Week 10 of the high school football season can always be exciting, as it always comes with a ton of postseason implications.

It's no different this time around, as not only is it the week before playoffs, but it's also "rivalry week".Friday night, there are four huge rivalry games in the area - Jim Thorpe-Lehighton, Marian-Tamaqua, Palmerton-Northern Lehigh, and Pleasant Valley-Stroudsburg. All eight of these teams have already clinched postseason berths, but are still jockeying for playoff position.Jim Thorpe and Lehighton have played some tight football games over the years for the Route 209 Trophy. One thing this rivalry prides itself on is atmosphere, with a packed house always on hand for the battle between the Olympians and Tribe.Take for example a season ago, when Lehighton closed its old stadium against Jim Thorpe. Both end zones were 20-people deep, with the Lehighton fans even having oversized replica signs of Thorpe's head coach Mark Rosenberger behind the goal post."The first year we played since I've been head coach, we both had a down year, but you couldn't tell that by the emotion and effort on the field," said Lehighton head coach Tom McCarroll. "The place was full too and the fans got into it. I think this rivalry is so good too because our kids are so similar. We both always have athletes and tough kids and classy kids. That certainly builds a respect factor."The Olympians have been on the losing end of this rivalry of late, having dropped five straight to the Indians. With Jim Thorpe at 5-4 and Lehighton at 4-5, and the Indians losing their last four games, Thorpe is hoping it can end its losing streak."Credit has to go to them because they've been able to take care of business the last five years. It's a tough game to win and hopefully this season we can get back on the winning side," said Rosenberger. "This is such a fun and intense game. The crowd always gets into it, and it's really fun for our communities."One of the longest standing rivalry games in the Times News area is Tamaqua and Marian. There have been many times throughout the years when the underdog in this one has shocked the other to come away with an upset victory.For example, last season, Tamaqua came into its matchup with the Colts with a 4-5 record, having already been eliminated from the postseason, but wound up producing a 31-21 victory."I know you hate to say this, but you really can throw out the records in this game," said Marian head coach Stan Dakosty. "Anything can happen in a game like this, and over the years, there has really been some great games played between us."In the Colonial League, next door neighbors Palmerton and Northern Lehigh have had some knockdown, drag-out battles over the years.This season, both the Bombers and Bulldogs are coming in hot, with each of them winning their last two games.One of Northern Lehigh head coach Joe Tout's favorite memories is from the 2013 matchup. Both teams had losing records, but it didn't take away from the importance of the game."In 2013, both teams came in with losing records and knew the game would be the final of the season," said Tout. "It was an extremely close game, and we scored to make it a one-point game with less than two minutes to go. We went for two and got it and ended up winning by one point. To see the excitement of our team was an amazing experience."Sometimes it's hard for football fans to grasp how hard winning these types of games are with the intensity and tenacity that surrounds not only the game, but the week of practice leading up to the game. It's a lot of emotion bottled up into one week and sometimes it can be tough to turn that into a "W.""This is my 11th season as a part of this rivalry, and it's been great. I told my guys that we're 5-5 over the last 10 games, and that shows you how even we've really been and how hard it is to edge out the other team," said Walkowiak. "It really just fires up our players, and in that week of practice, there's always a lot of excitement. We just have to continue to stay focused like we've been the last two weeks and be ready to perform in a playoff-type atmosphere."************FULL MOONEY NIGHT ... Palmerton's Jared Mooney caught a pair of touchdown passes in the Blue Bombers 47-14 victory over Salisbury last Friday.Mooney's scoring catches covered 40 and 43 yards. The senior is the first Palmerton player to catch two touchdown passes of at least 40 yards in the same game since Nov. 10, 1995 (220 games ago) when Travis Everett hauled in TD tosses of 49 and 53 yards from Travis Fink during a 28-21 loss to Lehighton.In the last 30 seasons (or 321 games), Friday marked the 31st time a Bomber player had two touchdown catches in a game. Avery Weber (2005-06) has the most with five, while Chris Hager (1988-89) is next with four.************WELCOME TO THE END ZONE ... In last Friday night's loss to Pottsville, Jim Thorpe's Dylan Dailey recovered a fumble for a touchdown.Dailey became the 12th different Olympian to score a touchdown this season. Over the last 25 seasons, Thorpe has only had one other year when more players scored at least one TD. That came in 2004, when 14 different players reached the end zone. Those players included Jason Figura, Tyler O'Shura, Craig Zurn, Justin Young, Aaron Smith, Phil Redline, Bryan Baker, Dan Flizack, Adam Busocker, Jason Calcano, Keith Hontz, Mike Bingaman, Lance Malatak, and Al Meriano.Thorpe also had 12 different players score touchdowns during the 2008 campaign.Among Times News area teams, Pleasant Valley has the most this season with 13 different players scoring TDs. Over the past 25 years, the most ever is 17 by the 2007 Marian squad.************QUARTERLY SUCCESS ... Leading 57-0 heading into the fourth quarter of last Friday's game against Pocono Mountain East, Pleasant Valley obviously didn't need to score. And they didn't.Failing to post any points in that final frame, however, ended a rather impressive streak.The Bears had scored in 19 straight quarters, until being blanked in that Mercy Rule period. So far this season, PV has managed to score points in 32 of 36 quarters.Over the past 20 seasons, there has been only one streak longer than the Bears. That occurred a year ago, when Lehighton scored in 22 straight quarters. Jim Thorpe had an 18-quarter scoring streak in 2006, while Northern Lehigh (in 2010 and 2009) and Tamaqua (2013) had 16-quarter streaks.************BE LIKE MIKE ... Pleasant Valley's Mike Mitchell scored three touchdowns last Friday against Pocono Mountain East to raise his school-record total to 24.Since 1970, there have been only eight other players in Times News history to tally more than Mitchell has this season.They include: Northern Lehigh's Cody Remaley (39 in 2010, and 26 in 2009), Northwestern's Brett Snyder (33 in 1995), Marian's Mike Tracy (30 in 1980), Marian's Al Donadi (28 in 2000), Lehighton's Robbie Frey (27 in 2006, and 25 in 2005), Northwestern's Cam Richardson (27 in 2014), Northern Lehigh's Nick Hosford (27 in 2005) and Northwestern's Josh Snyder (25 in 1997).