Heading into the home stretch of the regular season, it appears like the majority of Times News area football teams will qualify for postseason play.

With just two weeks remaining in the regular season, seven of the nine local teams have either clinched a postseason berth or are currently leading for a postseason spot.

This week’s Overtime column will take a look at who’s already in, who has some work to do, and who is going to fall short when its comes to the postseason.

In addition, Rod Heckman will take a look at some of the top performances from last week and find some historical references for comparison. This week, Heckman’s notes will deal with high scoring games, scoreless halftimes and winning records.

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If the regular season ended today, Northern Lehigh (1A), Northwestern (3A), Palmerton (3A), Jim Thorpe (3A), Tamaqua (3A) and Pleasant Valley (5A) would all be in the District 11 playoffs, while Marian (1A) would make the Eastern Conference playoffs. Only Panther Valley (2A) and Lehighton (3A) would not be playing in the postseason.

Northern Lehigh, Northwestern and Palmerton have already clinched district berths while Jim Thorpe, Tamaqua and Pleasant Valley appear to be locks to do so with one more win - and all could still possibly qualify even if they lost their final two games.

As for the teams currently outside the district bubble, Marian and Lehighton will probably both need to win their final two games to make districts - although a split could possibly get them in if they got help in games involving other bubble teams. Panther Valley, although not mathematically eliminated, appears likely to miss postseason play.

Here’s a breakdown of the playoff prospects for each of the area teams:

CLASS 1A

NORTHERN LEHIGH ... The Bulldogs are currently second to Tri-Valley in Class 1A. With Tri-Valley closing with smaller schools Marian (1A) and Williams Valley (2A), Northern Lehigh - which closes with 3A schools Jim Thorpe and Palmerton - could end up with the top seed if it wins twice even if TV wins both its games. The Bulldogs will definitely be the top seed with two wins and a Tri-Valley loss.

MARIAN ... The Colts are in fifth place, but within striking range of both third place Minersville and fourth-place Mahanoy Area. With games remaining with powerful Tri-Valley this week and Pine Grove in week 10, the Colts could conceivably qualify for districts with one win if either Minersville (Schuylkill Haven and Nativity) or Mahanoy Area (Nativity or Shenandoah) losses its final two games. But the Miners and Golden Bears will both be favored in the remaining games which means Marian will probably need to win its final two to get in districts. If it doesn’t, The Colts and Holy Redeemer are currently the top teams in the Eastern Conference Division 1A/2A playoff standings.

CLASS 2A

PANTHER VALLEY ... The Panthers are in seventh place in a field where the top four qualify for the playoffs. Catasauqua is currently in fourth place and has a significant rating point advantage over PV. The Panthers, who close the regular season with games against Pen Argyl and Tamaqua, are a long shot to get into the postseason even if they can win both games.

CLASS 3A

NORTHWESTERN ... The Tigers, who close with winless Wilson and then Southern Lehigh, are currently in third place in 3A. They are a lock to finish in the top four and get a first round home game. Northwestern can also move up and grab the first or second seed for the playoffs if it wins out and North Schuylkill (Salisbury and Pottsville) and/or Notre Dame (Pine Grove and Wilson) lose another game. Passing just one of them could be huge since semifinal round games are also played on the home field of the higher seed and a second seed guarantees another home game if the Tigers can get a quarterfinal round win.

PALMERTON ... The Bombers, who play Tamaqua this week before closing with Northern Lehigh, appear to be locked into the fourth spot if they can win at least one of their final two games. With two wins and some help, they could climb even higher. The only way the Bombers would more than likely not get an opening round home would be to lose twice.

JIM THORPE ... One win assures Jim Thorpe a playoff berth. The Olympians, who play Northern Lehigh this week and close the regular season against Lehighton, are currently the sixth seed. With two victories to close out the season and a pair of Palmerton losses, they could possibly work their way into the fourth seed and grab a home playoff game. More than likely, they finish fifth, sixth or seventh and have to travel to one of the Ns (North Schuylkill, Notre Dame or Northwestern) to open postseason play,

TAMAQUA ... The Blue Raiders, who are currently the seven seed and play Palmerton this week and Panther Valley in week 10, also get in the playoffs with one more win. Even if the Raiders lose their final two games, their spot would probably only be in jeopardy if Lehighton won its final two games. Tamaqua could move as high the fifth seed with a couple of wins and some help, but the fourth seed and a home playoff game is probably out of reach.

LEHIGHTON ... The Indians are currently the ninth place team in a field where the top eight teams qualify. They are well within reach of eighth-seeded Pine Grove. Lehighton, which closes with Saucon Valley and Jim Thorpe, would almost definitely get in with two wins and could get in with one win if Pine Grove (Notre Dame and Marian) loses twice. There is a possibility that Lehighton could jump Pine Grove if both teams split their final two games, That scenario would more than likely create a razor thin rating point difference between the teams.

CLASS 5A

PLEASANT VALLEY ... The Bears are in third place in the 5A field where the top four teams qualify. PV plays fourth place Pocono Mountain West this week and closes the season with Stroudsburg. A win in either game should cement a playoff berth for the Bears, who could also get in even if they lose their final two games - depending on how fifth-place East Stroudsburg South does in its remaining two games (Stroudsburg and East Stroudsburg North).

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SCORING BONANZA ... Jim Thorpe combined with Notre Dame last Friday to score 97 total points during a 57-40 Crusader victory.

Over the past 45 seasons, this marked just the 10th time that an area team was involved in a game that finished with that many points.

Of the 10, Thorpe has been involved in three of them - including the highest scoring game (108 points) when the Olympians dropped a 66-42 decision to Minersville on Oct. 7, 2011. The following year, in 2012, Jim Thorpe and Panther Valley combined for 97 points in a 49-48 Panther victory.

The only other area games with at least 100 points scored involved Lehighton. The Indians dropped a 62-41 contest (103 points) to Pocono Mountain East on Oct. 1, 2010, while the Tribe also posted a 60-42 victory over Schuylkill Haven for 102 points on Oct. 2, 2020.

In last Friday’s game, Player of the Week Brett Balliet threw five touchdown passes. The only other Olympian (since 1996) to have that many TD passes in a game is Corey Cinicola - who did it three times. He also completed 19 passes, which has only been at JT by Cinicola and Matt Long over that time span.

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NO SCORING ... In last Friday’s contest involving Panther Valley and Catasauqua, the two teams failed to score in the first half and were knotted at 0-0 at halftime. The Roughies eventually went on to post a 21-0 victory.

How rare is it for the Panthers to go to the locker room and see 0-0 on the scoreboard?

Since 2000, this marked just the fourth time - out of 228 - that PV was involved in a game that was scoreless after two quarters, or 1.75% of the time.

In those four games, the Panthers lost three of them. The only time since 2000 they played to a 0-0 tie at the break and won was on Sept. 14, 2007 when they edged Upper Merion by a 9-0 score.

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BOMBER RECEIVERS ... Palmerton’s Matt Machalik threw for 345 yards last week against North Schuylkill. Machalik connected with Cole Serfass for two long touchdown passes, while his favorite target was Daniel Lucykanish.

Lucykanish caught nine passes for 141 yards. Over the last 30 years, that matches Austin Cseh (Sept. 26, 2008) for the most receptions by a Palmerton player in a game.

Serfass, meanwhile had TD catches of 73 and 69 yards and finished the contest with 147 yards.

Over the past 35 seasons, only three other times have a pair of area receivers on the same team accumulated at least 140 yards receiving in the same game. Lehighton’s Zach Hunsicker (185) and Hunter Crum (146) did it on Oct. 2, 2020, while Pleasant Valley’s Mike Brown (196) and Brent Beck (151) accomplished the feat on Oct. 27, 2017. The other pair to do it was Panther Valley’s Brad Miller (147) and Fenton Black (145) on Nov. 6, 1992.

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WINNING SEASONS ... Northern Lehigh, at 7-1, and Northwestern, at 6-2, have already clinched winning records this year.

Over the past 25 seasons, the Bulldogs have posted a winning mark 19 times, while the Tigers have been on the plus side 16 times.

Neither one, however, can match Jim Thorpe. Despite only having a current mark of 3-5, the Olympians have finished with 20 winning records over the past 25 seasons - including a stretch of nine in a row coming into this season.