Fearless Forecasters - LehighValleyLive.com

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BREAKING NEWS: lehighvalleylive.com
Friday, October 8, 2010
C3
FEARLESS FORECASTERS
Corky
Blake
Dieruff at Easton
Bethlehem Catholic at Nazareth
Freedom at Northampton
Emmaus at Liberty
Pen Argyl at Northern Lehigh
Bangor at Catasauqua
Southern Lehigh at Notre Dame
Salisbury at Saucon Valley
Montgomery at Phillipsburg
Belvidere at Voorhees
Delaware Valley at Bernards
N. Hunterdon at Hunterdon Central
Warren Hills at North Plainfield
Manville at North Warren
Palisades at Wilson
Lourdes at Pius X
Hackettstown at Newton
Connecticut at Rutgers
Illinois at Penn State
Lafayette at Columbia
Fordham at Lehigh
Moravian at Gettysburg
Juniata at Muhlenberg
Kutztown at East Stroudsburg
Brad
Wilson
Bruce
Buratti
Michael
LoRé
Bob
Wechsler
Easton
Nazareth
Freedom
Emmaus
Northern Lehigh
Bangor
Southern Lehigh
Saucon Valley
Phillipsburg
Belvidere
Delaware Valley
Hunterdon Central
North Plainfield
North Warren
Wilson
Pius X
Hackettstown
Connecticut
Penn State
Columbia
Fordham
Gettysburg
Muhlenberg
Kutztown
Easton
Nazareth
Freedom
Emmaus
Northern Lehigh
Bangor
Southern Lehigh
Saucon Valley
Phillipsburg
Belvidere
Delaware Valley
Hunterdon Central
North Plainfield
North Warren
Wilson
Pius X
Hackettstown
Connecticut
Penn State
Columbia
Lehigh
Moravian
Muhlenberg
Kutztown
Easton
Nazareth
Freedom
Emmaus
Northern Lehigh
Catasauqua
Southern Lehigh
Saucon Valley
Phillipsburg
Belvidere
Delaware Valley
Hunterdon Central
North Plainfield
North Warren
Wilson
Pius X
Hackettstown
Connecticut
Penn State
Columbia
Lehigh
Gettysburg
Muhlenberg
Kutztown
Tom
Hinkel
Barry
Miller
Unknown
Scribe
Online
voters
Easton
Nazareth
Freedom
Emmaus
Pen Argyl
Bangor
Southern Lehigh
Saucon Valley
Phillipsburg
Belvidere
Delaware Valley
Hunterdon Central
North Plainfield
North Warren
Wilson
Pius X
Newton
Connecticut
Penn State
Lafayette
Lehigh
Moravian
Muhlenberg
Kutztown
Easton
Nazareth
Freedom
Emmaus
Pen Argyl
Bangor
Southern Lehigh
Saucon Valley
Phillipsburg
Belvidere
Delaware Valley
Hunterdon Central
Warren Hills
North Warren
Wilson
Pius X
Hackettstown
Connecticut
Penn State
Lafayette
Lehigh
Moravian
Muhlenberg
East Stroudsburg
Last week: 21-5
Season: 90-22
Last week: 21-5 Last week: 22-4 Last week: 20-6 Last week: 21-5
Season: 90-22 Season: 89-23
Season: 89-23 Season: 88-24
Last week: 20-6 Last week: 19-7 Last week: 19-7 Last week: 19-7
Season: 86-26
Season: 86-26 Season: 80-32
Season: 77-33
Easton
Nazareth
Freedom
Emmaus
Northern Lehigh
Bangor
Southern Lehigh
Saucon Valley
Phillipsburg
Belvidere
Delaware Valley
Hunterdon Central
North Plainfield
North Warren
Wilson
Pius X
Hackettstown
Connecticut
Penn State
Columbia
Lehigh
Gettysburg
Muhlenberg
East Stroudsburg
Easton
Nazareth
Freedom
Emmaus
Northern Lehigh
Catasauqua
Southern Lehigh
Saucon Valley
Phillipsburg
Belvidere
Delaware Valley
North Hunterdon
North Plainfield
North Warren
Wilson
Pius X
Hackettstown
Connecticut
Penn State
Columbia
Lehigh
Gettysburg
Muhlenberg
Kutztown
Easton
Nazareth
Freedom
Emmaus
Northern Lehigh
Bangor
Southern Lehigh
Saucon Valley
Phillipsburg
Belvidere
Delaware Valley
Hunterdon Central
North Plainfield
North Warren
Wilson
Pius X
Newton
Connecticut
Penn State
Columbia
Lehigh
Gettysburg
Muhlenberg
Kutztown
Easton
Nazareth
Freedom
Emmaus
Pen Argyl
Bangor
Southern Lehigh
Saucon Valley
Phillipsburg
Belvidere
Delaware Valley
Hunterdon Central
North Plainfield
North Warren
Wilson
Pius X
Hackettstown
Connecticut
Penn State
Columbia
Lehigh
Gettysburg
Muhlenberg
East Stroudsburg
*The online voters' picks are the results of a Monday-through-Thursday survey at lehighvalleylive.com/sports. Visit to predict each week's winners.
Continued from C1
UNKNOWN:
Scribe to bag career
for new endeavor
thought it meant, you should
keep me in mind.
Because I plan to be on
the ground floor of a profession that’s about to explode.
I figure in about five years,
I’ll be hanging out my shingle (or should I say bag) in
what will be a job that figures to be in great demand.
Besides, I figure tattoo
removal is a logical transition for guys who could be
former sports writers.
Anyway, I just had to get
that off my bag. Enough of
this drivel. Let’s get down to
the real meaning of life. Let’s
talk football.
Tonight’s games
Dieruff at Easton — Easton experienced a downer last
week in its loss to Whitehall
but there’s nothing wrong
with the Red Rovers that
Dieruff can’t cure. Easton 426.
Bethlehem Catholic at
Nazareth — Blue Eagles
play everyone tough and put
the fear of Knute Rockne in
Central Catholic last week.
There won’t be as much drama this week. Nazareth 2614.
Freedom at Northampton
— Both teams played the
Little Sisters of the Poor —
aka the Allentown School
District — last week. But the
Continued from C1
COACH:
Stem strives
for success
said he was a great person. He
was also a principal at
Phillipsburg High School, and
everybody looked up to the
man.”
Stem also flourished at
Bethlehem Catholic, posting a
173-53-1 mark with two state
titles from 1983-2001.
Former Phillipsburg head
coach Bruce Smith, who’s now
the team’s defensive coordinator, went head-to-head with
Stem 10 times between 1984
and ’95. Not surprisingly,
Stem won nine of the 10.
The Stateliners’ only win
during that period was a 14-10
conquest in 1984.
“It’s just the way his teams
execute — especially offensively,” Smith said. “His philosophy is he’s going to find a
way to beat you. One thing is
how hard his kids always
played, and they do things so
precisely.”
Smith was a successful
head coach in his own right,
going 46-34-3 at P’burg from
1990-97. But his teams always
seemed to come up short
against Becahi.
“I remember one year
(1989) when I was an assistant
at P’burg, we were No. 1 in
New Jersey and (Becahi) was
sledding gets decidedly
tougher tonight. Freedom 1714.
Emmaus at Liberty — After a 2-0 start, Liberty has
lost three straight. Hurricanes could be a trap game
for Emmaus, which plays
Easton next week, but ...
Emmaus 23-15.
Pen Argyl at Northern
Lehigh — The ultimate fourbag game in the Colonial
League this season. Northern Lehigh has put up Bugs
Bunny stats so far but I still
like Paul Reduzzi’s gang.
Pen Argyl 21-20.
Bangor at Catasauqua —
Rough Riders are vastly underrated with a sneaky 4-1
record to show for it. Bangor
is 4-1, too, although status of
Scott LaValva is up in the
air. Bangor 14-13.
Southern Lehigh at Notre
Dame — The eyes of the
Crusaders are on Week 7, 8
and 9 when they draw
Saucon Valley, Palisades and
Salisbury. There’s got to be a
winning number in there
somewhere. Southern Lehigh
34-14.
Salisbury at Saucon Valley — The key for Salisbury
is to score early to keep the
Saucon Valley fan out of the
game. Saucon Valley 27-7.
Montgomery at Phillipsburg — Tough to see how
good the Stateliners really
are until they get into the
meat of their schedule.
That’ll happen in two weeks
when they travel to Hunter-
No. 1 in Pennsylvania,” Smith
said. “We had them 7-6, but
they held us on fourth-and-1
and they went on to win 21-7.
“In 1990 (Stem) gave me my
first loss (17-6). He lets me
know about it. We have some
good-natured ribbing.”
Perhaps Stem’s most faithful fan is his wife Janice, who
swears she’s never missed a
game he’s coached.
“She’s been very, very supportive … very understanding,” Stem said. “She’s kept me
straight all those years. Without her I don’t know how I
would have done it.”
Janice Stem has braved all
types of weather elements
over the years. There was that
bitterly cold Saturday in 1987,
when Bangor upset Becahi 287 to win the District 11 Class
AAA championship.
Janice also attended last
year’s sectional title game
against Ridge. The Stateliners
won 34-7 in monsoon-like
WEEKEND SCHEDULE
(All games 7 p.m. unless
noted)
Tonight’s games
LEHIGH VALLEY
CONFERENCE
Dieruff at Easton
Bethlehem Catholic at Nazareth
Emmaus at Liberty
Freedom at Northampton
Parkland at Allen
COLONIAL LEAGUE
Pen Argyl at Northern Lehigh
Southern Lehigh at Notre Dame
Salisbury at Saucon Valley
Bangor at Catasauqua
Northwestern at Palmerton
MID-STATE 39 CONFERENCE
Montgomery at Phillipsburg
Belvidere at Voorhees
Delaware Valley at Bernards
Manville at North Warren
North Hunterdon at Hunterdon
Central
Warren Hills at North Plainfield
Bridgewater at Immaculata
Hillsborough at Ridge
Watchung Hills at Linden
Roselle Park at Bound Brook
COLLEGIATE
Connecticut at Rutgers, 7:30
p.m.
Saturday’s games
LEHIGH VALLEY CONFERENCE
Whitehall at Central Catholic
COLONIAL LEAGUE
Palisades at Wilson, 2 p.m.
ALL-AMERICAN LEAGUE
Lourdes Regional at Pius X, 3:30
p.m.
NORTHWEST JERSEY CONFERENCE
Hackettstown at Newton, 2 p.m.
MID-STATE 39 CONFERENCE
South Hunterdon at Pingry, 3
p.m.
Somerville at Scotch Plains,
2:30 p.m.
Roselle at Dayton Regional, 4 p.m.
Cranford at Governor
Livingston, 3 p.m.
INDEPENDENT
Blair Academy at Mercersburg
Academy, 1 p.m.
COLLEGIATE
Illinois at Penn State, noon
Lafayette at Columbia, 12:30 p.m.
Fordham at Lehigh, 12:30 p.m.
Moravian at Gettysburg, 1 p.m.
Juniata at Muhlenberg, 1 p.m.
Kutztown at East Stroudsburg, 2
p.m.
don Central. Phillipsburg
35-14.
Belvidere at Voorhees —
Watched the Vikings work
out from outside my tent
earlier this week. Like to
pick my Voorhees homies
but this is a bad matchup for
them. Belvidere 28-6.
Delaware Valley at
Bernards — Anytime I think
about picking against
Delaware Valley, head coach
Mike Columbo threatens to
dribble my head against the
dashboard of my Dodge
Dart. My pick doesn’t get
any more scientific than that.
conditions at Kean University.
“One time at P’burg I remember we were playing
William Allen and she left the
car lights on,” Stem said. “It
was raining like crazy and
there were about five people in
the stands.
“They announced it over
the loudspeaker, but she
wouldn’t get up to turn them
off. She didn’t want the people
to know it was her. Later we
went back to the car and the
battery was dead.”
“I was all wrapped up in
plastic, and there were big
puddles everywhere,” Janice
recalled. “There was no way I
was going to get up.”
Stem, 71, still has an uncanny ability to relate to his play-
ers.
“Like all football coaches,
he yells at the kids when something is wrong,” said Matt
Deery, a senior wide receiver
and cornerback. “But football
is a hard sport. He teaches us
to be tough and how to focus
on the game.”
“He’s meant a lot to me,”
senior tight end Nick Porcelli
said. “It’s no fun at practice. In
the offseason, he’s the nicest
guy in the world. During the
season he expects so much of
us and pushes us so hard to get
the most out of us. He’s definitely a great coach.”
Smith can relate to Stem’s
passion for the game.
“(Football) is important to
everybody in town, but it’s so
Delaware Valley 35-3.
North Hunterdon at Hunterdon Central — Also
known as the Lowell Snare
Bowl. Snare is the emperor
of Hunterdon County. Hunterdon Central is traditionally the favorite but this year
could be interesting. Hunterdon Central 17-16.
Warren Hills at North
Plainfield — Like to go with
the Blue Streaks but my cold
heart says … North Plainfield 28-14.
Manville at North Warren
— Patriots coach Matt
Parzero has the fans and
players hanging on his every
word as if he were the Secretary of State. The magic
continues. North Warren 3314.
Saturday’s games
Palisades at Wilson — In
years past, this game set
tremors up and down the
Colonial League. Now these
teams are just searching for
respectability. Wilson 38-7.
Lourdes at Pius X — This
one counts in the All-American League standings, in
case you’re wondering. Pius
X is on a two-game win
streak and has bounce in its
step. Pius X 34-20.
Hackettstown at Newton
— Newton is home and
coming off a 49-0 blowout of
Sussex Tech. Hackettstown,
on the other hand, is tough
to figure out. Newton 14-13.
Connecticut at Rutgers —
Scarlet Knights lost last
much more important to Bob,”
Smith said. “He was born and
raised there. (Football) is part
of the community, and he has
a sense of responsibility to get
things done right.”
Stem said there’s no
timetable as to when he might
retire.
“My drive to coach is as
strong as it ever was,” Stem
said. “When I feel I’m no
longer an asset to the team I’ll
get out. I wouldn’t do that to
the kids.
week in a game where they
were 20-point favorites.
They won’t be the favorite
this week. Connecticut 2717.
Illinois at Penn State —
Nittany Lions are still looking for their identity while
Illinois is one of Big Ten bottom-feeders. It’ll be close
though. Penn State 20-16.
Lafayette at Columbia —
Leopards are underdogs and
in the midst of a season that
could be taking a coyote-ugly
turn. But I just have this
feeling. Lafayette 17-16.
Fordham at Lehigh — I
wouldn’t know a Fordham
player if he tripped over my
bag. Mountain Hawks are
coming off a bye week and
you know what they say:
Give Lehigh coach Andy Coen two weeks to prepare and
… Lehigh 28-24.
Moravian at Gettysburg
— Greyhounds coming off
good road win against Dickinson. I say they make it two
in a row. Moravian 10-7.
Juniata at Muhlenberg —
Juniata really struggling to
keep up in the Landmark
Conference. The Mules have
seemingly found their step,
winning three in a row including upset of Johns Hopkins. Muhlenberg 33-7.
Kutztown at East
Stroudsburg — Bears are
putting up big numbers
while East Stroudsburg has
lost four straight. Got to go
with the hot team. Kutztown
37-21.
“I hope I’ve taught them
some good lessons in life. I always played on winning football teams, and I try to bring
other people to that same level. But records are made to be
broken. Someday somebody is
going to pass me.”
It won’t happen anytime
soon.
Tom Hinkel can be reached at
800-360-3601 or
thinkel@express-times.com. Talk
about sports in the region at
lehighvalleylive.com/forums.