Move out of his way!

In a week when there was an unprecedented failure of our football predictions, Sam “The Man” Matta jumped from next to last place onto the king’s throne to take the lead in the race for the Bob Ford Memorial Grid Pick’s Cup.

Matta was the only picker who correctly selected Pen Argyl to beat Palmerton, Stroudsburg to defeat Wilkes-Barre, and Pottsville to win over Jim Thorpe on his way to a 12-3 Week 2 record. His overall mark of 20-10 has him in first place, two games ahead of the pack.

How he does it

“There’s no science behind picking winners of high school games,” said Matta. “I look for tendencies and program history. I will check past year’s head-to-head competition, and especially pay attention to the team’s quarterback play.”

Matta had an early surge last season in the grid pick’s standings, but faded in the second half. That said, he’s in first place after most of us had an historical collapse.

The shame game

One would think we sports guys would have our pulse on high school football’s teams with their arrows pointing up or pointing down. Think again. How bad did the rest of us do? Pat Matsinko, last week’s leader, finished 7-8 and dropped into a second-place tie with Yours Truly along Jeff Moeller, whose 9-6 record propelled him from eighth place into second. Defending champion Brad Hurley and Rod Heckman fell back to the pack and sit in a logjam with Emmett McCall and Mike Haines at three games behind Matta.

TJ Engle registered the lowest win record in recent history with his 3-12 mark. That travesty could have him scrounging around at garage sales searching for a new crystal ball.

Kyle Magda’s six wins did nothing to lift him out of the Pundit Pit. Magda is now nine games out of first place with only two weeks of the season gone by.

Tamaqua Blue Raiders rock!

Coinciding with our staff’s big losing week, all the Friday night local teams were defeated except for Tamaqua. Sam Bonner’s squad stunned North Schuylkill, with Bradley Whalen dicing and slicing through the Spartan defense for 192 rushing yards. I said last week that this was a statement game for the Blue and White, and it certainly was. The Raiders are 2-0 and visit a solid Pottsville team this week. I believe there is something special about this Tamaqua group. Should they stem the Crimson Tide, there will be no doubt that they are a really good football team.

Thorpe, Palmerton, Marian, Panther Valley and Pleasant Valley all lost their games. You would think it was Friday the 13th with the results for both our local teams and our staff pickers.

Dawgs and doubts

The only local favorite pick this weekend is Northern Lehigh to get its second win in the early season when it travels to play the Pen Argyl Green Knights. The Bulldogs are a team that is expected to get better with experience, and this game should help them do just that.

Jim Thorpe hosts unbeaten Blue Mountain. After an impressive opening-night win, the Olympians were spanked last week by Pottsville. The Eagles knocked off a good Southern Lehigh team a week ago. This could be a high scoring affair, but the staff likes Blue Mountain to go 3-0.

There are doubts that Pleasant Valley can muster its first win when it hosts Exeter Township. The Eagles have outscored their two opponents 85-7, so it will be a tough task for the Bears to keep them out of the end zone.

Lehighton could be on the rise. After a one-point loss to Northern Lehigh, it routed Bangor last week. Tonight, the Tribe travels to take on Southern Lehigh, and no one picks them to win. That should mean an upset in the making.

Palmerton has had a rough going so far, and we think that will continue tonight against Saucon Valley.

Out of Area Game of the Week

There are several good choices. Central Catholic plays Freedom, and Parkland visits Northampton in top games, but I’m going with Notre Dame-Green Pond at North Schuylkill. The Crusaders are 2-0, and defeated Garden Spot with a 71-64 basketball score. In that game, junior quarterback Matt Bodnar completed 37 of 49 passes for an incredible 604 yards and seven touchdowns. In the second win, a 56-0 bashing of Salisbury, Bodnar threw for 313 yards and four TDs. Most likely, he will have over 1,000 yards passing in just three games.

The Spartans opened with an impressive win over Mount Carmel, but then ran into the Tamaqua Raider buzz saw. North Schuylkill averages 265 pounds on the offensive and defensive lines and will need to sustain long, clock-consuming drives and get pressure on Bodnar to beat the high-scoring Crusaders. I don’t think they will. Notre Dame sends the Spartans to their second loss in a row.

The comeback

Expect better predictions after last week’s disaster. Five unanimous picks come off the board. The Tamaqua-Pottsville and Wilson-Salisbury matchups will move some names up or down in the standings. Let’s see if Matta is a one-hit wonder, or is he laying claim to the king’s throne. With Engle and Magda needing a miracle to get back in the race, the rest of the pack looks to make their move up on the leader.

Will it be Matta magic again, or will the odds-on favorites jump up to knock him off the first-place throne?