KEITH GROLLER'S FOOTBALL PICKS

FROM KEITH GROLLER

Thank God it's Friday and time for some games to be played.

While that Northampton School Board meeting was fun and all -- especially the solar panel debate -- and that coaching decision certainly generated some record numbers here at Groller's Corner (although the Central Catholic boys basketball situation still has the record for comments made), it's time to move on -- at least for me, for now.

I will lastly say what I have said about 100,000 times in the last 10 years -- and I will continue to say until I take my final breath -- and that's this:

"Many of the smartest, wisest, calmest, brightest, classiest, considerate, most brilliant and best people on the planet become absolute nut cases and complete jerks when their own children are involved in athletics."

I will stand by that statement forever. In my opinion, there's no truer words I've ever written.

Where there's controversy or problems in high school sports -- and there are many -- you'll find the above statement as the root cause in most cases.

Now on to other stuff. And, it was a real interesting week.

In addition to the Northampton board mess, Glenn Reimer, my softball coach of the year last spring after leading Palmerton to its best season in a long, long time, gets charged with fraud and makes the headlines in the news section of the paper. See page 7 if you want all of the details.

I don't know Glenn well. I do know that he's -- what else -- a Northampton graduate.

From our few conversations we had, I liked him and thought he did a good job with the softball program. Palmerton softball had been as bad as any program in the area and he made them respectable.

This news is certainly surprising to me, and very disappointing. Softball is the least of his concerns now.

I am more concerned about his daughter, Katie, who was a talented shortstop, and received all-league and all-area honors.

This whole thing can't be good for her and her future, and I know she was looking at colleges.

For her sake, I hope this whole situation is resolved soon.

Now on to the games.

Went 18-6 last week and finished the regular season at 195-53 (78.6 percent).

Here we go:

DISTRICT 11 CLASS 4A

Easton 49, Delaware Valley 7 -- Road to the title will go through Cottingham Stadium. Easton people and media love it. Visitors won't.

Nazareth 56, Williamsport 20 -- Chance for Chuck Dibilio to start attracting some all-state attention as people outside the Lehigh Valley get to see him more and more. Andy "The Weave" Weaver is going with a more modest 34-18 win for his guys.

Whitehall 28, Wyoming Valley West 14 -- Andrew Harris. Tyler Artim. Andrew Harris. Tyler Artim. After screwing up some names of some prominent Zephyrs this season, I have one goal tonight -- get the first names of these kids correct. Follow at Twitter@KeithGroller for game reports.

ES South 35, Pleasant Valley 28 -- Another Mountain Valley Conference thriller between the old coach and his former star quarterback. Easily the most competitive district 4A game of the night.

CLASS 4A EASTERN CONFERENCE

Liberty 27, Parkland 21 -- The Trojans certainly missed Rob Dvoracek last week. They were punchless without him. Hurricanes have more speed, more weapons.

Emmaus 28, Pocono Mt. West 21 -- Best chance for a second Mountain Valley win over a LVC team this season -- Pocono Mt. East beat Dieruff in Week 1. Emmaus had better not consider West to be "just another Mountain Valley team."

DISTRICT 11 CLASS 3A

Pottsville 34, Southern Lehigh 20 -- Still, another nice season for the Spartans and John Toman, proving that Solehi is no longer just a soccer and field hockey school in the fall.

CCHS 55, Blue Mountain 7 -- Opportunity for the Vikings to get this over early, and rest players for what should be a tougher game against Pottsville next week. And remember, whenever we think of Blue Mountain, we think of our dear friend Larry O'Rourke, the greatest Eagle of them all in my book.

CLASS 3A EASTERN CONERENCE

Berwick 30, Bangor 22 -- Tempted to go with the Slaters in an upset because Berwick isn't the Berwick of the George Curry era. Slaters have had a terrific season, and home-field advantage gives them a shot here.

DISTRICT 11 CLASS 2A

Northern Lehigh 34, Jim Thorpe 21 -- I know people are already yapping about the Northern Lehigh-North Schuylkill game next week, but the Bulldogs shouldn't look past the Olympians. Jim Tkach has probably been warning them about Thorpe all week. He knows that neck of the woods well. Those kids up the road are tough and Coach Rosenberger does a nice job, as evidenced by his 88-49 career mark.

North Schuylkill 21, Pen Argyl 7 -- What's that expression about offense selling tickets and defense wins championships? It applies to North Schuylkill. But just like with Bangor and Southern Lehigh, hats off to the Green Knights for a great season and home-field advantage may give them a sliver of hope here.

CLASS 2A EASTERN CONFERENCE

Catasauqua 21, Pine Grove 14 -- Playing in the Eastern Conference tourney gives Rough Riders a chance to stay in tune for Thanksgiving game with Northampton. Catty showed its not ready to quit by beating Northwestern last week.

DISTRICT 11 CLASS A

Williams Valley 41, Pius X 28 -- I like Phil Stambaugh. I like his attitude, his moxie, his spirit. He's good for his alma mater. He thinks his team can win this one. I just think the size of Williams Valley and that environment up there on Saturday night may be a bit too much to overcome. But make no mistake, the Royals and A.J. Long will be back.

DISTRICT ONE GAMES

Pennridge over Archbishop Ryan -- Rams need a filler to get ready for Thanksgiving.

Quakertown over Penncrest -- Whenever I hear Penncrest I think of that Dieruff-Penncrest basketball game of so long ago at the Penn Palestra. Huskies led 2-0 after one quarter after holding the ball.

Strath Haven over Upper Perk -- Casey Perlstein, though, has had a terrific season with nearly 2,500 yards in total offense.

NEW JERSEY

Phillipsburg 41, Franklin 20 -- Stateliners already own a 34-21 win over this team, a game in which they racked up 528 yards of offense. Anything you can do once, you can do again. Still, I bet Stemmy wishes he'd have a crack at Whitehall, Nazareth, Central or any of the teams on this side of the river. That would still be fun.

There you go. Enjoy the games everybody.

And listen to the "Calling All Sports" radio show on AM 1470 in the morning (9-11) for Steve Miller's comments. I will be calling in, too, on the way to Washington, D.C. for Lehigh-Georgetown.

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