Competitive games were few and far between in contests involving Time News area football teams last week.

As a matter of fact, five of the six games played on Friday night were played under Mercy Rule criteria - four of them for the entire second half.

This year is the 25th anniversary of the PIAA implementing the Mercy Rule for high school football games. Initially, the new rule wasn’t greeted with a lot of love by coaches throughout the state.

But through the years, the rule has gained almost universal acceptance by the coaching fraternity.

For this week’s Overtime column, we talked to a couple of area coaches to get their thoughts on the rule and how they have adapted to it over the years.

In addition, Rod Heckman will provide statistics and historical perspective on several accomplishments from a week ago, including Tamaqua head coach Sam Bonner earning a milestone victory, and another big receiving performance from Jim Thorpe’s Justin Yescavage.

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It was 1998 when the term “Mercy Rule” initially made its way into the high school football vernacular across Pennsylvania.

A quarter of a century later, Mercy Rule is now a common term, and games played under it are a relatively common occurrence in high school football.

The rule states: Upon completion of the first half or anytime during the second half when a team gains a 35-point differential over its opponent, the clock shall be stopped only when an official’s time-out is taken, a charged time-out is granted, a period ends or a score occurs. Once implemented, the mercy rule remains in effect, even if the differential becomes less than 35 points.

One coach who has had plenty of experience dealing with Mercy Rule games this season is Northwestern’s Josh Snyder. Snyder’s undefeated Tigers have played four of their five games with a running clock for at least part of the second half.

“Overall, I think it is a good rule to have in place,” Snyder said. “It originated as a way to not embarrass and extend a game with two unevenly matched teams, and I think it helps do that.”

Snyder acknowledges there can be a down side to Mercy Rule games - particularly when a team has had as many as the Tigers.

“Obviously, you like to get your varsity starters as many reps as possible, so when they do get into a tight ball game they know how to respond mentally and physically when playing 100(-)plus snaps a game. The mercy rule really limits the amount of reps your kids get playing in any given game.”

Jim Thorpe’s coach Mark Rosenberger has seen his team post two Mercy Rule victories in the last three weeks. Rosenberger said that like almost everything, there are pros and cons involved with the Mercy Rule, but he thinks the positives far outweigh any negatives.

“The number one reason I like the rule is player safety,” said Rosenberger. “When there is a large disparity in skill level, then there is a greater chance someone can get injured.

“Additionally, it reduces the potential for huge blowout games that can be embarrassing and demoralizing for players and coaches.”

The biggest concern among the majority of coaches when the rule was initially put in place was how it would impact the number of snaps reserves would get in blowout games.

“The one downside is not getting the younger kids as much playing time,” said Rosenberger. “But we are fortunate at Jim Thorpe to have enough players to play JV games, so our younger kids can get game experience that way.”

Even though there can be significantly less snaps in Mercy Rule games, coaches have become adept at prioritizing the distribution of the snaps so that most - if not all of their reserves - get the opportunity to gain some varsity experience.

“Mercy rule games give the younger kids or JV players an opportunity at playing in a varsity game, and gaining a lot of good experience under the ‘Friday Night Lights,’” said Snyder. “So we try to play as many players as we can in a mercy rule game.”

Despite the good intentions of the rule, Snyder said there can still be times when there are hard feelings after the game.

“There is no real rule as to when to sub, or how to sub in the second half when the game gets into mercy,” he said. “Every coach has their own philosophies on how they want to approach the game when it gets to that point.

“Sometimes it gets tricky when one team subs their younger kids in and the other keeps their starters in. I know at that point some feelings may get hurt.”

There is no doubt that the Mercy Rule is here to stay in high school football. And while there was initially some hesitation on the part of coaches to give it their full approval, that doesn’t seem to be the case anymore.

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GRAND COMPANY

... Palmerton’s Matt Machalik ran for 237 yards last Friday against Notre Dame, raising his season total to 1,165.

This marks the third straight season that the Blue Bomber senior has reached at least 1,000 yards on the ground.

Over the past 35 seasons, there have only been three other players from the Times News area to have three 1,000-yard rushing seasons. They include Pleasant Valley’s Austyn Borre (2012-13; 2015), Northwestern’s Harry Hall (2013-15) and Northern Lehigh’s Cody Remaley (2008-10).

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LENGTHY PICK-SIX

... Northwestern’s Devon Hildebrand ended the first half in style last Friday when he picked off a Lehighton pass and returned it 82 yards for a touchdown.

Over the past 30 years, that pick-six matches the longest by a Tigers player. The last time Northwestern ran back an interception 82 yards for a score was Oct. 17, 2014 - 103 games ago - when Harry Hall did it against Palmerton during a 50-21 victory.

Over that same time span, there have been 13 longer pick-sixes among all the TN area teams. Three of them have been at least 100 yards - Tamaqua’s Rick Cipko (102 on Oct. 5, 2001), Palmerton’s Matt Machalik (100 on Oct. 8, 2021) and Northern Lehigh’s Matt Sutjak (100 on Sept. 17, 2004).

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CENTURY MARK

... Congratulations go out to Tamaqua head coach Sam Bonner, who gained his 100th-)career win last Friday at Salisbury.

Over the past 45 years, Bonner is just the seventh area coach to hit the century mark.

Four of those coaches are active. Besides Bonner, other mentors to reach the milestone include Marian’s Stan Dakosty (currently at 322), Jim Thorpe’s Mark Rosenberger (163) and Northern Lehigh’s Joe Tout (116).

Past coaches to achieve the mark are Northwestern’s Bob Mitchell (177), Lehighton’s Dave Parsons (136) and Northern Lehigh and Palmerton’s Jim Tkach (114).

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RECEIVING STAR

... Jim Thorpe’s Justin Yescavage caught seven passes for 190 yards last week against Pine Grove. The week before, the Olympian junior had nine receptions for 193 yards versus Palmerton.

Over the past 35 years, only one other player from the Times News area has had two games of at least 190 yards receiving - and none in back-to-back weeks. Northwestern’s Justin Holmes had 217 and 194 yards during two games in 2019.

Yescavage is also just the third Thorpe receiver to have at least seven catches in back-to-back weeks during that time span. He joins Josh Hontz (Aug. 31 and Sept. 7, 2007) and Don Evans (Oct. 29 and Nov. 5, 1999). In total, there have been 14 players from the area (since 1988) with back-to-back weeks of seven catches or more, but no one has done (IT) in three consecutive weeks. Yescavage will be looking to accomplish that feat Friday against Tamaqua.

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LONG PANTHER TD

... In last Thursday’s game between Panther Valley and Minersville, the Panthers’ Brody Breiner connected with Brady Jones for an 89-yard touchdown pass.

The last time PV had a TD pass that long was Sept. 4, 2009 - 144 games ago - when Casey Lawrence tossed an 89-yard TD pass to Jake Dunn against Mahanoy Area.