PEN ARGYL — Two years.

Two state champions.

It’s safe to say the Colonial League has earned plenty of respect across the Commonwealth.

A couple seasons ago, Northwestern captured gold at the state level while last year Southern Lehigh carried the league banner on its way to a PIAA title.

Other clubs also enjoyed success, earning postseason wins, while those without winning records remained scrappy and gave the upper echelon teams fits at times.

The 2026 season is just days away, and while the league has gone through some changes — the merger with the Schuylkill area squads is no longer — expectations remain high for another campaign filled with success.

“I’ve said it, and I’m not afraid to say it on record, the Colonial is one of the best if not the best smaller school leagues in the state of Pennsylvania,” said Palmerton head coach Chris Walkowiak at Wednesday’s annual Colonial League Media Day at Pen Argyl High School. “All you have to do is look at the record of the teams that have been to the state playoffs and winning state championships.

“Each and every week you’re going to play a tough game. It doesn’t matter your record, you’re going to get a hard-fought game. We experienced it when we had that great run a few years back. Each and every week everybody had a bullseye on our back. Last year, we didn’t have the greatest record, but every week we were competitive and we gave everything we had.”

While the Tigers didn’t earn a second straight state championship, they did return to the title game. It marked the third straight season they played for a PIAA crown.

“That class had a great record overall, and going to three state championship games is just insane,” said Brady Zimmerman, a senior on this year’s Northwestern team. “We know we have to take it week by week, but our main goal is to just win each week.

“It’s senior year now and we’re just looking to continue the legacy here. I feel like there is pressure (to do that), but I also feel that we don’t feel it at all. Our coaches preach to us we just have to win each week. We have to go 1-0 each week and that’s our goal.”

Setting goals is common this time of the year, when every club enters at 0-0.

“Our expectations are obviously high, not just the players but the coaches and community too,” said Northern Lehigh senior Chase Gall. “A lot of people know the names in the organization and we expect nothing less than a district championship. Obviously, there’s some pressure but with pressure there’s privilege.

“Obviously we want to be here because we love the game of football, and we’re ready to put everything we’ve got into it, especially all of us as seniors. Everybody’s excited and ready to go.”

Bulldog assistant coach Justin Smoyer, who has helped coached the current seniors since they’ve been in kindergarten, echoes Gall.

“This senior group has done a lot of winning through the years,” he said. “I think they’re ready to go. We’re very excited. We have a good looking group this year. A lot of returning players, a couple four-year starters, a lot of three-year starters. We didn’t like the way last year ended, it was kind of disappointing. The guys are reinvigorated. Our practices are up-tempo and there’s good energy every day.

“They do a lot of work in the offseason. Every offseason, we take the guys to some indoor facilities and they work on their reps. We rent out a turf facility and they work on timing, route running and throwing. So, there’s never a dull moment during offseason activities.”

Every team has some form of offseason workouts to prepare for the upcoming year. Those workouts can mean the difference between winning and losing during the year.

“I’m sure a lot of teams go through the same stuff. They all have offseason workouts,” said Lehighton senior Lukas Croizier. “We had an impressive group this year, a lot of impressive numbers in the weight room. Hopefully that can translate to the field and if it does, we should have a lot of success.”

The Indians nearly beat last year’s state champs in Southern Lehigh, falling by a single point. It’s proof how tough a league game can be no matter the week.

“We competed with Southern Lehigh last year,” added Croizier. “Hopefully we can do the same this year and this year get a W. That would put us on the map and get us some respect. (Southern Lehigh and Northwestern) are teams going in that you know are going to be a dogfight and if you want to win, you have to play your best game. That’s what we expect this year. We have to be consistent and play our best game every game.”

While winning is the goal of every team, and Northwestern has done plenty of that over the past three years posting a combined mark of 46-2, it’s not the only thing its head coach — Josh Snyder — strives to accomplish.

“I’m excited for every season to start,” said Snyder. “I just enjoy watching kids graduate, seeing members of our team go on to college and be successful. But I also love the new batch coming in and taking on that senior leadership role ... seeing the maturity level that continues to come through and help them to develop into great human beings, and using football to do it is a phenomenal tool. I get excited this time every year for that.”

That being said, Snyder is also hopeful to maintain the school’s winning tradition.

“That’s something when you get yourself to a position like this after years and years and you’ve been able to sustain it, that’s where you want to stay,” he said. “There’s only one way to get there, and that’s through extremely hard work, dedication, commitment, playing together, putting team before yourself. It’s a lot of cliché things, but those things are true. When you can get a group like that, you feel like you’re on the right path.”

Palmerton senior Jacob Walkowiak feels like the group he’ll be playing with has some of those intangibles that are crucial to positive results.

“I think we built a great team chemistry in the offseason by hanging out with each other and becoming friends in and out of school,” he said. “I feel like our defense is going to be strong this year. I think we have a chance to be a lights-out defense. I’m looking forward to seeing us working together as a unit.

“It’s always one of best times of the year, probably the second best next to Christmas.”

Similar to Christmastime, when there’s a different feel in the air, Lehighton head coach Tom McCarroll senses something different about his squad.

“The last two years we were 4-6 and 5-5 in the regular season,” said McCarroll. “But I think it’s that time, we’re ready to break into not just a 6-4 mark but I think we have the potential to be better than that ... It’s been building with these kids the last three years. It’s almost like a culmination ... It’s just a different feel. The feel is it’s that time.

“We’ve grown mentally over the years. We’re going to miss the heck out of the kids that are gone and they’re going to be hard to replace, but the pieces we have returning — we have our entire offensive line back — that’s a great starting point.”

Jim Thorpe also will be missing some of its key players from a year ago — including its record-setting quarterback — but the torch always gets passed on to the next group of leaders.

“We definitely lost four outstanding football players from last year’s senior class, so it’s going to be hard to replace those guys,” said longtime Olympian mentor Mark Rosenberger. “Fortunately we have a lot of young men who got a lot of experience last year, and their growth has been really tremendous over the summer.

“We’re very fortunate to have (our captains). But it’s not just them. We speak to the kids all the time that just because you’re not a captain doesn’t mean you’re not a leader. Everybody has to lead by some manner ... for us to be successful.”

One of those captains, Gavin Baker, is taking personally taking that role to heart.

“I’m pretty stoked,” he said. “I’ve been waiting all these years to be a senior and now it’s finally here. As a team, we want to win more games and bring that defensive spirit here that we had before. But individually I want to be there to lead my team and show them how to play ball because we have so many young kids. I want to teach them how to be mentally strong.”