the unyielding character of his team. “We made a lot of mistakes, and let the game slip away,” he said, “but the effort was there. Our players are resilient, and they know we expect a lot from them. They’re just not disciplined and focused enough, and that’s why we have so many mental lapses.” The other major issue is the youth and inexperience the Panthers have. “When you have to play 14-year-olds against older players, it’s great our kids are getting experience,” he said, “but at the same time, it’s tough to maintain a high level of competitiveness.” The one area the Black and Gold have done very well in this season is getting pressure on opposing quarterbacks. “We have 13 or 14 sacks,” said Jones. Yet, as the losses continue, Jones praised his players who show up every week and leave it all on the practice field. “I’m a strict coach,” he said, “but I’m not a hard coach to play for.” This week PV travels to Hegins to take on the 5-1 Bulldogs from Tri-Valley. “They have had a traditionally solid program there since the 1980s,” said Jones. “They play aggressive football. They will be quick and athletic.” Jones will preach to his team to stay focused, and build on the efforts they gave against Shenandoah. “Right now, I just would like to see our kids have some success for themselves,” Jones said.

Players to Watch:

Rich Zabroski, Panther Valley

Jones praised the play of Zabroski, who has had to play three different positions on the offensive line this season, describing his performance as “solid” every single week.

Riley Hoben, Panther Valley

Another player Jones compliments who never comes off the field is Hoben, who gives a great effort on every play and has been consistent each week from his offensive guard and defensive end positions.

Kameron Wetzel, Tri-Valley

The junior running back is a breakaway threat. He has rushed for 350 yards, six touchdowns, and is averaging nine yards a carry.

Pleasant Valley at Freedom

When: Friday, Oct. 15 at 7 p.m.

Storyline of the Week

: Pleasant Valley continues tough part of schedule

After facing an undefeated Northampton team last week, the Pleasant Valley Bears are up against another Lehigh Valley powerhouse in Freedom this Friday. PV hung with Northampton for three quarters of last week’s contest before the Konkrete Kids blew the game wide open in the fourth. The Bears fell to 4-2 with the 35-12 loss and now face Freedom, who lost to Emmaus and Parkland so far this season. “We’re trying our best to approach it like any other game,” PV head coach Blaec Saeger said. “This is a very good team, and a very large school. It’s one of the best, if not the best team down there and we do know that. We’re going down there with a purpose, and throw everything we got at them. We’re not going down there just to roll over and do our best. We’ll play the best game we can, and we’ll see where the chips fall at the end.” The Northampton loss had the team down, but they wasted no time in bouncing back for this week’s matchup. “It was a tough loss Friday, but they bounced back,” Saeger said. They’re a very resilient group. Once Monday hits, it’s back to work, win or lose. They’re great that way. You wouldn’t know if we won or lost on Monday, which is the way it’s supposed to be. They’re ready to go and see what we can do with Freedom.” Freedom won 41-12 over Whitehall last week and improved to 5-2 on the season. Pleasant Valley has to keep an eye on the Brian Taylor-Owen Johnson connection come game time. Taylor found Johnson for 61 yards and a touchdown last week. Along with his passing, Taylor also is a threat in the running game, and also rushed for a touchdown against Whitehall. Pleasant Valley has a tough task come Friday night, and Saeger said it will take a perfect game for the Bears. “Our execution is going to have to be absolutely flawless,” Saeger said. “We’re going to have to win the turnover battle and frankly, we’re going to have to get some luck on our side. I have amazing kids. They are tough as nails, and they don’t back down from anybody. I have no doubt about that one. There’s no fear in those kids.”

Players to Watch:

Robert Papaleo, Pleasant Valley

Papaleo continues to pile on his season rushing total after a 67-yard game against Northampton. The senior quarterback has another tough challenge in Freedom, but he’s not nervous and is ready to go against the Lehigh Valley powerhouse.

Brian Taylor, Freedom

Taylor had a rushing touchdown and two passing touchdowns last week against Whitehall, and expect the quarterback to be good on the both the ground and through the air to take Freedom down the field. He’ll also find his targets for big plays, so Pleasant Valley has to expect the deep ball.

Owen Johnson, Freedom

Johnson caught two passes for 61 yards and a touchdown last week, and is one of Freedom’s biggest threats at wide receiver. The Pleasant Valley secondary has to be ready for the junior wideout, and can’t allow any big plays.

Capsules by Rich Strack, Brad Hurley, Kyle Magda and Patrick Matsinko.