Blue Mountain's Dylan Foose (59) tackles a Northwestern Lehigh ballcarrier during Friday's game at the Eagles' Nest (Photo by Brook Koch-Guers)

Does anyone believe that the football season is approaching the halfway point? Believe it, we are there after this weekend’s round of games.

Some of the preseason picks have held true, some haven’t, but it will all come down to the 10th and final weekend. Shucks, and the frost isn’t on the pumpkin, and it may not be since the final playing date is the last Saturday in October. Heck, daylight savings time won’t kick in, either.

Northwestern Lehigh, which reached the PIAA Class 3A state championship game last fall, is back in the driver’s seat, setting the pace in the Red Division of the Schuylkill/Colonial Cooperative. The Tigers are unbeaten overall and 3-0 in the conference after saddling what many thought would be their toughest challenge, Blue Mountain, with a 30-8 defeat last weekend.

Those were key bonus points in the District 11 Class 3A playoff race, where Northwestern Lehigh is the defending champion. There doesn’t seem to be any major roadblock to detour the Tigers, and they’ve been very impressive in piling up 188 points in four games. They haven’t been truly tested, beating Wilson 47-0, Northern Lehigh 56-7 and Bangor 55-7 in addition to the win over the Eagles.

Where can this club slip up? They’ll be favorites next week hosting Lehighton. North Schuylkill, a bit of an enigma, meets the Tigers on the road in two weeks. A revamped, youthful Pottsville team could throw the corkscrew into the mix the first weekend in October. Jim Thorpe will be a heavy underdog, then there’s the circle on the 18th of next month: Tamaqua.

Tamaqua AD Mike Hromyak will have more press credential requests if things stay the course. Make no bones about it, Sam Bonner’s football team is getting a full head of steam. Not too many pollsters had the Blue Raiders as a “real threat,” this side of the coin seen it coming after last season’s late surge and with a strong nucleus of returnees. It has panned out so far in a 4-0 start.

“Our kids make plays when they have to,” Bonner said time and again, especially after a dramatic, last-second, 24-21 win over Pottsville two weeks ago. Bonner said this group is a bunch of gamers, saying they are undersized, but play tough. Now in his 18th season, Bonner calls them blue-collar type of football players that step up to the challenge.

That was evident at North Schuylkill, where the Raiders rolled over the Spartans 35-17. That game was a stunner in Week 2, especially after North Schuylkill downed highly favored Mount Carmel in the opener. No one on their forecasting card called it Tamaqua’s way. However, the Raiders can’t do any rubbernecking looking down the road. Friday they play at a sneaky Salisbury outfit, then host Bangor before they get another battle test at Southern Lehigh, which blistered North Schuylkill last Friday 36-14.

She ain’t easy baby! Keep in mind, as well, Tamaqua and Blue Mountain could be a donnybrook by the time the final regular season playing date rolls around. We’ve got action and some great theater is on the horizon.

Eagles still flying

Blue Mountain may have taken one to the solar plex in the loss to Northwestern Lehigh, but the Eagles can get up off the canvas Friday with Bangor coming to the Eagles’ Nest in Orwigsburg.

The good news for this team is that it can be the top dog in the District 11 Class 4A race. The Eagles toppled second-place Southern Lehigh 32-20 in Week 2 and will not be challenged until the final three weeks of the regular season. The closing stretch is a dandy — home games with North Schuylkill and chief rival Pottsville before heading to Tamaqua.

Keep the gate open, the stretch run is going to be a fun time, for all.

Lost but not forgotten

There are going to be some crackerjack small-school football games on the cusp.

Schuylkill Haven, Williams Valley and Minersville are without a doubt the best in District 11 Class 2A. Haven, with their its running back Niko Carestia, is very hard to contain. Speed is a killer here. Minersville QB Dante Carr can light up the stadium with his big arm. Lest we forget Williams Valley and its superb quarterback Brady Shomper. The aforementioned are players that can lift their respective teams at any given moment.

And don’t miss out on a Nativity football team that could make a huge impact by the time the playoffs are center stage. Pat Mason’s Green and Gold are not slight of hand. They’re very good, led by talented seniors Noah Dolbin, Sam Spolski, Sam Walborn, Mike Stank and quarterback Ben Kreitzer. This team can score from anywhere on the field, making them lethal.

Right now Nativity is the top gun in a packed District 2/11 Class A subregional standings. Nativity will be favored in its next three games – Panther Valley, Shenandoah Valley and Mahanoy Area — before it has to travel to Minersville (Oct 11) and Schuylkill Haven (Oct. 18) before playing Marian the final week of the regular season.

And did we say, Holy Moly.

Not a level playing field

For cripes sake, how can the PIAA in its infinite wisdom ever think that the charter schools in Philadelphia are on the same field as the schools that get bumped up a classification every time a new charter school emerges.

There are over 100 charter schools in Philadelphia, 34 of which include high school grades. But that is not the end of the tale — all of those students in the Philadelphia Public Schools can chose where they want to attend. Philly is vast and is ONE SCHOOL DISTRICT!!! In fact there are 197,115 students in the Philadelphia School District.

Hmmm, how is this equal? Look at Shenandoah Valley, which is growing somewhat, and has close to 1,100 TOTAL students K-12!! Yet, they are considered Class 2A and Class 3A in sports.

This corner is not done here yet! Mr. Tim Twardzik, Mr. Dane Watro and Mr. Dave Argall, get ready. It’s up to you to answer for the Coal Region on why the Philly charter schools are not pushed up in classification to 6A.

All of them! Every single one! No exceptions, either!

It has an enormous pool of students – 197,115 to draw from. Philly students are allowed to choose a charter school of its liking. Or so it says in the school constitution.

Therefore, Schuylkill County principals need to challenge this ASAP. Why the principals? Because they are in charge of the sports programs. Not the superintendents, not the athletic directors – THE PRINCIPALS!

It ain’t over yet as Yogi Berra once said!