A pair of double local matchups highlight this week’s schedule, as Northwestern travels to Lehighton and Marian plays host to Palmerton.

Elsewhere, Northern Lehigh gets ready to take on undefeated Notre Dame Green Pond, while Jim Thorpe welcomes Salisbury, Tamaqua travels to Pen Argyl and Panther Valley hosts Catasauqua.

Northwestern at Lehighton

Friday, Sept. 17 at 7 p.m.

Storyline of the Week

: Another quick strike offense

In just over a minute, Northwestern’s offense covered 69 yards, with Justin Holmes hitting Taylor Wikert for the opening score on a 31-yard catch and run in last week’s 34-19 win over Southern Lehigh. Luke Benvin added the extra point and the Tigers went up 7-0. Not to be outdone, Northwestern’s defense stopped a Southern Lehigh drive when Ben Walters recovered a fumble by quarterback James Wisecarver. The offense again went to work, driving 65 yards in 10 plays with Holmes rushing up the middle into the end zone from three yards out. The big plays on both sides of the ball set the tone for the rest of the game. In the second half, Holmes controlled the scoring again for Northwestern with a 27-yard TD pass to Dalton Clymer and another rushing touchdown - this time going for 13 yards. “I would say I’m pleased in all three phases to be honest with you,” said Tigers’ coach Josh Snyder. “We have pretty high expectations here at Northwestern, and we felt like we had a pretty good nucleus of players coming back, obviously the point man being Justin Holmes. We’re 3-0, so we’ve obviously done everything that we needed to do to be 3-0 up until this point. As a coach, there’s always areas you can improve on. I think our execution could still continue to become a little bit better. I think mistakes, fewer mental mistakes in each game. But Taylor Wikert is a senior now, Cade Christopher is a junior now, Ryan McDonnell is a senior now, Jake Peters is a senior. So we have a lot of experienced guys at the skill positions, and we’re only running one senior on the line offensively, and that’s Ben Dunstan. So we have pretty high expectations, and those guys are going out there and they’re making plays. They’re doing some nice things out there, and I’m proud of where we’re at.” Lehighton is coming off a 42-21 loss to Wilson last Friday. The difference in the outcome of that game was the big-play scores by the Warriors, who moved to 3-0 on the season. Four of their touchdowns were by 26 yards or more, and an incredible 15 consecutive drives to pay dirt to start their season finally ended when the Indians’ defense stopped quarterback Caden Stem on a fourth-and-one with 1:15 left to play in the first half. The Tribe moved the chains 16 times to Wilson’s 17, and the Warriors outgained the Tribe by only one yard. Like the Tigers, Wilson featured no shortage of playmakers, with Damon and Damian Simpson piling up 185 yards and five touchdowns in a display of speed and athleticism that made the difference in the game. “They do it differently, the way they get there,” Lehighton head coach Tom McCarroll said of Wilson and Northwestern. “But a lot of times, the end result turns out to be the same. Northwestern certainly isn’t lacking for athletes; they’re not lacking for playmakers. They may not have the track star speed that Wilson’s skill kids do, but they certainly have a Division I athlete as their triggerman (Holmes), and anytime you have that kind of skill set, it creates a problem for anybody. Holmes is a great player, and they have some really nice pieces around him. Anytime you have a good program like they do and a good coaching staff like Coach Snyder has, they’re going to develop kids, and they’ve done a really nice job of that.”

Players to Watch:

Cade Christopher, Northwestern

Christopher finished the night with 55 yards receiving and 46 yards rushing for Northwestern. His role has changed slightly from simply being a pass catcher to getting some work out of the backfield, and he has adapted well.

Justin Holmes, Northwestern

Holmes finished with 300 total yards, collecting 178 yards through the air and 122 on the ground for the Tigers. He also rushed for three touchdowns and threw for two.

Hunter Crum, Lehighton

Crum, who ran 32 times for 159 yards against Wilson, was the Times News Player of the Week after the Tribe’s 55-42 win over Tamaqua in Week 2.

Palmerton at Marian

Friday, Sept. 17 at 7 p.m.

Storyline of the Week: The Bombers are doing a great job of creating turnovers, while the Colts have struggled taking care of the football.

This game simply comes down to turnovers. On the season, the Bombers have done a great job of forcing miscues and protecting the football. Palmerton is plus-5 in the turnover department, and its offense hasn’t thrown an interception yet this season. The Colts, on the other hand, have struggled, as they currently sit with a plus-8 turnover ratio. “We need to eliminate the turnovers and the penalties if we’re going to get in any sort of a groove. Right now, we’ve been our own worst enemy,” said Marian head coach Stan Dakosty. “We still are learning, we’re still inexperienced at some spots, but we’re working hard to get better.” Palmerton has not only been able create turnovers, but the Bombers have two defensive touchdowns on the season - a pick six in Week 1, and a scoop and score in Week 3. “We’ve been able to win the turnover battle each week, and that’s key,” said Palmerton head coach Chris Walkowiak. “The game we lost, we won the turnover battle, but we didn’t convert some of those turnovers into scores, and that ended up hurting us in that game. So, we learned a lesson there; you need to take advantage of those opportunities.

Players to Watch:

Matt Machalik, Palmerton

Machalik has amassed 439 yards passing, and 293 yards rushing, with nine total touchdowns for the Bombers this season.

Stephen Jones, Palmerton

The running back has piled up 103 total yards of offense, and scored a pair of touchdowns this season.

Matt Martin, Marian

The Colts tailback has compiled 227 rushing yards and one touchdown so far this year.

Salisbury at Jim Thorpe

Friday, Sept. 17 at 7 p.m.

Storyline of the Week

: Can the Olympians’ defense eliminate the big play?

It’s really been simple for Jim Thorpe this season. Don’t allow the big play, and they have a good shot of walking away with a “W.” The Olympians were not able to do that last week against the No. 1 team in the state in 3A in North Schuylkill. After the Olympians got out to a 7-0 lead on the road against the Spartans, touchdowns of 75, 69 and 84 yards helped North Schuylkill pull away. Spartans’ running back Josh Chowansky averaged 19.5 yards per carry in the first half on eight carries, while Jake Hall averaged 20 yards per completion on 11 completions. Thorpe will need a defensive effort more similar to its performance in Week 2, where it did a nice job corralling dual-threat quarterback Matt Machalik in a 17-14 win over Palmerton. The Olympians will face yet another dynamic athlete at quarterback this week in Salisbury’s Nick Beck, who can make plays with both his arm and his legs. Beck likes to use his athleticism to extend plays. “From our perspective, eliminating the big play absolutely needs to be the focus for us defensively this week. When we’ve struggled in games this season, one of the main contributors to that has been giving up explosive plays,” said Jim Thorpe head coach Mark Rosenberger. “We also have to take advantage when the opportunity is there for us to make a big play. We had two dropped touchdown passes last week, and we had the opportunity to go up 14-0, but we weren’t able to come up with those plays in the game and things unraveled for us. We need to come in focused on Friday night and correct those things.”

Players to Watch

Cameron Tinajero, Jim Thorpe

Tinajero has 178 yards of total offense and two touchdowns this season.

Bryson Heydt, Jim Thorpe

As a tight end, Heydt has 41 yards receiving and one touchdown. On defense from his defensive end position, he has recorded three sacks and four tackles for loss.

Nick Beck, Salisbury

The Falcons’ quarterback is 36-of-63 for 295 yards with one touchdown and two interceptions this season.

Tamaqua at Pen Argyl

Saturday, Sept. 18 at 1:30 p.m.

Storyline of the Week

: Tough turnovers hurt Tamaqua

On Monday, Northern Lehigh was able to force turnovers in key parts of its contest against Tamaqua, and used big plays in the passing game to pull away from the Raiders, coming away with a 21-0 victory. After a good kickoff return by Raiders’ running back Warren Stewart to the Northern Lehigh 45-yard line, Tamaqua put together a nice drive that got it all the way down to the Bulldogs 17-yard line. A hookup between Nathan Gregoire and Zander Coleman on a rollout to the right sideline looked like it was going to go in for six, but just as Coleman was approaching the goal line, a Northern Lehigh defender punched the ball out from behind, with the ball going out of the back of the end zone for a touchback. The Bulldogs then took advantage, going 80 yards in 13 plays, capped off by a Dylan Smoyer strike to Nick Frame from 28 yards out to give Northern Lehigh a 7-0 advantage with 3:31 remaining in the first quarter. “We’re the kind of team that can’t make mistakes,” said Tamaqua head coach Sam Bonner. “We’ve been emphasizing that, and we made two or three crucial mistakes, whether it be a penalty or a turnover, especially to start the game off, where I thought our kids played tough. We had opportunities to really be in that game and have it be a close game at half, instead of giving up a score off a turnover right before the half taking away a score on our first drive of the game. It’s a two-score turnaround, where maybe it’s a one-score game. We know Northern Lehigh’s a tough team, and we couldn’t afford to do that kind of stuff. But I thought we got better up front, I thought we tackled better; there were definitely some positives to take out of the half that we played. But we still lost 21-0, so we have to correct a lot of mistakes.” After the Raiders kept it close for the majority of the second quarter, trailing by just seven, Smoyer and his explosive set of wide receivers started to click. Late in the second frame, a 34-yard pitch and catch between Smoyer and Trevor Amorim would setup a nine-yard Smoyer rush to make it 14-0. Turnover woes then struck for Tamaqua again. This time, a 30-yard Raider gain ended with the Bulldogs stripping the runner again. After the turnover and a personal foul call against the Raiders, Northern Lehigh didn’t waste any time, making it 21-0 on a 33-yard connection from Smoyer to Nick Frame with just nine seconds left in the half. Pen Argyl is currently 0-3, and coming off a 27-0 loss to previously winless Palisades. “I feel like we have a good opportunity to go up there and get our first win,” said Bonner. “But at the same time, I coached at Northern Lehigh for years and we used to have to go up there on a Saturday, and it was never an easy place to go up on a Saturday afternoon and play. That’s something I warned the kids of ... it’s going to be a little bit of a change in schedule, especially on gameday, not so much during the week. But we can’t go up there in a fog to start the game off.”

Players to Watch:

Cole Dorshimer, Pen Argyl

Caught nine passes for 94 yards and made six tackles against Palisades.

Zander Coleman, Tamaqua

Coleman leads the Raiders with 208 yards rushing on 17 carries (12.24 yards per carry) with one touchdown. He’s also caught four passes for 128 yards (32.0 yards per catch).

Warren Stewart, Tamaqua

The team’s leading scorer with four touchdowns, Stewart has carried the ball 54 times for 162 yards. He’s also caught two passes for 14 yards.

Notre Dame at No. Lehigh

Friday, Sept. 17 at 7 p.m.

Storyline of the Week

: Bulldogs facing a quick turnaround

The Bulldogs will be back in action after topping Tamaqua 21-0 in a game that was called due to a major storm that moved through the Tamaqua area and resulted in only two quarters of football being played on Monday. The task at hand now is an undefeated Notre Dame Green Pond team that features the top quarterback in the Schuylkill League-Colonial League in Collin Quintano, who has completed 57-of-81 pass attempts for 925 yards, 13 scores and just one interception. “You know that every year they’re going to be good,” said Northern Lehigh head coach Joe Tout. “And it’s a different challenge, because we don’t see much of this type of offense where, especially this year, they are a heavy, heavy, heavy pass team. There’s a couple of teams that we’ll face that are kind of unique, and that’s the variety we have.” Notre Dame-Green Pond has completed 61 passes in three games this season, while it has attempted 56 running plays. The Crusaders’ passing game has put up 965 yards and 13 touchdowns, while the running attack has gained just 294 and six TDs. “Notre Dame is not going to be under center,” said Tout. “They’re going to go back and throw it all over the place, and you better be prepared. You can’t sit in one front against these guys, so that’s the challenge. That’s the challenge with installing the gameplan, just to make sure that we’re prepared from that end.” The Bulldogs have shown an ability to adapt throughout the season, so playing on a short week is something the program can handle. Northern Lehigh’s season opener was changed at the last minute to Muncy, and the Bulldogs’ Week 2 contest came on a Thursday night against unbeaten Northwestern after Hurricane Ida had moved through the area. Northern Lehigh will be ready for Notre Dame. “You don’t have a choice, it’s as simple as that,” Tout said of the schedule shuffle. “As a coaching staff, you get used to a routine as well. This becomes another unique week where you’re playing Monday and then Friday, so we’re just kind of hoping ... our kids have, and we’ve all done a good job of handling it. But you don’t have a choice. After this week you have four games in, so we’re hoping that after this week we can finally maybe get a normal week.”

Players to Watch:

Collin Quintano, Notre Dame-Green Pond

Completed 19 of 31 passes for 236 yards and four touchdowns in a win over Salisbury.

Nick Frame, Northern Lehigh

Had two touchdown catches in a win over Tamaqua on Monday in a game that was stopped at halftime due to a heavy storm moving through the area.

Dylan Smoyer, Northern Lehigh

Threw for 122 yards and two touchdowns, and also ran for a score against Tamaqua.

Catasauqua at Panther Vy.

Friday, Sept. 17 at 7 p.m.

Storyline of the Week

: Can the Panthers be game ready vs the unbeaten Rough Riders?

After last week’s loss at Palmerton, Panther Valley coach Rick Jones came away saying, “We were just happy to be playing a football game again.” The Panthers first two games were canceled due to COVID issues, so every upcoming opponent will have played two more games, which in most sports, more experience usually means a decided advantage. “We’re still trying to figure out our personnel and who should be playing where,” said Jones. Last week was kind of a blessing in disguise because we saw that we need more team speed, especially on defense to stop runs around the outside.” With a good week of practice and the addition of a couple of new players at the skill positions, the Panthers will find out how game-ready they are against the undefeated and surging Catasauqua Rough Riders. “We certainly need more reps for some of our players who have little experience and not played much in the past,” said Jones. As for the Rough Riders, Jones sees a team that likes to throw deep, led by quarterback, Christian Fye, who totaled 151 yards last week in Catty’s win over Marian. “They’re also very aggressive on defense, but sometimes that means you can take advantage and bust a big play.” PV QB Michael Pascoe was the thrust of the offense against Palmerton, but Jones hopes to add a few more offensive weapons to his arsenal and bring multiple threats to the line of scrimmage. It’s worth noting that since the turnstile of head coaches over the past several years failed to bring stability to the football program, veteran Rick Jones, in his third year at PV, has focused his attention on two goals for his players. “First, we want our kids to be better all-around people and second, to be better football players.” It’s a good bet that by the end of this season, the Panthers’ players will be both.

Players to Watch:

Michael Pascoe, Panther Valley

Pascoe gained 126 yards rushing from the quarterback position and averaged five yards a carry last week against Palmerton. He will also move up to linebacker on PV’s defense, which allowed 357 yards last week against the Bombers.

De’Antay Alston, Panther Valley

The senior running back will suit up for his first game this week. Jones likes his explosiveness between the tackles, and he could form a solid one-two punch with Pascoe.

Elijah Solar, Catasauqua

Solar averaged 10 yards a carry last week and totaled 103 yards on the ground.

Christian Fye, Catasauqua

Fye only threw six passes against Marian, but he completed five of those, one of which was a 66-yard touchdown.

Capsules compiled by Rich Strack, Brad Hurley and Patrick Matsinko.