It seems like just yesterday that high school football teams were going through two-a-day preseason practices and holding media days in preparation for the 2022 season.

It doesn’t seem possible, but tomorrow night the regular season will come to an end for all nine schools in the Times News coverage area.

The season has been filled with a little bit of everything. We have seen blowouts and nail-biters; offensive shootouts and defensive battles; fantastic finishes and heartbreaking endings. We’ve witnessed outstanding individual performances, and great team wins. We’ve been able to celebrate heroes, and sympathize with high school athletes who have given their all only to fall short.

Tomorrow night, the players, coaches, cheerleaders and bands will get another chance to perform under the “Friday Night Lights.”

For some, it will be the last game of their season. For others, postseason football awaits.

But even the most successful teams know that the finish line for the 2022 season is approaching quickly. The first postseason loss means the last game of their season.

While our Overtime column regularly highlights the student-athletes who make our fall weekends so enjoyable, we thought the last regular season weekend would be a good time to highlight an unsung group who help fans enjoy and follow what’s happening on the field. It’s a group of people that those in the media are familiar with and appreciate - but that a majority of fans know only by voice and not by name, and know by what they do without ever knowing who’s doing it.

This week’s Overtime shout out goes to the public address announcers and the scoreboard operators. They are the men and women who sit in the press box and tell you who carried the ball and who made the tackle. They are the ones who start and stop the clock, and update the down, yard-line, and game score. They are people who most fans don’t realize how much they rely on to help them enjoy the game.

As a writer who covers games from the press box, I’ve had a chance to work with the game-day press box crews at all the area stadiums throughout the years - and my appreciation for what they do and how they do it is enormous.

It doesn’t take long to figure out that the people who work the games love what they are doing.

This year, I’ve covered several Tamaqua home football games and have gotten to know Blue Raider announcer Josh Holmberg, his son and spotter Ryder Holmberg, and scoreboard operator Dave Mace very well. You can’t help but notice how much they enjoy their work and the amount of pride they take in it.

Josh doesn’t only announce the ball carrier, but he makes sure to mention everyone involved in the tackle - and he doesn’t only do it for Tamaqua players, he’s just as detailed in announcing the runs and tackles for the opposition. Meanwhile, Dave is a human calculator, instantly updating the down and distance on the scoreboard while announcing the yardage gained on the play to the rest of the press box.

But their combination of professionalism and humor - the press box can be an entertaining venue to watch a game - is the norm, and not the exception when it comes to area football.

Northern Lehigh Athletic Director Bryan Geist probably speaks for all his colleagues when he said, “The press box is a vital piece of every game. In football, their role is essential to get the game started on time, and to relaying important information to officials, coaches, players and fans.”

I reached out to area athletic directors this week to get their game-day press box crews. This will allow fans to put a name with the voice announcing their favorite team’s games, and also have an appreciation for the person changing the numbers on the scoreboard.

JIM THORPE - Andy Yurchak (announcer); Amanda Listopad (scoreboard).

LEHIGHTON - Kevin O’Donnell (announcer); John Lopata (scoreboard).

MARIAN - Christian Smith (announcer); Bernard Bruni (scoreboard).

NORTHERN LEHIGH - Jason Reinhard (announcer); Steve “Cheech” Martinez and Chris Bennett (scoreboard).

NORTHWESTERN - Eric Haas (announcer); Eric Schellhamer (scoreboard).

PALMERTON - Bill Zeky (announcer); Tom Smelas and John Hrebik (scoreboard).

PANTHER VALLEY - Rich Evanko (announcer); Rich Gilbert (scoreboard).

TAMAQUA - Josh Holmberg (announcer); Dave Mace (scoreboard).

A common theme I discovered is that the people doing the games have for the most part done them for a long time.

Panther Valley’s Gilbert is the dean of area press box crews. He has been handling the scoreboard at PV for over four decades, having started in 1980.

But Gilbert isn’t alone when it comes to long-time service, Lehighton’s O’Donnell and Lopata have been both been doing it for about 10 years; Northern Lehigh’s Reinhart has been announcing games for close to a decade, with Bennett and Martinez having been handling the Bulldogs’ scoreboard for 11 and 17 years respectively; Northwestern’s Haas and Schellhamer have been part of the game-day staff for about 15 and 20 years respectively; Palmerton’s Smelas has been on the Bomber scoreboard team for over 20 years; and Jim Thorpe’s Yurchak and Listopad have the longest combined time in the pressbox with 30-plus and 20-plus years, respectively.

The longevity of the individuals in their roles, along with the connections most have to their schools - Tamaqua’s Holmberg and Marian’s Smith were former football players at their schools, while Lehighton’s O’Donnell took over after his father did it for decades previously - combine to make Friday nights a little easier on athletic directors.

The sense of pride all the area ADs have in the press box crews was summarized perfectly by Geist in his comments about the staff at Northern Lehigh.

“The press box crew we have here round out a great game-day help staff that makes Northern Lehigh one of the best places in the area to watch a football game,” he said.

There’s no doubt that at Jim Thorpe, Lehighton, Marian, Northwestern, Palmerton, Panther Valley, Pleasant Valley and Tamaqua they feel the exact same way about their staff.

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MULTIPLE WINNERS ... Last Friday, Lehighton picked up its second win of the season when it defeated Saucon Valley.

The significance of that is the fact that all nine Times News area football teams now have at least two wins this season.

Over the past 50 seasons, this marks the 12th time each area club has had multiple wins (the other years include 2016, 2015, 2013, 2007, 2005, 2004, 2000, 1991, 1979, 1977 and 1973).

In those 50 seasons, there has only been one time - 2007 - when every TN team had at least three victories.

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FIELD-GOAL DROUGHT ... In that Lehighton victory on Friday, Indians kicker AJ Light booted a 22-yard field goal.

While it was Light’s second three-pointer of the season, it marked only the third FG overall by area teams. Beside Light, the only other area field goal was kicked by Palmerton’s Sam Perloni.

While there are still games to be played, if no other field goals are kicked, it will mark the fewest since 1991 when there were also three kicked. Two of those were kicked by Tamaqua’s Mike Coleman, while the other one came off the foot of Pleasant Valley’s Adam Sennick.

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END-ZONE RETURN ... Northwestern’s Cade Christopher and Palmerton’s Daniel Lucykanish both reached the end zone in victories last Friday.

The two are the only area players to have scored at least one touchdown in each one of their team’s games this season.

Lucykanish has a streak of 10 straight games with a TD, having scored in the final game of the 2021 season, while Christopher upped his consecutive game streak with at least one touchdown to an impressive mark of 18.

The streak by Christopher is the longest by an area player since Lehighton’s Wyatt Clements also scored touchdowns in 18 straight games, which included the last six of the 2015 campaign, and all 12 games of the 2016 season.

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THREE AMIGOS ... Palmerton’s trio of Daniel Lucykanish, Kendall Robinson and Dalton Drake recently accomplished something that has never been done in the Times News area.

The three have all eclipsed 500 yards receiving this season, which is the only time three players from the same team have reached that mark.

Over the past 30 years, there have only been 10 other occasions where two teammates have recorded 500-yard receiving seasons. They include Tamaqua four times (Nate Boyle and Matt Kistler in 2018; Nate Boyle and Casey Rother in 2017; Anthony Bumbulsky and Caleb Shilko in 2008; Vince Boyer and Noel Powell in 1998), Pleasant Valley twice (Andrew Romeo and Sekou Jones in 2012; Rich Irving and Rob Getz in 2010), Jim Thorpe twice (Don Evans and Michael Cody in 2000; Gabe Robinson and Don Evans in 1999) and Panther Valley twice (Fenton Black and Brad Miller in both 1991 and 1992).