Pleasant Valley will look to carry momentum of last week’s impressive win over Dieruff into tonight’s home game against East Stroudsburg South.

After another impressive performance in Week 2 against Catasauqua, Palmerton will aim to keep its perfect record intact tomorrow night at home against Palisades.

ES South (1-1)

at Pleasant Valley (1-1)

Thursday, Sept. 7, 7:10 p.m.

Storyline of the Week

: Bears, who blasted Dieruff 41-14 last week, are looking for back-to-back wins agains their t rival after a 7-6 victory last year.

Quote

: “I fully expect it to be another close game. Coach (Matt) Walters does a great job there, and he’s always going to have a good football team and be well prepared. It’s going to be tougher. Every game is going to continue to get tougher. We’re going to have to play equally as well in areas we played well, and improve in the areas we didn’t play as well in. We’re going to have to win the physicality battle again, and they pose a lot of different threats both offensively and defensively. It’s going to be a tough one, but we’re going to be ready as well and looking forward to it. We’re going to have our work cut out for us on stopping them without a doubt. Defensively, they’re always very active. It’s going to be a challenge.” - Pleasant Valley head coach Blaec Saeger

Jim Thorpe (0-2)

at Salisbury (0-2)

Friday, Sept. 8, 7 p.m.

Storyline of the Week

: Both teams look for their first win, and defense might be the key. The Olympians have allowed 74 points in two games, while the Falcons have given up 62.

Quote

: “We have really been set back by injuries with as many as 11 of our starting 22 out, and most of our running backs are in that number. We prepare the best we can as always, and there will be opportunities for younger kids to show us what they can do. On offense, we see good progress, especially in our starting quarterback, Cole Lazorick and our wide receiver, Justin Yescavage who has made some really big catches from Cole. We were right there last week until late in the game. We must eliminate turnovers. On defense, Salisbury has two good running backs, and their QB runs as well so our focus will be on stopping the run. We have to eliminate big plays with our defense to give us a good chance to win the game.” – Jim Thorpe head coach Mark Rosenberger.

Lehighton (1-1)

at Pottsville (0-3)

Friday, Sept. 8, 7 p.m.

Storyline of the Week

: The Indians look to move above .500 after a dominating victory against Tamaqua last week. The Crimson Tide have lost three straight by a combined score of 143-20. Their losses are somewhat misleading, as all have been against powerhouse programs that have a cumulative 6-1 record and have outscored their opponents by 243-60.

Quote

: “Pottsville is a hard team to gauge because of the teams they have played. We have to expect they are better than their record. They are similar to Tamaqua in their schemes and in their running game. They have an outstanding running back in Parrish McFarland, a 1,000-yard rusher. We need to contain him. On offense, we have to create mismatches and move the chains like we did last week.” - Lehighton head coach Tom McCarroll.

Panther Valley (1-1)

at Mahanoy Area (0-2)

Friday, Sept 8, 7 p.m.

Storyline of the Week

: The Panthers will look to control the time of possession against the winless Golden Bears.

Quote

: “Their offense runs through their fullback, and another back who’s lightning fast. We have to tackle better and get stops. We think we match up pretty well with them. On offense, we have been focusing this week on pass blocking and executing sound schemes. We can’t make mistakes like the three turnovers in the first half we had last week.” - Panther Valley head coach Mark Lavine.

Tamaqua (0-2)

at Notre Dame GP (1-1)

Friday, Sept 8, 7 p.m.

Storyline of the Week

: The Raiders are searching for their first win of the season against the high-scoring Crusaders.

Quote

: “Offensively, we have to sustain and finish drives. Last week against Lehighton, we proved we’re too young and not good enough to recover from mistakes like failing to covert a fourth-and-one and losing a fumble to give up chances for two scores. We stay positive, and we’re giving everyone opportunities to stay on the field. Notre Dame likes to play speed-ball at a fast pace off the snap with a good quarterback who likes to run. We have to slow him down.” - Tamaqua head coach Sam Bonner.

Palisades (1-1)

at Palmerton (2-0)

Friday, Sept. 8, 7 p.m.

Storyline of the Week

: Palmerton’s rushing attack, led by senior All-State quarterback Matt Machalik, has been big-play oriented this season. Machalik is averaging 12.13 yards per carry and leads the team with 388 rushing yards and eight touchdowns. Bombers’ running back Ty Sander looked good running the ball last week against Catty, rushing for 102 yards and a score.

Quote

: “Palisades has a playmaker at quarterback who can run the ball well, so that is someone we are focused on. Stopping their running game in general is going to be a big key for us. We played well on the defensive front last week, so we’re going to look to continue to build off that. And then we know they’re going to blitz us and be aggressive, so we need to pick up those blitzes and then take what they give us. We have to continue to be explosive offensively and get off to a good start early.” - Palmerton head coach Chris Walkowiak.

Marian (1-1)

at Catasauqua (1-1)

Friday, Sept. 8, 7 p.m.

Storyline of the Week

: Both Marian and Catasauqua are looking to bounce back this week after losses in Week 2. Marian will need to be better against the run this week, as it gave up 415 rushing yards in a narrow loss (41-39) to Minersville. There were some positives for the Colts, however, as they battled back from a 34-13 deficit, scoring 26 points in the fourth quarter. The Marian defense also came through with three interceptions..

Quote

: “Poor tackling hurt us last week. So, we have been working on that this week in practice. We need to be more fundamentally sound this week for sure. Catty is a quick and athletic team that likes to spread the field, so we’re going to need to make some plays out there. We just need to focus on going out there and executing against another good football team.” - Marian head coach Stan Dakosty.

Pen Argyl (2-0)

at Northern Lehigh (0-2)

Friday, Sept. 8, 7 p.m.

Storyline of the Week

: The Bulldogs will look to rebound from a 48-0 loss to Northwestern to get their first win of the year against Pen Argyl in their home opener.

Quote

: “There’s some growing pains going on right now. We had some positives with our quarterback. He improved from Week 1 to Week 2. We made a lot of changes this week. We’re not clicking up front on the offensive line, so we made some position changes there. We’re going to see how we respond this week. They’re a good offensive team. It’s been a little bit of a tale of our season so far. They’re a senior-heavy team. They remind me a little bit of Catasauqua where Pen Argyl has several skilled players that are now their third-year starters. They went with a group when they were younger sophomores, and you can see now they are a mature group and good offensive group. They throw the ball pretty well. They’re solid. What they do, they do well offensively. We’re hoping to make some moves offensively and match up a little bit better with them.” - Northern Lehigh head coach Joe Tout

By Rich Strack, Brad Hurley and Kyle Magda.