With just a few weeks until the start of high school football, local media throughout the Lehigh Valley got a chance to talk to coaches and players from all around District 11 at the inaugural National Football Foundation Lehigh Valley Chapter (NFF-LV Chapter) Football Media Kickoff.

The event was held Wednesday at Northampton High School’s Al Erdosy Stadium and featured over 30 teams, including three teams from the Times News area in Pleasant Valley, Northwestern Lehigh, and Palmerton.

It’s the first event of its kind for both Eastern Pennsylvania Conference (EPC) and Colonial League (CL) teams to be able access a wide range of media outlets at one time for preseason exposure and interviews.

“My first thought is that it’s about time, and I’m glad this organization stepped up to do this for our kids,” said Northwestern Lehigh head coach Josh Snyder. “All these kids deserve this and all these programs deserve this. It’s great for everybody, and in the future I would like to see our league do something similar.”

Under Snyder, the Tigers have seen consistent success, winning an Eastern Conference championship in 2013 and a District 11 title in 2014. Northwestern did qualify for the postseason last season, earning an Eastern Conference bid, but the team finished 4-7, losing some tight games throughout the year.

“Last year we had some unfortunate things happen early in the season that made it tough for us, but we battled. We just couldn’t come up with some wins in some close ballgames,” said Snyder. “But what we were able to do was play a young nucleus of kids that are now our core group. They took their lumps and learned a lot.”

“Going into the season, I don’t think many people are going to be saying, ‘we have an all-state type of player, or a player that can be an absolute game-changer,’ but as a unit we’re strong, and if we outwork teams, which I think we can, we can be a surprise team, and bounce back nicely.”

Palmerton is looking to keep a streak of postseason berths alive this season by getting back to the District 11 2A championship for the third consecutive year. The Bombers return a host of skill players in Jordan Nelson, Cody Waterhouse, Aaron Stasko, Andrew Sabo, and others, but will need to replace Times News All Star quarterback Tekoah Guedes.

Palmerton hasn’t had to worry about a quarterback for the past four seasons, with record-breaking signal caller Garret Perschy as the three-year starter prior to Guedes. Finding the right player in camp to lead the Bombers offense is the key for them this season.

“Right now we’re working Cody Waterhouse, a senior, and a freshman, Lucas Heydt, out at quarterback. Both are working really hard, they’re obviously inexperienced at the position, but they’re both athletes and they do some things really well,” said Palmerton head coach Chris Walkowiak. “The key has been that they’re both learning every day and they’re progressing.

“What helps there is the strong core of skill guys we have and the returning presence we have at offensive line. We have a lot of guys coming back that played meaningful snaps last season, which helps everywhere.”

Pleasant Valley is under the guidance of new head coach Matt Kosciolek, who moves over to the Bears after running Lehighton’s defense for the past few seasons. Anyone who has been fortunate enough to watch the Bears over the years know that they’re the Times News area’s version of “the greatest show on turf” using speed at the skill spots to post a winning record every season since 2012 — except for last season.

The Bears were hit with the injury bug in 2017, which certainly contributed to their 2-8 campaign, but you can expect one common denominator from this year’s Pleasant Valley squad to past squads — team speed.

“We have great team speed, we’re inexperienced, but we have some great athletes, and I think a lot of people out there are going to be hearing some names this season that they might not have necessarily heard before,” said Kosciolek. “I think with our speed, we can surprise some people.

“We’re going to play as fast as we can, we’re going to play with high energy, and we’re going to try and create some chaos. Like I said we’re young, but our guys wanna go out there and compete.”

After going through heat acclimation work this week, practice officially starts for teams on Monday. Opening night of play is Friday, Aug. 24.