With three regular season weeks to go, Bob Ford maintains his three game lead in the TN Pick Standings, but the biggest news from Week 7 was made by yours truly. With a record of 13-2, I leaped out of the Pundit Pit over TJ and Son. I can finally see the light!

“Bossman” McCall, who also nailed 13 wins, has steadily moved up from the Pit and into the 80 wins category, just four games behind Carlucci and “Hot” Rod Heckman who are tied for second place.

The shocker game that everyone got wrong was Blue Mountain’s upset over Pottsville and despite TJ and Son’s fall to the bottom, give them credit for the only picker to tab the Blue Eagles to beat the Tide and also Dieruff to defeat Pleasant Valley.

Indians win thriller; Olympians 7-0

If you’re a fan of big plays and long drives and a lot of offensive touchdowns, undefeated Lehighton’s 41-35 win over Tamaqua last Friday did not disappoint. The Tribe, now 7-0, couldn’t put away the valiant Raiders until the final two minutes of the game.

Meanwhile, Jim Thorpe remained undefeated following their 42-18 thrashing of a tough North Schuylkill team. The Olympians are heading for a showdown at Lehighton in Week 10 and it ‘s possible both teams will be 9-0 in their annual battle for the Route 209 trophy.

Strong opponents stand in their way before they meet. The Indians visit Pottsville and Blue Mountain before they host Thorpe while JT travels to Tamaqua and then is home with Pottsville before it takes on the Tribe. The season ending contest will feature two of the best running backs in the Schuylkill League in JT’s Justin St. Hill and Lehighton’s TaQuan Bradley-Chambers.

The hype has already begun for the Oct. 27 clash. It should be standing room only at the maroon and white’s beautiful year old stadium.

Raiders looking to give JT first loss

It’s a bit premature to talk about a Jim Thorpe-Lehighton dream game because Tamaqua will have something to say about that when it hosts the Olympians tonight. As mentioned, the Raiders traded punch for punch with the Indians last week and will have plenty of fight left for Thorpe. JT’s Red Swarm shutout streak was finally cracked by North Schuylkill and will certainly be tested by the Raiders. Thad Zuber, Brayden Knoublauch, Nick Breiner, Nate Boyle and company are lighting up the scoreboard to an average of 37 points a game.

This battle could be shootout between two high-powered offenses and the Raiders might sign up for that because that will mean they will be rolling up the points against arguably the best defense in the Schuylkill League. The unanimous pick here is Thorpe, which just might be more locker room fodder for Sam Bonner’s Raiders to knock the Olympians from the ranks of the unbeaten.

Favoring favorites and taking strategic risks

With a few exceptions, the staff believes the teams favored will prevail so win or lose, that leaves little opportunity to move up in the standings.

The one contest raising some doubt for the outcome is Lehighton against Pottsville. After routing Tamaqua two weeks ago, the Crimson Tide laid an egg and lost to Blue Mountain last Friday. Sam Matta, Bob Ford, and Brad Hurley are trying to grab an edge with the chance that the Tide will regain their focus and beat the Indians.

Ford can risk a game off his lead, but he also can pad his advantage lead with a Pottsville win. Matta takes another risk by being the only one to think Wilson will beat Saucon Valley. TJ Engle and Son, trying to push up from the Pit, hope Allentown Central Catholic defeats Stroudsburg.

Matsinko looks to move a game up with an East Stroudsburg North win over struggling Pleasant Valley while Justin Carlucci’s nod of 5-2 Whitehall over once beaten Bethlehem Catholic could propel him closer to Ford, who meanwhile enjoys another comfortable week sitting in the king’s chair.

Looking ahead, Week Nine offers several toss up games. Keep your game faces on, fellas. Let’s see who can handle the pressure as high school football moves closer to post season play.