PALMERTON GETS THEIR SEASON OFF IN RIGHT DIRECTION IN OPENER.
Tagged under: District 11, News, pfn
Brian Ptashinski | August 28, 2021
PALMERTON CRUISES IN SCHUYLKILL/COLONIAL LEAGUE OPENER
By Brian Ptashinski @BPtashinski on Twitter
PALMERTON- With parents, siblings, students and fans back in the stands and bands on the field the Palmerton Blue Bombers entertained their nearby neighbors from Lehighton Friday night, but the Bombers were less gracious hosts when the whistle blew delivering an overwhelming performance in an 46-13 romp in newly-founded Schuylkill/Colonial League opener on a hot and humid Friday night. A game that had a thirty minute lightning delay at halftime.
Palmerton quarterback Matt Machalik led the way with both his arm and his legs in the opening quarter jumping out to a 20-0 lead and were never really threatened during the contest. After the Palmerton defense forced a Lehighton punt on their opening drive, Machalik led his charges onto the field with the ball sitting the home team’s 26 yard line, on the first play he connected with James Denicola along the sideline for a 74 yard score and a 6-0 lead. Machalik then followed that up with 16 yard run, following a 53 yard drive, when Lehighton attempted a fourth-and-five attempt which came up short. Lehighton quarterback Brady O’Donnell trying to get his team in position for a score was picked off by Machalik, who proceeded to weave his way for a 45 yd return for a score.;
;<blockquote class=”twitter-tweet”><p lang=”en” dir=”ltr”>Matt Machalik scores from 16yds out for Palmerton with 7:11 left 1st quarter. Palmerton leads Lehighton 12-0. <a href=”https://twitter.com/PaFootballNews?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw”>@PaFootballNews</a> <a href=”https://t.co/sxXp0hLdM6″>pic.twitter.com/sxXp0hLdM6</a></p>— Brian Ptashinski (@BPtashinski) <a href=”https://twitter.com/BPtashinski/status/1431406675580309510?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw”>August 28, 2021</a></blockquote> <script async src=”https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js” charset=”utf-8″></script>
Lehighton manged to get on the board in the second quarter, when O’Donnell hooked up with Hunter Crum for a 62 yard score to cut the lead to 20-7 with 6:25 left. After another Indian drive stalled at the Palmerton 31, Machalik drove his team into the red zone, capping the drive from four yards out extending the lead to 28-7 with just over a minute till intermission.
<blockquote class=”twitter-tweet”><p lang=”en” dir=”ltr”>Matt Machalik scores his 3rd TD of the 2nd rushing for <a href=”https://twitter.com/PalmertonHigh?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw”>@PalmertonHigh</a> with 1:24 left till half. Blue Bombers lead <a href=”https://twitter.com/LehightonFB?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw”>@LehightonFB</a> 28-7. <a href=”https://twitter.com/PaFootballNews?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw”>@PaFootballNews</a> <a href=”https://t.co/e5vzmDxMKp”>pic.twitter.com/e5vzmDxMKp</a></p>— Brian Ptashinski (@BPtashinski) <a href=”https://twitter.com/BPtashinski/status/1431408614837792772?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw”>August 28, 2021</a></blockquote> <script async src=”https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js” charset=”utf-8″></script>
With lightning off in the distance, officials decided to have extended halftime, after discussing the weather situation it was decided to continue the game at 9:15 after 10-minute warm-up period. Lehighton forced a Palmerton fumble deep inside their own territory. From the Bomber ten Zach Miller cashed it in to make the score 28-13 with 9:24 left in the third quarter.
<blockquote class=”twitter-tweet”><p lang=”en” dir=”ltr”>Zach Miller 10yd score for <a href=”https://twitter.com/LehightonFB?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw”>@LehightonFB</a> with 9:24 left 3rd quarter PAT blocked <a href=”https://twitter.com/PalmertonHigh?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw”>@PalmertonHigh</a> leads 28-13. <a href=”https://twitter.com/PaFootballNews?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw”>@PaFootballNews</a> <a href=”https://t.co/bRAs9URY4r”>pic.twitter.com/bRAs9URY4r</a></p>— Brian Ptashinski (@BPtashinski) <a href=”https://twitter.com/BPtashinski/status/1431427649512132609?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw”>August 28, 2021</a></blockquote> <script async src=”https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js” charset=”utf-8″></script>
Machalik, however was not finished finding the end zone. The signal caller called his own number again, this time from two yards out and a 34-13 lead with 4:59 still to play in the third quarter.
<blockquote class=”twitter-tweet”><p lang=”en” dir=”ltr”>Matt Machalik from 2yds for a <a href=”https://twitter.com/PalmertonHigh?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw”>@PalmertonHigh</a> score. 4:59 left 3rd quarter. Blue Bombers up 34-13. 2pt conversion failed. <a href=”https://twitter.com/PaFootballNews?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw”>@PaFootballNews</a> <a href=”https://t.co/HQYOtXSe6l”>pic.twitter.com/HQYOtXSe6l</a></p>— Brian Ptashinski (@BPtashinski) <a href=”https://twitter.com/BPtashinski/status/1431429941502087170?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw”>August 28, 2021</a></blockquote> <script async src=”https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js” charset=”utf-8″></script>
Steven Jones and Ty Sander each scored for Palmerton late in the game to close out the scoring to make the final margin 46-13.
<blockquote class=”twitter-tweet”><p lang=”en” dir=”ltr”>Ty Sander 1yd run for <a href=”https://twitter.com/PalmertonHigh?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw”>@PalmertonHigh</a> score. 8:48 left in the contest 46-13 over <a href=”https://twitter.com/LehightonFB?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw”>@LehightonFB</a> <a href=”https://twitter.com/PaFootballNews?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw”>@PaFootballNews</a> <a href=”https://t.co/HaMBwNkq19″>pic.twitter.com/HaMBwNkq19</a></p>— Brian Ptashinski (@BPtashinski) <a href=”https://twitter.com/BPtashinski/status/1431438547781832705?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw”>August 28, 2021</a></blockquote> <script async src=”https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js” charset=”utf-8″></script>
Palmerton (1-0) will travel to face Jim Thorpe next Friday. The Olympians will face Blue Mountain Saturday afternoon. Lehighton (0-1) will try to get into the win column against Tamaqua next week, coming off a 42-13 defeat to Northwestern Lehigh Friday night.
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