Before we look at this week’s high school football polls, here’s a look at recent games seen on ATVN.

Astound Sports: Northwestern Lehigh vs. Northern Lehigh (9/23)

Astound Sports: Parkland vs. Freedom (9/23)

Astound Sports: Nazareth vs. Freedom (9/23)

https://youtu.be/4S5n05jkkP0

Keep checking back to the “SportsTalk Shop” in upcoming weeks for additional highlights of our recent games as seen on the Astound TV Network (video customers can see these games again for free through Video-On-Demand for up to two months from the initial airdates!)

Now here’s a look at our polls along with our criteria that we use.

This year, we are once again going to break down the two polls into EPC and Colonial League schools, within the Astound TV broadcast area.  With the Colonial teams cross-scheduling and playing teams from the Schuylkill League and the Eastern Pennsylvania Conference playing different “cross-over” teams, our poll will be an interesting barometer for teams in the Lehigh Valley since many local teams will not have the same opponents throughout their schedules.

Below we have high school polls for both leagues in the ATVN viewing area, along with the listing of all of the teams that are included in our respective categories.

EPC TOP 5

1. Parkland
2. Nazareth  
3. Northampton
4. Central Catholic
5. Freedom

Eligible Teams (in no particular order):

Northampton, Bethlehem Catholic, Easton, Freedom, Liberty, Dieruff, Allen, Allentown Central Catholic, Parkland, Whitehall, Emmaus, and Nazareth.

COLONIAL TOP 4

1. Northwestern
2. Southern Lehigh
3. Notre Dame
4. Bangor

Eligible Teams (in no particular order):

Bangor, Pen Argyl, Notre Dame – Green Pond, Wilson, Catasauqua, Salisbury, Saucon Valley, Northwestern, Northern Lehigh and Southern Lehigh.

Be sure to check back to the “upcoming events” section here on our website and check it frequently for any changes and for our ongoing broadcast schedule information throughout the upcoming postseason.

The views expressed in this blog are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of Astound Broadband or any other agency, organization, employer or company.

The last couple of years we have been blessed with the opportunity to add some significant talent to the Astound TV Network’s lineup of great on-air talent to both our sports coverage and regular programming staff.

I’m proud to say that our on-air family will continue to grow as we prepare for the upcoming “winter” campaign!

As we get ready for the new season, we wanted to reveal some of our new personalities and roles that you will be seeing on ATVN over the next several months.

First of all, we’d like to welcome in new talents to our annual Dream Come True telethon coming up in a few weeks (be on the lookout to check out this year’s on-line auction items for some great specials/gifts and ways you can help our a great local charity).

Artie Freeman, the host of ATVN’s hottest new show “Cultural Bridges” and also does a great job hosting the “Movie Vault” features and as guest host on “Community Spotlight” on our network, will be joining our telethon on-air team as a co-host.  Artie will be providing great interviews with DCT families to share their stories and let you know how much your donations mean to children who are seriously, chronically and terminally ill.

Lilly Moss Hercik will join our on-air staff officially for this December’s telethon.  She made her debut with the Astound TV Network last winter by performing a live song, but this year the singer/pianist will not only be providing several musical performances on the program but will also join Scott Barr at “Auction Central,” working with Scott to feature the many great auction items we have available.

Aziz Atiyeh joins the ATVN Sports Staff as an announcer for our local soccer and volleyball coverage.  Aziz excelled in three scholastic sports (football, soccer and volleyball) at Whitehall High School and went on to play the latter two sports successfully at Kings College in Wilkes-Barre. Atiyeh brings his experiences with all three sports to the Astound sports family as a commentator.

Dawn CIpolla is one of the most decorated women coaches in the Lehigh Valley over the last ten years, and now she will be commenting on high school sports for ATVN.   Cipolla, who won four District 11 championships and four East Penn Conference titles in her 7 years as head coach at Parkland High School. She also earned several coach of the year and team of the year awards during her tenure with the Trojans.

Also, we are pleased to announce that all of last year’s “newbies” will be returning for this winter sports season:  Cameron Nunez, Adrianna Dias, Jarrett Carnes, and Brittany Thomas will all be back.

Please welcome – and welcome back – our winter on-air team!

The views expressed in this blog are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of Astound Broadband or any other agency, organization, employer or company.

Over the course of the past eight weeks in high school football there have been lots of ups and downs. Some teams have not measured up to pre-season expectations. Other teams have exceeded them. Some teams have been unable to jump start a championship run.

To me it seems that the Eastern Pennsylvania Conference has more parity in the south division than in recent history. But I feel that there is an elephant in the room. It is noticeable that there is one team who continues to shine.

One team that displays an amazing amount of sportsmanship and grit.

In my assessment, modern day high school football players have begun to sensationalize themselves. The mannerisms I see displayed are young men acting as if they are professional or “the main attraction” and it is not the case. This is a team sport which is being galvanized on high school teams. I have noted that some of these young players are displaying behaviors that would not have been tolerated in years past including throwing helmets, cussing on the sideline, arguing with coaches, and even receiving taunting penalties. 

When agreeing to write this blog, I had not envisioned how the season would unfold. I find myself sitting at my desk pondering my observations about a specific team and how they have shown an enormous amount of sportsmanship and discipline since the start of this season. But once I saw it, it became glaring to me. 

The elephant in the room is the Parkland Trojans.

I have watched the integrity of this team during one sided games. They have respect for the opposing players and fans and do not necessarily let off the gas pedal but instead encourage their opponents to keep grinding. I have noticed their sideline to be absolutely organized with every player locked into what was happening on the field and not just spectating.

I don’t want any of my readers to mistake the point that I am making. I am a football guy and I believe that the game should be played with a degree of reckless abandon.

For the benefit of today’s blog, I just want to give the Parkland coaches and the players their flowers for playing the game on a high level. Thank you for having enough respect for the game to emulate sportsmanship and build character on and off the field. Your efforts are noted.

Folks … whenever you can, please take note of this team because they have been the elephant in the room this entire season.

Football is Life! This is the game where young men are taught through adversity to become better versions of themselves.

The views expressed in this blog are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of Astound Broadband or any other agency, organization, employer or company.

There continues to be very little movement in our high school polls this year–which is just fine to the top teams in each of the Astound TV Network’s EPC and Colonial Leagues polls.

Parkland, Nazareth, Northampton, Northwestern, Southern Lehigh and Notre Dame all won again – and won big – last weekend and continued playing well heading into the last two weeks of the regular season. Central Catholic had to come from behind but still won by 16 and Emmaus won their game by 15.

Once more, most of the above mentioned teams will likely be favored to win their remaining games before the playoffs.  (Keep an eye on the cross-league game between Blue Mountain and Bangor coming up, which could go a long way in shaping the District XI 4A playoff picture.)

That being said, there’s still some great individual efforts and a number of players that are nearing milestones to keep an eye on for the next few weeks.

Before we look at this week’s high school football polls, here’s a look at recent games seen on ATVN.

Astound Sports: Whitehall vs. Bethlehem Catholic (9/23)

Astound Sports: Wilson vs. Pen Argyl (8/23)

Astound Sports: Nazareth vs. Emmaus (9/23)

Now here’s a look at our polls along with our criteria that we use.

This year, we are once again going to break down the two polls into EPC and Colonial League schools, within the Astound TV broadcast area.  With the Colonial teams cross-scheduling and playing teams from the Schuylkill League and the Eastern Pennsylvania Conference playing different “cross-over” teams, our poll will be an interesting barometer for teams in the Lehigh Valley since many local teams will not have the same opponents throughout their schedules.

Below we have high school polls for both leagues in the ATVN viewing area, along with the listing of all of the teams that are included in our respective categories.

EPC TOP 5

1. Parkland
2. Nazareth  
3. Northampton
4. Central Catholic
5. Emmaus

Eligible Teams (in no particular order):

Northampton, Bethlehem Catholic, Easton, Freedom, Liberty, Dieruff, Allen, Allentown Central Catholic, Parkland, Whitehall, Emmaus, and Nazareth.

COLONIAL TOP 4

1. Northwestern
2. Southern Lehigh
3. Notre Dame
4. Bangor

Eligible Teams (in no particular order):

Bangor, Pen Argyl, Notre Dame – Green Pond, Wilson, Catasauqua, Salisbury, Saucon Valley, Northwestern, Northern Lehigh and Southern Lehigh.

Be sure to check back to the “upcoming events” section here on our website and check it frequently for any changes and for our ongoing broadcast schedule information throughout the regular season and postseason.

The views expressed in this blog are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of Astound Broadband or any other agency, organization, employer or company.

To honor the recent passing of this Scottish actor and musician, we reflect on the life and career of David McCallum.

David Keith McCallum was born on September 19th, 1933 in Glasnow, United Kingdom.

His family, who came from a musical background, encouraged him to pursue music.  He learned to play the oboe and began doing voice work for the BBC at an early age.  At 17 he earned the role of Oberon at London’s famous Garden Stage Theatre (then known as the Play and Pagent Union) in an open air production of William Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream.

His early film work included playing the Titanic radio operator in 1958’s retelling of the Titanic disaster in  “A Night To Remember.”  He played Judas Iscariot in the biblical epic, “The Greatest Story Ever Told,” and got a role in “Freud: The Secret Passion,” under the guidance of legendary film director John Huston.

On the set of the 1957 film “Hell’s Drivers,” McCallum fell in love with cast member Jill Ireland and the two married.

Among his musical contributions include four records for Capitol Records in the 1960s.  Among his best known works includes a track called, “The Edge,” which was later sampled by Dr. Dre and can be heard on the video game, Grand Theft Auto IV.  He would go on to record many albums while playing a variety of instruments.

He also appeared on television in the early 1960 with a guest starring role on an episode of “Perry Mason” and appeared multiple times on “The Outer Limits.”

He became a household name to American TV audiences with his recurring role as a Russian agent on the hit 1960s drama, “The Man From U.N.C.L.E.”  Despite the anti-Soviet Union feelings of the time, McCallum’s character, with his “Beatle-like” haircut, instantly struck a chord with younger audience members in 1964, just as Beatlemania was making its way to the United States.  His performances were so well received that his role was elevated to be on par with established star Robert Vaugh for the show’s final three years on the air.

During the show’s run he would frequently play the guitar and also song a duet with Nancy Sinatra.  His then-wife Jill guest-starred on “U.N.C.L.E” on several episodes, but the two divorced before the show ended its run.

McCallum won two Emmy Awards for his performance on the program and reunited with Vaugh years later in the television film, “Return of the Man From U.N.C.L.E.”

His biggest role in the 1970s occurred when he headlined the British-Canadian film production of “King Solomon’s Treasure,” which was based on the novel King Solomon’s Mines.  The movie features other notable stars including Patrick McNee (“The Avengers,” “A View To A Kill”),  Britt Ekland (“The Man With The Golden Gun,” “The Night They Raided Minsky”) , and Wilfred Hyde-White (“My Fair Lady,” “Let’s Make Love.”)

In the 1980s and 90s, he continued to star in plays in different countries, he had small roles in film and also guest starred on a few television programs (most noticeably “Murder, She Wrote,” and  “Seaquest DSV”), as well as starring in a TV mini-series with Diana Rigg called “Mother Love.” He also recreated a role similar to the one he portrayed in “U.N.C.L.E” for one episode of the TV action show, “The A-Team.”

Contemporary television viewers knew him best as Dr. Donald “Ducky” Mallard on the hit forensic science program, “NCIS.”  After recently completing its 19th season this summer, McCallum was the only original cast member still starring on the program.

On September 15th of this year, David died of natural causes in a New York City hospital.  He had recently celebrated his 90th birthday.

In further tribute to this great actor and musician, the Astound TV Network will show McCallum in his starring role of “King Solomon’s Treasure,” this Thursday at 9 am.

To view the complete rundown of classic programming on the Astound TV Network, check out the weekly listings here on our website.

The views expressed in this blog are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of Astound Broadband or any other agency, organization, employer or company.

The next few weeks will be a very important series of games on the local high school football scene as a number of teams in our polls will be playing each other, and the teams just BEHIND those in our poll are jockeying for the remaining positions for the upcoming playoff season.

Among those big ball games will be our #1 team in our EPC poll (Parkland) playing our #4 squad (Bethlehem Catholic) live on Friday night.  Two teams tied for our #5 spot (Whitehall/Central Catholic) squaring off against each other live on Saturday night on the Astound TV Network.

Before we look at this week’s high school football polls, here’s a look at recent games seen on ATVN.

Astound Sports: Central Catholic vs. Northampton (8/23)

Astound Sports: Catasauqua vs. Northern Lehigh (9/23)

Astound Sports: Dieruff vs. Liberty (8/23)

Now here’s a look at our polls along with our criteria that we use.

I’m proud to say (and no, I don’t vote myself) our football polls have proven to be among the most accurate, year after year, among all media organizations that attempt to rank teams in our coverage area each fall.  (Check out our archived polls from previous years if you’d like proof).

We never announce nor release the names of our non-media voters to get their honest opinions on the local football landscape while avoiding any thoughts of retribution or potential “bulletin board” material.  Our “media voters” usually reveal themselves when we have the pleasure of having them on our weekly SportsTalk program, seen on Thursday nights on the Astound TV Network and available to watch at any time for free through ATVN on Demand.

This year, we are once again going to break down the two polls into EPC and Colonial League schools, within the Astound TV broadcast area.  With the Colonial teams cross-scheduling and playing teams from the Schuylkill League and the Eastern Pennsylvania Conference playing different “cross-over” teams, our poll will be an interesting barometer for teams in the Lehigh Valley since many local teams will not have the same opponents throughout their schedules.

Below we have high school polls for both leagues in the ATVN viewing area, along with the listing of all of the teams that are included in our respective categories.

EPC TOP 5

1. Parkland
2. Nazareth  
3. Northampton
4. Bethlehem Catholic
5. (Tie) Whitehall/Central Catholic

Eligible Teams (in no particular order):

Northampton, Bethlehem Catholic, Easton, Freedom, Liberty, Dieruff, Allen, Allentown Central Catholic, Parkland, Whitehall, Emmaus, and Nazareth.

COLONIAL TOP 4

1. Northwestern
2. Southern Lehigh
3. Bangor
4. Notre Dame

Other teams receiving votes: Pen Argyl

Eligible Teams (in no particular order):

Bangor, Pen Argyl, Notre Dame – Green Pond, Wilson, Catasauqua, Salisbury, Saucon Valley, Northwestern, Northern Lehigh and Southern Lehigh.

Be sure to check back to the “upcoming events” section here on our website and check it frequently for any changes and for our ongoing broadcast schedule information throughout the postseason.

The views expressed in this blog are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of Astound Broadband or any other agency, organization, employer or company.

As I plan my weekend and, of course, my Friday adventures to attend a high school football game, I find myself wondering why there are so many games being played on Thursday nights?

At first, I considered that maybe, like in the southern states, Pennsylvania has decided to play on Thursday in addition to Friday nights to offer fans a full complement of football that they can enjoy over the course of a long weekend, including Saturday early afternoon games. 

Well, then I discovered that many Saturday games are scheduled for 7pm instead of early afternoons like in past years. Initially, it seemed odd to me that this is happening. Was the PIAA really looking to grow the game? But to my surprise, it is a reaction to what has been a problem in amateur sports for several years. 

There is a shortage of officials to officiate games.

I would like to take this time to speak to the parents and fans of this great sport of football and address our ability to help make changes and to treat officials with the dignity and respect they deserve. My passion for the sport as a former player, coach and a parent of a formal player has contributed to personal “not-so-great” moments – yelling at an official about what I perceived to be a blown or missed call. On those occasions, I have felt embarrassed after the fact. After calming down, I was able to recognize that the officials can sometimes make mistakes and make bad calls. 

After all, they are human and it’s really just a game.

In order for this dynamic to change and inspire more people to become officials without the threat of being belittled or subjected to verbal and potentially physical violence, I want to encourage fans and parents to contemplate their input, and how little it actually matters.

Your child/athlete has more control of the final outcome than any blown call an official can make. These officials are not compensated enough to tolerate feeling belittled or to put up with threats of violence when they make a call. 

To the parents who are upset about not being able to attend their athletes’ Thursday games, please be mindful that these games are a direct result of the actions of the fan base which has contributed to the officials shortage. The vast

majority of officials have full-time jobs and chose to officiate because of their love for the game and are often committed to do their best to demonstrate excellence and proficiency when officiating. 

To the fan or parent in the stands that berates and belittles the officials, the PIAA is hiring and looking for officials. Please apply if you can do a better job.

Let’s get back to the basics and just enjoy the game.

Folks, it is really just a game. Please be respectful of the men and women who dedicate their time to officiate high school football. Football is Life!

EDITOR’S NOTE: Be on the lookout for ways to help support local referees and officials during the PIAA initiative, “Officials Appreciation Week” across the state of Pennsylvania, from October 9th through October 15th!

The views expressed in this blog are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of Astound Broadband or any other agency, organization, employer or company.

A few people asked me last week why we were not going to broadcast the Parkland vs. Whitehall football game last Friday.

There were actually several reasons, but the shortest explanation–and the biggest reason–came down to one word…research.

I’ve seen Parkland a few times and talked to people very familiar with the Trojans program.   Same for Whitehall.  And the overwhelming opinion AND feedback was that the Zephyrs simply do not match up with Parkland well this year.

It’s not a knock against Whitehall.  Plus, to be honest, we probably will do that game next year.  But this year, the timing wasn’t quite right and all the signs pointed to a Parkland big victory.

Thus, we went with Nazareth vs. Central and Becahi vs. Emmaus.

The results?

Nazareth/Central was 7-7 with under three minutes left in the game and Emmaus had a 10-0 lead but with Becahi driving deep into Hornet’s territory midway through the fourth quarter.

Meanwhile, Parkland mercy-ruled Whitehall 36-7.

My point in explaining this is that we do take people’s opinions very seriously.  We also put a lot of time and effort and use several different methods into selecting, what we believe, will be the best possible games for as many of our viewers as possible.  This weekend, I feel very confident in saying that we made the right decisions.

And fear not, Parkland and Whitehall fans…we’ll have Whitehall coming up twice over the next two weeks and we’ll have Parkland coming up at least two more times in the regular season (and probably see both of these teams quite often come postseason time as well!)

As always, your feedback is welcome – feel free to email me at chris.michael@astound.com with any questions or suggestions for upcoming sports programming decisions!

We had a very spirited conversation with new ATVN announcer/blogger Melvin Thomas Jr on last Thursday’s “SportsTalk” show, with one segment focusing on issues facing football programs at inner-city schools and another segment discussing the negative effects of the NCAA’s new transfer/portal process and how it will make things tougher on high school prospects going forward.

If you missed that show or watch to hear Melvin’s wise observations again, Astound video customers can watch the show for free through ATVN on demand (look under “Sports” then “SportsTalk” on our VOD tab.)

Now here’s a look at our polls along with our criteria that we use.

I’m proud to say (and no, I don’t vote myself) our football polls have proven to be among the most accurate, year after year, among all media organizations that attempt to rank teams in our coverage area each fall.  (Check out our archived polls from previous years if you’d like proof).

This year, we are once again going to break down the two polls into EPC and Colonial League schools, within the Astound TV broadcast area.  With the Colonial teams cross-scheduling and playing teams from the Schuylkill League and the Eastern Pennsylvania Conference playing different “cross-over” teams, our poll will be an interesting barometer for teams in the Lehigh Valley since many local teams will not have the same opponents throughout their schedules.

EPC TOP 5

1. Parkland
2. Nazareth  
3. Bethlehem Catholic
4. Central Catholic
5. Whitehall

Other teams receiving a vote: Northampton

Eligible Teams (in no particular order):

Northampton, Bethlehem Catholic, Easton, Freedom, Liberty, Dieruff, Allen, Allentown Central Catholic, Parkland, Whitehall, Emmaus, and Nazareth.

COLONIAL TOP 4

1. Northwestern
2. Southern Lehigh
3. Bangor
4. (Tie) Notre Dame/Catasauqua

Other teams receiving votes: Pen Argyl

Eligible Teams (in no particular order):

Bangor, Pen Argyl, Notre Dame – Green Pond, Wilson, Catasauqua, Salisbury, Saucon Valley, Northwestern, Northern Lehigh and Southern Lehigh.

Be sure to check back to the “upcoming events” section on our website and check it frequently for any changes and for our ongoing broadcast schedule information throughout the postseason.

The views expressed in this blog are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of Astound Broadband or any other agency, organization, employer or company.

This week here at the Classic Video Showplace, we continue our celebration of Hispanic Heritage Month with part two in our series on the legendary and diverse career of Richardo Montalban.

After having over a decade of success in full length films, Ricardo Montalban had seen enough of stereotypical Hollywood roles and decided to make the potential career-killing decision to leave Hollywood and turn down any roles that featured Spanish or Mexican actors in a stereotypical or prejudicial way.

He left Hollywood to star in the Mexican produced films, Untouched and A Life in the Balance.  He traveled to Italy to make The Queen of Babylon and Desert Warrior.  He starred on Broadway in Seventh Heaven and co-starred with Lena Horne singing calypso in Jamaica, a role which earned him a Tony Award.

He even played the role of a Japanese dancer in 1957’s Sayonara, a role which he believed was worthy of an Academy Award.

Montalban would return to Hollywood to star in numerous movies and in television guest appearances, provided that he played roles that did NOT enhance a prejudice of stereotypes against Hispanic actors.

Between 1960 and 1978, Ricardo starred in 27 films and was on over 50 television shows, including top hits like The Untouchables, Bonanza, Here’s Lucy, The Dinah Shore Show, Gunsmoke, The Man From U.N.C.L.E, The Virginian, Ironside, Hawaii Five-O, Columbo, and Police Story.

For 13 years, he was the spokesperson for Chrysler motors and his pitches of the car’s “rich Carenthian leather,” struck a chord with the public.

In 1978, he was selected in one of his most memorable roles as Mr. Roarke on the ABC drama Fantasy Island.  A role which lasted seven years and made him a television icon.

In 1982, film director Nicolas Meyer was given the task of saving the Star Trek “enterprise,” after its first feature film disappointed critics and fans of the show.

Meyers and Executive Producer Harve Bennett went through the entire catalog of original episodes and selected Montalban’s performance on an episode called, “The Space Seed,” to build the movie that would eventually become, Star Trek: The Wrath of Khan.

Ricardo revealed in interviews that he asked for the original tapes of that performance.  He said he wanted to build the anger his exiled character exhibited on that episode and add 15 years of frustration and revenge to recreate his memorable “Khan” for the film.

His performance not only made him one of the greatest villains in cinematic history but the movie, even today, is regarded as the greatest Star Trek film ever.  It saved the “Trek” franchise and spawned numerous television shows, webcasts, books, movies sequels and reboots, which are still being produced today.  (Ricardo’s legendary performance as Khan was recreated posthumously for the 2019 show, Star Trek: Short Treks.)

Montalban showed his versatility a few years later by starring as another memorable villain in the Zucker/Abrahams/Zucker comedy classic, The Naked Gun: From the Files of Police Squad!  (I personally think the last thirty minutes of that film is the funniest half hour in cinematic history.)

Ricardo would continue to be a popular television star on shows throughout the 1980s, 1990s and 2000s, in programs like Murder She Wrote, Dynasty, The Colbys and Chicago Hope as well as a voice-over actor on Kim Possible, Dora The Explorer, Family Guy, and American Dad.

Despite being confined to a wheelchair for the rest of life because of a birth defect that was triggered by a movie stunt accident (see “part one” of our blog for more on that), Ricardo continued to perform as a voiceover actor and had on-camera appearances on both the small and large screen, including being a part of the Spy Kids film trilogy.

Montalban died due to “complications from advanced age” at his Los Angeles home in November 2008–a little more than 14 months after the passing of Georgiana Young, his wife of 53 years.

Montalban was 88.

Ricardo Montalban’s work deserves iconic status, not just during Hispanic Heritage Month, but for all time.  His tremendous and diverse work on screen, the class he exhibited in interviews, the respect he showed his peers and his then-radical decision to risk his career in order to change people’s preconceived notions about Spanish and Mexican people, all put in a class by himself in the entertainment industry.

The views expressed in this blog are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of Astound Broadband or any other agency, organization, employer or company.

For the first time in a few weeks, our live Friday night match-up will NOT be feature a pair of two undefeated teams.

Instead, this Friday on the Astound TV Network we will have two teams with one loss each face each other (both lost to undefeated Parkland)–Nazareth vs. Central (teams number 2 and 3 in our poll–see more below).  Our #4 team, Bethlehem Catholic, will also be featured against Emmaus this weekend.  The 5-0 Hawks, predicted to be last in the Eastern Pennsylvania Conference by one local newspaper, looked impressive when we saw them three weeks ago against Whitehall, who also comes into this weekend with a 5-1 record.

We will also have several interesting editions of “SportsTalk” coming up on the next few Thursdays, live at 7pm on ATVN.

This week, our new high school football blogger Mel Thomas will be in-studio to talk about this new experience and get his thoughts on the local high school football season to date.

Next week, ATVN’s John Leone will be in-studio to talk about both Lafayette College and local high school football.

Then, on October 12th, we’ll have our first ever fall sports “all-features” edition of our show, featuring multiple non-football sports interviews from a variety of schools from within the ATVN viewing area.

If you have a question or comment about local sports issues, please email us at chris.michael@astound.com and we might read and respond to your email live on the show!

Now here’s a look at our polls along with our criteria that we use.

I’m proud to say (and no, I don’t vote myself) our football polls have proven to be among the most accurate, year after year, among all media organizations that attempt to rank teams in our coverage area each fall.  (Check out our archived polls from previous years if you’d like proof).

This year, we are once again going to break down the two polls into EPC and Colonial League schools, within the Astound TV broadcast area.  With the Colonial teams cross-scheduling and playing teams from the Schuylkill League and the Eastern Pennsylvania Conference playing different “cross-over” teams, our poll will be an interesting barometer for teams in the Lehigh Valley since many local teams will not have the same opponents throughout their schedules.

EPC TOP 5

1. Parkland
2. Nazareth  
3. Central Catholic
4. Bethlehem Catholic
5. Whitehall

Eligible Teams (in no particular order):

Northampton, Bethlehem Catholic, Easton, Freedom, Liberty, Dieruff, Allen, Allentown Central Catholic, Parkland, Whitehall, Emmaus, and Nazareth.

COLONIAL TOP 4

1. Northwestern
2. Southern Lehigh
3. Bangor
4. Notre Dame

Other schools receiving votes: Pen Argyl

Eligible Teams (in no particular order):

Bangor, Pen Argyl, Notre Dame – Green Pond, Wilson, Catasauqua, Salisbury, Saucon Valley, Northwestern, Northern Lehigh and Southern Lehigh.

Be sure to check back to the “upcoming events” section here on our website and check it frequently for any changes and for our ongoing broadcast schedule information throughout the postseason.

The views expressed in this blog are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of Astound Broadband or any other agency, organization, employer or company.