The Palmerton football team gave assistant coach Mike Falcone the perfect golden anniversary gift last Friday night.

The beginning of Falcone’s 50th season on the high school sidelines was celebrated with a 54-point Bomber explosion in a victory over Lehighton.

We will kick off another season of our high school football Overtime column - which each week will take an in-depth look at a play, player, coach or team from a game held the previous week - by talking to Falcone about what still keeps him involved in the profession he broke into way back in 1974.

In addition, Rod Heckman will once again examine statistics from the previous week, and go back into our archives to add some historical references to the numbers.

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It was definitely a ‘golden’ night for Falcone and the Bombers on Friday.

“No matter how long you coach, opening night is still special,” said Falcone. “I still get excited ... still get that knot in my stomach. But honestly, I still get that feeling before every game. It never gets old. Football brings out so many emotions. I think that’s why I love the game so much. You witness and experience celebrations, tears, pain ... it runs the gamut.

“Friday night, we got to experience the joy that comes with playing well and winning. But as a coach, you get your most enjoyment from seeing your players succeed and then get to celebrate that success with their teammates.”

Falcone has experienced plenty of those highs during the over 500 games he has coached during his career.

It was a career that began just a few months after he gradusted from East Stroudsburg University in 1974.

It started as a freshman/JV coach at Piux X High School.

When a teaching job opened at Pleasant Valley High School a couple of years later, Falcone applied. He got the teaching job and was also hired as an assistant football coach. It was his first varsity coaching position. He stayed there for about a decade - including four years as a very young head coach. Falcone followed that with coaching stops at Palmerton, Allentown Central Catholic, another stint at Pleasant Vally (that once again included a four-year run as head coach), a return to Palmerton, and a few years at Nazareth. In 2016, he returned to Palmerton for the third time in his coaching career and has been working under the Bombers’ Chris Walkowiak since then.

“What Mike has done over the decades and still does today is truly remarkable. I can’t say enough about what he has given to the game of football, and all the players lives he has impacted over these years,” said Walkowiak. “His discipline, passion and enthusiasm are incredible. He has been a great role model for all the players he has coached through the years.”

Falcone’s love for football actually started well before he took his first coaching job.

“When I was seven-years-old, my dad talked me into playing football for the Bangor knee-hi program - and I’ve never missed a year of either playing or coaching football since that time,” Falcone said. “Football has been a big part of my life for the last 64 years.”

As any coach will tell you, the time commitment involved in the profession makes cooperation and understanding from family members vital - especially when you’ve been doing it as long as Falcone has.

“I can’t say enough about my wife Thomasine. She has been amazing throughout all the different stops and changes in my coaching career,” said Falcone. “You can’t do this job and do it right without dedicating huge amounts of time, and that commitment doesn’t end when you walk off the field. There’s a lot of time at home that coaches put in breaking down film, making sure you are covering all the bases, and doing everything possible to put your players in the best position possible to succeed. Because of that, you need a lot of support from your family and my family has been 100% supportive throughout my career.”

When you have coached as long as Falcone has, it can be difficult to pick out your most memorable play or game or season. Instead, Falcone said when he catches himself looking back on his career, he thinks more about the people than the games themselves.

“Over the course of my career, there have been so many highlights and so many memorable games and seasons.” said Falcone. “To pinpoint one or two would be neglecting so many more.

“Instead, what I like to think about when I look at my years coaching, is all the players that I have hopefully impacted in a positive way, and all the wonderful coaches and administrations I’ve worked with, and have coached against. Coaching is a tight-knit community, and I’ve been fortunate enough to have had so many great friendships over the years because of football.”

One of the most special friendships Falcone has made through football - and one that he has continued to this day - is with Tony Caracio, who gave him his first varsity coaching job at Pleasant Valley.

“Tony was the head coach at PV at the time, and he gave me my start,” said Falcone. “To this day, we still stay in touch. As a matter of fact, he watched our Lehighton game on television Friday night and texted me a congratulations after the game.

“Tony was a hard-nosed, old-school football coach who was passionate about the sport, but was also compassionate with his players. I learned a lot from Tony, and took a lot of what he did with me in my coaching career.”

Walkowiak is one of the many people who is glad that Falcone was given his start by Caracio and then stuck with it over the last five decades.

“Mike is one of the most dedicated and disciplined coaches I have coached with,” said Walkowiak. “He does an awesome job on the field and in the weight room teaching our players about football, lifting and life.”

Dedication, discipline and teaching life lessons to kids ... it’s the perfect way to sum up Falcone’s half century in coaching.

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COLTS SHUTOUT ... Marian opened its season on Friday by posting a 27-0 shutout win over Schuylkill Haven.

The last time the Colts blanked their opponent in their season opener was Aug. 30, 2002 when they rolled to a 34-0 victory over Pocono Mountain West en route to a 7-4 season.

In the program’s history, it marked the eighth shutout on opening day. In addition to the above years, Marian also held its opponent scoreless in 1999 (Schuylkill Haven), 1993 (Columbia), 1982 (Blue Mountain), 1975 (Palmerton), 1958 (McAdoo) and 1956 (McAdoo).

While the defense did its job, the offense also showed life. Quarterback Bruce Hopeck threw a pair of touchdown passes in the opening quarter as the Colts jumped out to a 14-0 lead.

The last time Marian threw two TD passes in the first quarter of a game was Oct. 14, 2016 against Shenandoah when Ethan Kuczynski tossed one to Aaron Adams and another to Seth Paluck.

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BEST START EVER ... Palmerton opened its season the best way a team can when it returned the opening kickoff for a touchdown.

Stephen Jones did the honors when he raced 81 yards to paydirt against Lehighton on Friday.

Over the past 45 years (since 1978), the only other time the Blue Bombers began the season with a kickoff return for a touchdown was Sept. 4, 2015 when Toby Sander raced 88 yards against Wilson to give Palmerton the earliest lead possible.

Also in Friday’s game, Matt Machalik scored six touchdowns - five rushing and one on an interception return. Since 1991, Machalik is just the eighth Times News area player to reach the end zone at least six times.

Panther Valley’s Rich Smith had seven on Sept. 14, 2012, while the rest had six. They include Lehighton’s Hunter Crum (Sept. 3, 2021), Jacen Nalesnik (Nov. 4, 2011), Joe Semanoff (Sept. 15, 2000) and Chris Green (Oct. 25, 1991); Palmerton’s Mike Stasko (Oct. 16, 2015) and Northern Lehigh’s Ryan Hluschak (Nov. 1, 2002).

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SPEAKING OF PALMERTON ... The victory over Lehighton on Friday also marked the fifth consecutive year that Palmerton has opened the season with a win.

The last time the Blue Bombers had a streak that long was when they won five straight season openers from 1991-1995.

Over the last 45 years, the area team with the longest Opening Day winning streak is Northern Lehigh. The Bulldogs went nine straight years - from 1999-2007 - starting off their season with a 1-0 record.

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PANTHERS COME BACK ... Panther Valley didn’t get off to the best start in last Friday’s contest when Salisbury recovered a fumble and returned it for a touchdown.

That score allowed the Falcons to hold a 6-0 advantage after the first quarter.

Since 2010, the Panthers had a record of 1-81 - a winning percentage of .012 - when trailing after the first 12 minutes. But Friday night they rallied to pull out a 20-12 victory. Since 1996, they had been 9-145 when trailing after a quarter.

The last time PV was losing after one quarter and still won was Oct. 4, 2019 when it fell behind Marian 10-0 before erasing the deficit and gaining a 40-17 triumph.

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EYE OF THE TIGER ... Northwestern completely shut down Tamaqua last Friday in cruising to a 49-6 victory.

The Tigers’ defense allowed just 39 yards - 34 rushing and five passing.

According to Times News statistics, the last time Northwestern allowed fewer yards in a game was Oct. 10, 2003 - 220 games ago - when it gave up just 16 to Bangor in a 37-0 win.