Palmerton’s T.K. Gursky has thrown 19 touchdown passes already this season, including six in last Saturday’s win against Salisbury.

But according to his head coach, some of his best throws this season haven’t ended up in the end zone. In fact, they haven’t even landed in a teammates’ hands.

“Some of his best throws, I tease him about this, have been the ones he’s thrown away, instead of taking a sack,” said Palmerton mentor Chris Walkowiak.

“This past week I told him I was really proud of him because he slid. He plays with a linebacker mentality and when he picked up a first down near the end of the game ... he slid, and he didn’t take the hit.”

While those occurrences don’t wow fans or create highlight films, they do show maturity and the growth the junior has gained up to this point in his career.

“He has a great football IQ,” added Walkowiak. “He sees the field very well. When he’s scrambling this year, compared to last year, he’s keeping his eyes downfield where last year it was just, ‘I’m taking off.’ He’s just been doing a tremendous job in managing the game and spreading the ball around, and taking what people give us, which means the underneath ball which then opens the deeper ball. Last year he was younger and it was like, ‘Let’s go deep, let’s go deep.’ And that always didn’t work out.

“He does what we ask him to do. And he’s done that for six weeks straight right now. He’s got great composure and confidence, which the kids definitely feed off. You could see they trust what he’s going to do and make the right decisions.”

Against the Falcons, those decisions resulted in a memorable performance. The Blue Bomber signal-caller hit on 17 of his 25 attempts for a career-high 271 yards and the six scores — to five different receivers — during a 42-7 win. The six TD passes tied a school record, which Matt Machalik set four years ago. It also earned him the Times News Football Player of the Week.

“When I sit back and see the stats, I don’t think it’s real half the time,” said Gursky. “It was mostly a group effort (on Saturday). I put the ball in the guys’ hands and they did their thing.

“I definitely think I’ve stepped it up this year. I was definitely focused during the offseason and put a lot of work in to get the starting job, and ever since I got the starting job I haven’t looked back.”

As a sophomore, Gursky split the quarterback position with TJ Weller but won the job at the start of this year after putting in tons of work, especially improving his footwork.

“T.K. over the summer had a very good offseason, and going into the season he was our starter,” said Walkowiak. “We named him the starter and he just ran with it. He’s extremely coachable. He’s got a good grasp for the game and ... on the fly he can make adjustments which really helps, especially at the quarterback position.

“That’s where his growth has definitely shown this year. It’s not just turn my head this one way and throw it. He looks, he reads the coverages ... and if it’s not there he knows to take it and go a different way.”

Gursky’s ability to be flexible lends itself to the Palmerton offense. The team doesn’t rely on a specific plan, but instead adapts to what is done on the opposite side of the line of scrimmage.

“Everything is always what the defense gives us,” said Walkowiak. “Look at the week before and we threw the ball five times ... The game plan was to take what they’re giving us, and see what was working. And our air game definitely was working (on Saturday).

“T.K. was making a lot of good plays, spreading the ball around to a bunch of different receivers ... He just continues to evolve at quarterback in terms of his football savvy. That’s what I really love about him, he’s a linebacker mentality kid at quarterback, so I love that grit about him.”

While his passing numbers have been impressive (nearly 1,000 yards with a 61 percent completion rate and no interceptions in 100 attempts), Gursky also isn’t afraid to tuck the ball and go.

He’s picked up 177 yards on the ground, and scored four times.

“If I can run the ball and put my shoulder down to get the first down, I’m going to do it,” said Gursky. “I love running the ball, it’s one of my favorite things. If I need to run, I’ll run it for us.”

All that he’s done has helped the team start the year with a 6-0 record, which matches the amount of wins the Bombers have had the past two years combined.

“It feels great,” said Gursky. “This offseason, we had 85 percent of people there, putting in the work. (The 6-0 record) is nothing that I’m surprised about. It’s guys coming in, younger guys stepping up, older guys filling their role like they should be.”

Gursky has definitely filled his role and then some, and it’ll be interesting to see his final numbers at the end of the year.

That, however, can wait according to his coach.

“We’ll talk about them at the end of the year, where his stats are,” said Walkowiak. “Right now, we’re just asking him to manage football games and continue to lead the offense.

“At the end of the year, I’m sure he’ll get recognized for what he’s been doing but all I know in his heart and my talks to the guys is just get better every single day and go 1-0 each and every week.”