With just two weeks to go in the 2023 race for the Bob Ford Memorial Cup, two games separate Pat Matsinko and Rod Heckman from the leader, Brad Hurley. Will Matsinko get enough wins to unseat Hurley, who has been sitting on the king’s throne since Week One? Will Heckman pass Hurley at the wire and win his second Cup title in a row?

The other big news is Sam Matta nailed a perfect pick Week 10 at 15-0, a feat that’s not been accomplished this season by any member of the staff. Nice job, Sam!

Yours Truly at 14-1 jumped past TJ Engle and Emmett McCall into fourth place as I continue my climb from the Pundit Pit. McCall says nobody matters except whomever wins the Cup. True, “Bossman,” but I still hope to keep you in my rear view mirror!

Mike Haines also posted an excellent week at 14-1. At the bottom, it appears that Kyle Magda will finish in the Pit for the second year in a row, but give him credit for picking underdogs each week that unfortunately have not pulled him out of the Depths of Darkness.

Tigers roar, Bombers soar

In the long-awaited matchup of two unbeaten teams, Northwestern chewed up Southern Lehigh for dinner last Friday to keep its spot at the top of the District 11 3A playoff bracket.

Palmerton also finished its regular season at 10-0, with quarterback Matt Machalik becoming the only high school player in Pennsylvania football history to run for 5,000 yards and pass for 5,000 yards. It’s great to have two undefeated teams in our circulation area. Congratulations to coaches Josh Snyder and Chris Walkowiak - and to their teams.

Interesting rematches are on schedule in Week 11 for the first round of the D-11 playoffs. Northwestern hosts Lehighton, which was beaten handily by the Tigers in late September. Second-seeded Palmerton is home to Jim Thorpe. The Olympians held a 10-point lead over the Bombers late in the third quarter the first time they had met before Palmerton scored 20 points in the fourth quarter to win the game.

Tamaqua, - arguably the most improved team in our area over the course of the season - travels to North Schuylkill. The Spartans defeated the Raiders in early September. This is a better Tamaqua team now, but that said, only McCall likes the Raiders to pull off the upset.

Marian lost to Tri-Valley, but the Colts get a second chance to beat the Bulldogs and the consensus is that they will. Pleasant Valley meets Governor Mifflin in an Eastern Conference title game. Although the Mustangs are the majority pick here based on strength of schedule, they are playing their second game in four days - which is a difficult task in the game of football.

Out-of-Area Game of the Week

My choice is Emmaus at Freedom. The 5-5 Hornets have had an up-and-down season, and now get a second opportunity to defeat the 6-4 Patriots, who after a 1-4 start, have won five in a row. In their first matchup, Freedom came from behind in the second half to win 25-19, and are a slight staff favorite to beat the Hornets again in a toss-up game.

Week 12 will be key

Going into next week, the top three in the race for the Cup will remain the same and in order. Next week, Matsinko and Heckman will have to pick a few upsets if they hope to pick up at least two wins and/or tie or unseat Hurley at the top.

McCall is not waiting until then to try to reclaim fourth place. He has tabbed four winners against the staff majority this week, and I expect he’ll go for broke next week as well.

All the games are either unanimous or consensus picks for Week 11, with only the Emmaus-Freedom clash having a potentially big impact on the standings.

Next week’s games will most likely match up the higher seeds, so many of the outcomes will go either way. Expect several underdogs to get the nod by Heckman and Matsinko as they get one last chance to grab the gold away from Hurley.