Just when you thought Daniel Boone was going to run the Inter-County League Division One table … Just when you thought all Pottsgrove would have to do was strap on the gear and go through the motions to tackle another Pioneer Athletic Conference title … Just when you thought there just weren’t any real meaningful games remaining on the regular season schedule …

Just when …

Stop right there. You thought wrong.

Daniel Boone got knocked off cruise control last Friday night with a 19-7 loss to Governor Mifflin and went from the division’s lone unbeaten to one of three teams parked alongside one another atop the standings. So the Blazers best warm up — or rev up, if you prefer — their offensive motor in a hurry. Unpredictable Pottsville will be in Birdsboro this Friday night, then next week, there’s the trip up to Muhlenberg, which must be feeling like it’s driving in circles after opening with five wins only to lose its last two.

The Blazers better not run out of gas for their finale with visiting Exeter, either. Yes, the Eagles have lost 18 in a row and 24 of their last 26 games dating back to 2006. But don’t forget, while they were going nowhere the last two seasons at the same time the Blazers were going to the District 3-AAA playoffs, it was Daniel Boone that needed some late scores to hold off their neighboring rivals 17-7 and 20-19 in those two meetings. And their next get-together, in the event you haven’t glanced at the calendar, happens to be on Halloween Night.

That’s kind of scary, especially when thinking two losses could conceivably sack the Blazers’ bid for a third straight appearance in the postseason.

In the PAC-10, Pottsgrove has left the league’s upper echelon scratching its collective helmet with five straight wins. And for a while there, the Falcons didn’t appear to have much of a challenge ahead of them, either. But all of a sudden, there is one — Friday night with visiting Methacton.

The Warriors, whose inconsistencies on both sides of the ball early on left them adrift in mediocrity, are sailing now with three straight wins. They have enough size and mobility up front to create some havoc; a quarterback who may have matured — or improved — as much as anyone over the last month; and a young fella by the name of Tim Smith, who is already on (or will be on) most of the coaches’ Player of the Year ballots before the season winds down.

The PAC-10 has another biggie on the weekend card, too. This one, a Saturday matinee, features Owen J. Roberts at Phoenixville — the only teams with just one loss in the league. You can bet your chin strap both will be hooting and hollering for Methacton on Friday night, but less than 24 hours later they’ll be going after one another for the obvious reason. A spot in the District 1-AAA playoffs may very well be on the line, too, especially when considering they’re currently eighth and ninth in the points standings (and only eight teams qualify).

Should be an interesting weekend after all.

Yep, the high school football season has officially reached crunch time.

Pottsgrove moved on top of the District 1-AAA playoff points standings this week, while Upper Moreland was second. Former PAC-10 member Great Valley and Henderson are tied for third. Rustin, which surprised Henderson last weekend and dropped the Warriors out of the No. 1 position, was fifth. Upper Merion and Strath Haven were next, with Owen J. Roberts holding a slight edge on Phoenixville for the eighth spot.

HONORABLE

Player of the Week honors go to Pottsgrove’s Bill Sheppard, who ran for one touchdown, caught a pass for another score, and returned two punts for touchdowns to help the Falcons defeat Upper Perkiomen, 41-14.

Coach of the Week honors go to Phoenixville’s Bill Furlong, who guided the Phantoms over Boyertown, 21-18, and into a tie for second place in the PAC-10 standings.

PRIVATE MATTERS

The Hill School’s 14-6 thriller over Mercersburg last Saturday kept the Rams unbeaten in the Mid-Atlantic Prep League (2-0, 3-2 overall) and left them halfway to the six victories they need to become just the second area program to reach 500 wins. The Rams have four games remaining, with trips to Wyoming Seminary (3-2) and Blair (4-0) the next two weeks before closing at home against Hun (3-2) and Lawrenceville (3-2).

Perkiomen School is all even (2-2) at the halfway mark of its season. The Indians host Princeton Day School this week, then hit the road to visit Elkton Christian School in Maryland and St. Andrew’s in Delaware before closing at home against Pennington Prep.

NOTEWORTHY

Boyertown had just six turnovers through its first six games before doubling that figure with its six-turnover nightmare last Friday evening against Phoenixville. Quarterback David Crognale has moved up to No. 6 on the area’s all-time career total offense chart with 5,255 yards. … Daniel Boone not only lost (19-7) to Governor Mifflin, but was held under 10 points for only the sixth time in 65 games since head coach Dave Bodolus took over the program. Wideout Zach Keeley pulled in six more passes last Saturday to become the school’s all-time leader with 93 career receptions. Keeley broke Mark Justice’s record of 88. Keeley also has 1,330 career receiving yards, second only to Justice’s total of 1,578. … Methacton is plus-four in takeaways in its current three-game winning streak. Tim Smith has scored seven touchdowns in the same span — two on runs, four on pass receptions, and three on defense or special teams. … Owen J. Roberts has the area’s leading scorer and rusher in Ryan Brumfield, who is on pace to become just the fourth OJR back to run for 2,000 or more yards in a season. Teammate Kohl Batdorf’s string of successive touchdown catches ended at three last week in the win over St. Pius X.

Perkiomen Valley may be 3-4, but before last week’s come-from-behind win over Pottstown the Vikings were actually the highest-scoring team in District 1. The Vikings lead the area in total offense (2,971 yards) — just 12 yards better than Daniel Boone. Senior Zach Zulli last week became just the second area quarterback to go over the 5,000-yard career passing mark. Zulli has thrown for 5,069 yards and needs just 229 more to break the area record set by Daniel Boone’s Chris Bokosky. … Phoenixville has recovered six fumbles and picked off six passes in its last two games, which has helped the Phantoms take over the area lead in takeaways with a plus-14 mark. Quarterback Tom Romano was 10 of 30 for 158 yards with one touchdown in his first four games, but is 22 of 38 for 452 yards with five touchdowns in his last three games. … Pottsgrove fumbled away a possession last week at Upper Perkiomen, the team’s first lost-fumble in five games. Bill Sheppard has scored six touchdowns the last two weeks — two on runs, two on passes, and two on punt returns.

Pottstown, which played so well for three quarters last week, is likely to be without running back Kenny Baker for at least another week. Baker, recovering from minor knee surgery, has 2,593 career yards and is trying to join Tyrone Dalton (3,324) and Christian Allen (3,705) as the only Trojans with more than 3,000 career rushing yards. … Spring-Ford quarterback Trevor Sasek broke Lance Viola’s school record for career passing yards last week. Sasek’s total is currently at 4,043, and he may be forced to go up top a lot more this weekend if running back David Tyler isn’t back from an injury he suffered against Methacton last Saturday. … St. Pius X is expected to be back to full strength for the first time this weekend when they Lions line up in search of that elusive first PAC-10 win. … Upper Perkiomen was averaging 301 yards offensively through its first six games but managed to produce just 91 last Friday night against Pottsgrove.

This column was first published in the Sept. 30 edition of The Mercury

Daniel Boone, along with Owen J. Roberts and Pottsgrove, are in first place in their respective leagues. Daniel Boone currently shares the top spot in Section One of the Inter-County League with Conrad Weiser and Muhlenberg, while Owen J. Roberts and Pottsgrove are situated next to each other as the lone unbeatens in the Pioneer Athletic Conference.

But no one best be pointing that index finger skyward.

No, no, no…

Not yet.

You see, neither Daniel Boone, Owen J. Roberts nor Pottsgrove have reached the halfway mark of their respective league schedules. In other words, there is a lot of football to be played. Make that a whole heck of a lot of football to be played.

And even though there isn’t that strength-of-schedule argument in high school like there is in college, Daniel Boone and Owen J. Roberts have a considerably more challenging month ahead of them than Pottsgrove (and, no, we’re not overlooking the fact three other PAC-10 teams have just one loss right now, either).

First, Daniel Boone. The Blazers (2-0, 4-1) host Conrad Weiser (2-0, 4-1) this Saturday, travel to Governor Mifflin (1-1, 3-2) next week, then come back home to entertain Pottsville (2-1, 2-3), go off to visit Muhlenberg (2-0, 5-0), and close at home against Exeter (0-2, 0-5).

For head coach Dave Bodolus and the Blazers, that’s a grind … a big-time grind.

Weiser, in case you didn’t know, has won four in a row. Mifflin has done quite well with Vince Garipoli calling the signals since the highly touted Casey Hughes broke his arm in the preseason. Hughes, who had three interceptions on defense last week, may be ready to step back in under center at any time for the defending section champions. A very young Pottsville ran off back-to-back wins before last weekend’s narrow 25-20 setback to Weiser. Muhlenberg, thanks in part to quarterback Nate Daniels — whose numbers (61 percent completion rate, 999 yards, just one interception and 12 touchdowns) are almost as ridiculous as Jon Monteiro’s of the Blazers — hasn’t lost to anyone yet. And Exeter, on a 16-game losing streak, nevertheless is still the pesky rival who was winless a year ago when they came up one point shy of the heavily favored Blazers.

There’s just as much drama building in the PAC-10, too.

Owen J. Roberts travels to Pottsgrove on Friday night. It will be the first “big test” for the Wildcats, and the third straight “big game” for the Falcons. After next week’s game at home with St. Pius X, the Wildcats have a grind themselves — at Phoenixville, at home against Perkiomen Valley, and at Boyertown. Even though the Wildcats have dominated Pius (winning 17 of their last 20 meetings), they won’t overlook the Lions. Phoenixville has another quality team that gets better each week and slips under everyone’s radar while doing it. Perkiomen Valley has an offense capable of piling up big yards and putting up big points. And Boyertown, remember, came within six inches of putting Pottsgrove in a hole with less than two minutes left last weekend.

Wildcats head coach Tom Barr may want to give Bodolus a call to find out what prescription he gets to settle the stomach.

Pottsgrove, which also outlasted Perkiomen Valley two weeks ago, has a bit more of a football-friendly schedule (just don’t let head coach Rick Pennypacker hear that). The Falcons visit Upper Perkiomen, which has split its last six meetings with Pottsgrove; host Methacton, which found its offense last week to get into the win column and pick up some much-needed confidence; travel to Spring-Ford, which is going to break out, offensively and defensively, one of these weeks; and entertain Pottstown, which has the speed to go step-for-step with the Falcons.

And if the battle for an I-C League or PAC-10 title isn’t enough to motivate the troops, Daniel Boone, Owen J. Roberts, and Pottsgrove are all trying to keep pace in the playoff chase, too.

Though official standings aren’t expected to be released until later this week, Daniel Boone is among the leaders in the District 3-AAA bracket. But another 3-2 run down the stretch like last year’s finish against the same five opponents could conceivably keep the Blazers out of the postseason. OJR and Pottsgrove are among the leaders in the District 1-AAA bracket, but a loss here and there could sack their playoff hopes as well.

HONORABLE

Player of the Week honors … more on that in a moment.

Coach of the Week honors go to Methacton’s Bob McNally, who guided the Warriors to their first Pioneer Athletic Conference win, 36-13, at Upper Perkiomen last Friday night.

Now, Player of the Week? Forget it. Time to pluralize.

In other words, take your pick from the following fellas who just went bonkers in the mud and rain last Friday night:

Boyertown quarterback David Crognale, who ran for 249 yards — a PAC-10 record for yards rushing in a game by a quarterback — and two touchdowns; Daniel Boone quarterback Jon Monteiro, who threw for 475 yards — which shattered the Mercury area’s all-time record — and four touchdowns; Daniel Boone receiver Zach Keeley, who had 13 receptions for 184 yards and two touchdowns; Methacton quarterback Jim McHugh, who threw for 271 yards and four touchdowns; Owen J. Roberts’ Ryan Brumfield, who ran for 250 yards, had 317 yards of total offense, and scored three times; Perkiomen School quarterback Abdul Smith, who ran and threw for a combined 275 yards and four touchdowns; Perkiomen Valley quarterback Zach Zulli, who threw for a school-record 307 yards and two scores; Perkiomen Valley running back Lynwood Snowden, who scored four times himself; Perkiomen Valley receiver Sean Conners, who caught eight passes for 150 yards and a touchdown; and Pottsgrove quarterback Terrell Chesnut, who carried just 13 times for 245 yards (a PAC-10 record until Crognale passed him on the Bears’ final drive) and three touchdowns.

PRIVATE MATTERS

The Hill School opens its Mid-Atlantic Prep League schedule this Friday (3:30 p.m.) at the Peddie School. The Rams, 1-2 after three non-league games, and host Falcons will be meeting for the 69th time.

In three games, Perkiomen School’s Abdul Smith has had his hand in 99 offensive plays (51 carries, 48 passes), which have led to 842 yards and nine touchdowns. In other words, Smith is averaging 8.5 yards every time he touches the ball, and one out of every 11 touches results in a touchdown. He’s also returned a kickoff for a touchdown, too.

MILESTONES AND MORE

Keeley became the third Daniel Boone receiver to go over the 1,000-yard career mark two weeks ago and is now second (1,239 yards) on the short list. He passed Dexter Russell (1,197) last Friday night and could pass Mark Justice (1,578) by season’s end. St. Pius X graduate Mike Todd is the Mercury area’s all-time leading receiver with 1,919 career yards.

Zulli’s two touchdown passes against St. Pius X were the 49th and 50th of his career. The Viking senior lifted his career passing yardage to 4,505 and needs 792 more yards to equal the Mercury area record held by Daniel Boone graduate Chris Bokosky. … Crognale’s 277 yards (rushing and passing) last Friday night pushed his career total offense to 5,083. He is just the fifth area player to go over the 5,000-yard mark. Next up on the list are Pottsgrove’s Brent Steinmetz (5,277) and Bokosky (5,297). Zulli (4,853) could join the select list this weekend. … Monteiro’s effort against Blue Mountain — which, incidentally, had been allowing opponents just 43 yards passing a game — broke the area record of 394 yards set by Phoenixville’s Steve Rife in 1984. The PAC-10 record is also held by a former Phoenixville quarterback, Steve Ferko, who threw for 387 yards as a freshman against Great Valley in 1996.

REMEMBER WHEN

Thirty years ago, or 1978 to be exact, the area scoring leader at the end of the season was Owen J. Roberts tailback Tom Barr — yep, the same Tom Barr who is now the Wildcats’ head coach.

Twenty years ago, or 1988 to be exact, Phoenixville and Upper Perkiomen put on quite an offensive show with the Phantoms winning, 63-35. The game set an area record for the most points scored in a game, breaking the mark of 96 set way back in 1914 when Reading ripped Pottstown, 96-0. The Reading-Pottstown mismatch dropped to the No. 3 spot on the list two years ago after Upper Perkiomen and Lansdale Catholic combined for 97 points (the Indians won, 55-42).

Daniel Boone has had its share of good quarterbacks — better make that very good quarterbacks — in recent years. Chris Bokosky, calling the signals up at Lehigh University nowadays, owns a few pages of season and career marks in the area’s record books. Casey Smith had the unenviable task of following Bokosky, but responded with just under 2,000 yards and 25 touchdowns. And Anthony Heimbach, who last year expected to catch and carry the football until getting to camp and discovering an injury to a teammate forced him under center, didn’t exactly toss wobble after wobble last fall while leading the Blazers to the District 3-AAA semifinals.

So was head coach Dave Bodolus really that concerned when Jon Monteiro strolled out to call the signals in his debut last Friday night?

Nope.

“I don’t think you can expect the kind of game (that Monteiro had), not when it’s his first varsity start,” Bodolus said. “But we certainly knew he was capable of it.”

What exactly did Monteiro do?

Well, he completed 10 of 17 attempts for 235 yards and an area record-tying five touchdowns — three to wideout Zach Keeley and two to tight end Mitchell Stead — to underline the Blazers’ 40-0 romp at Donegal.

“Jon has a heck of a group of receivers to throw to, and that helps any quarterback,” Bodolus said. “Our offensive line played well, too.

“But he was so poised. He has a good head on his shoulders. He understands what we want to do, makes good decisions, and throws the ball accurately. He had some pressure on him at times, but he didn’t get rattled. He handled himself very well.”

Monteiro was actually penciled in to start last year. Bodolus was well aware of who he was getting, and just how promising a talent he was, too. But an offseason leg injury cost Monteiro his entire sophomore season.

Now a 6-foot, 190-pound junior with very reliable receivers in Keeley, Stead, and Kyle Yarmush — to name just a few — and a very productive running back in Nate Greene, Monteiro may well be the next quarterback to orchestrate another banner season.

Yes, you can bet your helmet, shoulder pads, and cleats that the Blazers are determined (and favored) to get into the I-C Division One and District 3-AAA mix yet again.

“We want to be balanced offensively,” Bodolus said. “We want to be able to run the ball and pass the ball, and you’re obviously not going to be able to do either without a quarterback who makes good decisions. So Jon is very important to us … to this team. But we’re confident he can do the job.”

Monteiro’s five touchdown passes against Donegal – which covered 38, 18, 8, 7, and 31 yards – tied the area record originally set in 1982 by Phoenixville’s Steve Rife and equaled only two times since.

HONORABLE

Player of the Week honors, a no-brainer obviously, go to Monteiro.

Coach of the Week honors go to St. Pius X’s George Parkinson, who took his Lions down to Philadelphia last Friday night and opened with a 6-0 shutout of Simon Gratz. Quite an achievement for the very young Lions considering the long bus ride through rush-hour traffic and playing in an intimidating environment.

GETTING DEFENSIVE

Perkiomen Valley head coach Scott Reed hopes his team gets a little defensive before Friday’s trek to Coatesville.

In their opener at Upper Dublin, the Vikings came up short, 55-42 – the second-highest number of points a PV team has allowed in a game. The only game they gave up more was 37 years ago, or way, way, way back in 1971 – long before Reed was even born – in a 56-0 loss to then Bux-Mont League rival Central Bucks West.

“It was our first game, so whether it was how good (Upper Dublin’s offense) was or how badly our defense played, I don’t know,” Reed said. “I know one thing, though, and that is Upper Dublin came to play.

“That team moves the ball really well. Going in, we thought they’d score some points, but we didn’t think they’d score that many. The bottom line was we tackled very poorly.”

Josh Mastromatto ran through, over, and around the Vikings for 220 yards and four touchdowns, and added two more scores on receptions from quarterback Derek Giannetti, who was 11 of 19 for 182 yards. Overall, the Cards’ winning hand totaled 533 yards.

“I think we’re more upset with the consistency of (Upper Dublin’s) drives,” Reed added. “And then in the second half, there were so many big plays.”

Enough big plays to make everyone forget the Vikings actually led 14-10 at halftime … a four-point spread that disappeared in a hurry when the Cardinals put 45 points up on the board in the final two quarters.

“We have a lot of work to do, especially to get ready for Coatesville,” Reed said of the Red Raiders, considered (and ranked) among the top Class AAAA teams in District 1.

Reed is only the fifth coach in the history of Perkiomen Valley’s program, following Scott Fuhrman, John Strawoet, Ken Donahue, and Bill Fretz, who guided the Vikings after the jointure of Collegeville-Trappe and Schwenksville high schools. … PV had given up 54 points in games on two occasions, in 1981 to Hatboro-Horsham (54-0), and in 1984 to C.B West (54-0). … The combined 97 points from last Friday night was far and away the most scored in any game involving a PV team, breaking the mark of 89 set in 2002 in a 48-41 loss to Boyertown.

SPECIAL TIMES

Tom Barr and his staff at Owen J. Roberts will be working on two specific things this week – special teams and holding onto the football, both of which were costly in the 47-21 loss to Downingtown West. The Wildcats saw two of their early scores negated by returns for touchdowns on the ensuing kickoffs. And, if that wasn’t enough, they turned the football over four times.

MOVING UP

Boyertown quarterback David Crognale ran past the 1,500-yard career mark during the Bears’ loss to Muhlenberg last Friday night. Crognale, a four-year starter, is within reach of becoming the first quarterback in area history to run for more than 2,000 yards. He is also approaching the 3,000-yard career mark passing the football.

Lost in Perkiomen Valley’s setback to Upper Dublin was another solid performance by quarterback Zach Zulli. The senior was 19 of 27 for 257 yards and four touchdowns. He now has 212 completions, 3,560 yards, and 42 touchdowns and is likely to pass or get close to a select list of area career leaders in all three categories by season’s end.

LONG DISTANCE

Another record (of little or no importance) was set last weekend when eight area players went 50 or more yards for touchdowns (in one night).

They were Boyertown’s Logan Herb (65-yard run); Perkiomen Valley’s Lynwood Snowden (90-yard kickoff return) and Rhashad Santiago (65-yard reception); Pottsgrove’s Preston Hamlette (94-yard run) and Terrell Chestnut (76-yard run); Spring-Ford’s David Tyler (63-yard run); St. Pius X’s Cole Parkinson (70-yard reception); and Upper Perkiomen’s Shawn Wenhold (56-yard reception).

For the record, Phoenixville’s Anthony Nattle was just a step shy of joining the group after taking a pass 49 yards for the Phantoms’ lone score.

PAC-10 RECAP

It wasn’t necessarily a good opening night at all for the Pioneer Athletic Conference. The league was 3-7 overall, with only Pottsgrove (21-7 over Exeter), St. Pius X (6-0 over Simon Gratz), and Upper Perkiomen (42-7 over Allen) accounting for the wins.

It won’t get any easier this week, either. Only two teams are home (Pottstown faces the explosive Mastromatto and Upper Dublin on Friday night and Methacton entertains Kennedy-Kenrick on Saturday afternoon).

Also Friday night, Boyertown heads up to another corner of Berks County to play Governor Mifflin; Owen J. Roberts, Perkiomen Valley and Uppper Perkiomen travel to Ches-Mont League rivals W.C. East, Coatesville and Downingtown West, respectively; Phoenixville heads down to Delaware County to meet Chichester; and Pottsgrove and Spring-Ford visit neighboring Suburban One representatives Wissahickon and Norristown, respectively, to cap the frenzy.

DID YOU KNOW

The PIAA’s enrollment figures and competition classifications for the next two seasons revealed some interesting numbers. St. Pius X is the largest of only five Class A football programs in District 1. The Lions’ male enrollment (194) tops Bristol (134), Calvary Christian (126), Morrisville (99) and Jenkintown (73). … District 1 has just three schools in Class AA with Harriton, Lower Moreland and Springfield-Montco. … Five area schools – Owen J. Roberts (510), Pottsgrove (410), Upper Perkiomen (392), Phoenixville (381) and Phoenixville (360) – and 17 others make up the district’s Class AAA field. … Spring-Ford (833), Methacton (686) and Perkiomen Valley (670) are all AAAA entries. … Up in District 3, Daniel Boone (498) is one of 33 teams in Class AAA.