Following a 14-1 grid picks Week Seven, Sam Matta took the biggest jump in the standings, rising from next to last to fourth place in the race for the Bob Ford Memorial trophy.

“I have no rhyme or reason how I select winners,” he said, “but I do research and I check a team’s defensive scores because defense wins more times. It’s a crap shoot trying to find upsets. That’s my magic potion. I never take my picks too seriously, but what we all do does make for a lot of controversy.”

At the top, Brad Hurley gained a game on Rod Heckman and is just one behind the defending champion. TJ Engle remains two games back. After the top three, we chasers are falling fast. Despite his great week, Matta is five off the pace. Carlucci is six back and Yours Truly dropped to seven out of first place all the way down to Mike Haines who sits in the Pundit Pit, 10 games back of Heckman.

Winning seasons on the line in the home stretch

Our nine area football teams continue to rack up the victories. Through seven weeks, they have a combined won-loss record of 40-23. Northwestern remains unbeaten. Palmerton has one loss. Northern Lehigh and Lehighton have lost twice. Marian and Jim Thorpe are 4-3. Panther Valley, Pleasant Valley and Tamaqua are just one game under .500, so it is conceivable that all nine teams could finish their seasons with winning records.

This week, three games match the locals against each other. Panther Valley plays Tamaqua. Both have 3-4 records so only one will come away with an even won-loss mark. Jim Thorpe hosts Lehighton in the battle for the Route 209 trophy, and both teams are having good seasons. Lehighton leads the series 19-11, and has won the last two against the Olympians, but JT is coming off a solid win over Northern Lehigh and will be primed to battle the Tribe.

Another local team playing a rivalry game is Pleasant Valley vs Pocono Mountain East, and the victor will lift the Ol’ Oaken Bucket after the final horn sounds. East has won the last two. The Bears’ 3-4 record is deceiving. They have lost three games by 14 total points, and have been averaging over 30 points in their seven contests.

Out of Area Game of the Week

With many good choices in the matchups for Week Eight, the one game that stands out for me is Southern Lehigh at Notre Dame-Green Pond. Both the Spartans and the Crusaders are 7-0, and winning by big scores every week. Southern Lehigh has scored 317 points (45 point average). NDGP has put up 356 points (51 points per game). The Spartans have given up 55 points all season (8 points per game) with four shutouts. The Crusaders have allowed 48 points all season (7 ppg). Solehi is led by all-state nominee quarterback Colton Sams, who has thrown for 1,400 yards and 20 touchdowns. His favorite target is Otto Young, who has 41 catches with seven TDs. Junior Crusader QB Tommy Murphy has over 1,700 passing yards and 27 touchdowns.

Something will be a key factor in who wins this game that could end in a basketball score. I give Southern Lehigh the nod due to their better strength of schedule, which includes wins over Blue Mountain and Lehighton. Spartans 44, Crusaders 34.

Rolling the dice

With only five more weeks left in the race, it appears right now that unless those back in the pack can string together a few “Sam Matta” type weeks, Heckman, Hurley and Engle will pull away and leave seven of us choking on their dust.

It’s time to make a risky all-or-nothing move, and I’ll start with Yours Truly. I have five different winners picked than Heckman, four different than Hurley. I’m seven games out, so Week Eight will either lift me nearer to the frontrunners or drop me spiraling toward the Pundit Pit. Only four games come off the board as unanimous picks, so another shuffle in the standings is pretty much a guarantee.

The toss-up games are right here in our backyard with Lehighton at Jim Thorpe, and Northern Lehigh versus Palmerton, with our picks right down the middle. Other key matchups are Tri-Valley, a slight favorite over Schuylkill Haven and East Stroudburg South, a narrow pick over Pocono Moutain West.

I’m rolling my dice on a few teams I have seen this year. I’m going with 4-3 Jim Thorpe, a team on the rise, to beat a very good 5-2 Lehighton Indians team with a late-game score. I like Pleasant Valley, who scores a lot of points with multi-talented Chris Ward taking wildcat snaps to hoist the bucket against PM East. I’ll be covering the 5-2 Northern Lehigh Bulldogs against the 6-1 Palmerton Blue Bombers tonight. This matchup has no clear favorite, with both teams coming off one-sided losses. My crystal ball, that’s been cloudy all season long, says the home team Bombers hang on to defeat the Dawgs.

October football is at its best. The outcomes might separate the front-running pickers from the rest. Look for late-game rallies to make the games great in this pivotal Week No. 8.