The high school football season is back.

And it started with a bang last Friday night.

There were a number of outstanding individual performances, impressive comebacks and thrilling moments to open the 2026 campaign.

Because of those, this week’s Grid Glance will feature notes and interesting stats revolving around those games.

These notes are reminiscent to the Scholastic Spotlight that ran years ago, and the tidbits that accompanied the Overtime column from previous seasons.

COACHING MILESTONE ... Depending how one looks at it, Jim Thorpe head coach Mark Rosenberger either reached a milestone this past Friday, or will be reaching it tomorrow.

The longtime Olympian mentor entered the season with a record of 172-127, giving him 299 decisions. Friday’s loss at Blue Mountain gave him 300.

However, one of those decisions was a forfeit victory in which no game was played. Therefore, tomorrow’s contest against Minersville will mark Rosenberger’s 300th on the Thorpe sideline as head coach.

Either way, the accomplishment is worth noting.

Now in his 29th season, Rosenberger has enjoyed 20 winning years, with his 10-1 mark in 2004 the best.

The current area coach with the next most games in charge is Northern Lehigh’s Joe Tout, with 227.

BOMBER COMEBACK ... Palmerton fell behind 13-0 in its season opener at Marian, and trailed by a 33-18 margin entering the fourth quarter.

The Blue Bombers, however, received a touchdown pass and scoring run from T.K. Gursky, as well as a pair of two-point conversions to pull out a thrilling 34-33 comeback win.

In checking past records, the 15-point deficit it overcame to win was the largest by a Palmerton team in the last 40 seasons.

During that span, the Bombers had come back from being down 14 points three different times — the last on Sept. 8, 2017 against Saucon Valley.

Among Times News area teams, the largest comeback over the past 40 years was Pleasant Valley rebounding from a 23-0 hole to gain a 33-30 victory over East Stroudsburg South on Oct. 3, 2014.

TIGERS POINT STREAK ... Northwestern’s success has been well-documented, having been to three consecutive state championship games.

The Tigers have now won 33 straight regular season games after opening the season with a hard-fought victory over Valley View.

Josh Snyder’s club also extended another streak, one that’s rather impressive.

Northwestern has now played 116 straight games without being shut out. The last time the Tigers were kept off the scoreboard was Oct. 6, 2017, when Bangor registered a 14-0 victory.

To show how impressive the streak is, the area’s second-best over the past 50 years is 68, which Tamaqua achieved from 2001-07.

MARIAN RECEIVERS ... Despite losing to Palmerton last Friday, Marian’s Tyler Price and Rocco Griguoli both put up some gaudy statistics.

Price picked up 115 rushing yards, and also finished with 105 receiving yards.

Since 1988, the Colt standout is just the 12th player — and first from Marian — from the Times News area to reach at least 100 yards both rushing and receiving. The last local player to accomplish the feat was Tamaqua’s Connor Dillion on Sept. 2, 2022, when he ran for 107 and had 134 receiving.

Griguoli also had a huge game, snaring five passes for 147 yards. The last time a Marian player had that many yards receiving in a game was Sept. 11, 2015, when Aaron DeAngelo totaled 229.

FIELD GOAL WINNER ... Northern Lehigh opened its season in dramatic fashion, getting a game-winning 27-yard field goal from Anthony Hanna on the final play of the contest.

The three-pointer is a rarity for the Bulldogs. Since 2009 — a span of 195 games — they have only had one other field goal.

That came off the foot of Chase Moffitt, who drilled a 25-yarder on Sept. 29, 2023.

The last time a Nolehi field goal was at least 27 yards was Oct. 24, 2008, when Kris Krawchuk split the uprights from 28 yards away.

TAKING IT TO THE HOUSE ... Carl Lingham capped Lehighton’s opening-night victory over Tamaqua by returning a kickoff 85 yards for a touchdowns.

In the Indians’ last 100 games, they’ve only had one other kickoff return for a touchdown.

That came from Hunter Crum on Oct. 2, 2020, when he took one 76 yards to the house against Schuylkill Haven.

The last return for a score that covered at least 85 yards before Lingham’s was Mike Mayernik’s 85-yarder on Oct. 7, 2016 against, ironically enough, Tamaqua.