Over one hundred football players along with their family members, friends, and coaches packed the Palmerton High School gymnasium for the ninth annual Blue Bomber Football Invitational Weightlifting Competition recently.

For the second consecutive year, Whitehall captured the team championship on the strength of seven gold, five silver, and five bronze medals. The 44 team points earned by the Zephyrs were enough to comfortably better second place Palisades' 20 and third place Palmerton's 18 for the team title.Two meet records were broken and both were performances by Whitehall Zephyrs. Weighing in at 204 pounds, Jacob Kerchner bettered Tamaqua's Pete Conforti's 2011 record by squatting an even 500 pounds to go along with his bench press of 275 pounds to total 775. Teammate Jeff Cordon broke Marian Catholic's Anthony Damiano's 2011 mark with a squat of 500 pounds and a bench of 315 while weighing in at 222 pounds.Kerchner's record breaking performance earned him the Meet's Most Outstanding Lifters in the 16-18 year old category. While in the 14-15 age group, top honors went to Panther Valley's Dylan Moyer with 305lb squat and 250lb bench, while weighing just 183lbs.STANDINGSTeam Pts.1. Whitehall 442. Palisades 203. Palmerton 184. Northampton 155. Tamaqua 1114-15 year-old division120-pound weight classGOLD: Jacob Wasser, Palisades 330 (200/130)135 poundsGOLD: Jiovani Datis-Cordero, Northampton 370 (215/155)SILVER: Trevor Shilling, TamaquaBRONZE: Mac Allen, Palmerton150 poundsGOLD: Kyle Maloney, Palisades 435 (260/175)SILVER: Shubham Patel, WhitehallBRONZE: Anthony Vavra, Panther Valley165 poundsGOLD: Jared Mittl, Whitehall 445 (250/195)SILVER: Mason Fisher, WhitehallBRONZE: Jared Mooney, Palmerton180 poundsGOLD: Jared Scott, Palisades 535 (335/200)SILVER: Derek Mattison, WhitehallBRONZE: Eric Marlatt, Palmerton195 poundsGOLD: Dylan Moyer, Panther Valley 555 (305/250)SILVER: Zachary Hixson, WhitehallBRONZE: Jacob Marcola, Tamaqua210 poundsGOLD: Alex Quaglieri, Northampton 565 (345/220)SILVER: Baily Forte, MahanoyBRONZE: Garrett Dieter, Palmerton225 poundsGOLD: Adam Klatka, Tamaqua 350 (200/150)HWGOLD: Jericho Burger, Palmerton 515 (315/200)SILVER: Sam Zmyewski, Palmerton16-18 year-old division150 poundsGOLD: Ronnie Okundo, Whitehall 505 (315/190)SILVER: Devaun Henry, Pocono Mountain WestBRONZE: River Rodriguez, Palmerton165 poundsGOLD: Julian Tabb, Northampton 580 (330/250)SILVER: Christian Gretzinger, PalisadesBRONZE: Conor Sullivan, Whitehall180 poundsGOLD: Alonzo Mann, Whitehall 650 (405/245)SILVER: Darius Young, WhitehallBRONZE: Tyler Cyriax, Whitehall195 poundsGOLD: Saquon Barkley, Whitehall 650 (375/275)SILVER: James Donnelly, PalisadesBRONZE: Scott Howett, Whitehall210 poundsGOLD: Jake Kerchner, Whitehall 775 (500/275) * New Meet RecordSILVER: Tre Nelson, PalmertonBRONZE: Nick Coccio, Tamaqua225 poundsGOLD: Jeff Cordon, Whitehall 815 (500/315) * New Meet recordSILVER: Anthony Maradeo, PalmertonBRONZE: Josh Kachmar, Mahanoy240 poundsGOLD: Stephen Bolusky, Mahanoy Area 700 (405/295)SILVER: Alex Raub, PalmertonBRONZE: David Mazsnik, Pocono Mountain West255 poundsGOLD: Orlando Bonilla, Whitehall 745 (460/285)SILVER: Rian Shubeck, Panther ValleyBRONZE: Edgardo Rivera, WhitehallHWGOLD: Cody Houser, Tamaqua 820 (500/320)SILVER: Ben Henry, PalisadesBRONZE: Obayda Moussa, Whitehall