So much of the time, the emphasis for the sports world is on football…football and then, some more…football.

On Nov. 1st, our “RCN SportsTalk” takes a week off so that we may highlight some of the other hard working individuals in the Lehigh Valley region. I have the pleasure of announcing the District XI boys soccer championships for RCN-TV, and for that reason, I’d like to discuss some amazing facts and accomplishments among our local athletes in that sport that I’ve begun to uncover in preparing for our broadcasts. It should be noted that we did spend a good deal of time and attention on all of the sports on our show this fall season, and every team’s accomplishments deserves a solid round of applause (insert applause sound effects here).

Southern Lehigh has dominated the 2-A district playoffs, winning 14 of its 16 appearances in the championship. Salisbury is 2nd in that classification with 5 titles and, like the Spartans, have been playing at a high level again this fall. Northwestern and Moravian Academy have both won multiple championships in this sport, and the latter school was playing well when we stopped by their practice field with our camera a few weeks ago for “SportsTalk.”

The 3-A classification is always an interesting tournament, and while Emmaus has won the most titles (14), its Parkland that most people believe is the team to beat this year. Freedom and Liberty had to play each other in the opening round of the tourney, which was a tough match-up out of the game and it’s unfortunate one of those team would have to be eliminated in round one. In an autumn season in which very little positive sports publicity has fallen on ASD because of the struggles of the football team (although congrats to the Canaries for getting their first win over Lehighton), it’s refreshing to see the Allen soccer team in the mix and a chance for their students to cheer-on a playoff team.

One other sport I wanted to give special props to, as I did during our broadcast of the Emmaus/Whitehall football game, is a special “congrats” to the continuing dominance of the Green Hornets girls field hockey team. They captured their 9th straight league title last week (the only nine in the LVC’s history), and have won more state titles (5) than any other school in our coverage area. When Liberty defeated them this year, they celebrated like they just won the greatest game of their lives—as well they should have. There’s only a couple teams in the state that ever get an chance to do that each season, and it was years—literally—since a local team had defeated them in the regular season.

Who’s your favorite non-football local sports teams and which teams would you like to recognize? Post a comment here or email us at RCNSportsTalk@rcn.com and we’ll read and respond to it on our next live show, which will be November 8th!

“Who’s #1” is the thing that everyone wants to be each season … and the drive to be numero uno is especially excessive in high school football.

With Easton remaining undefeated, the co-owners of the best record and the almighty “power point” leaders in our RCN coverage area, they sit atop all of the playoff standings. However, RCN sideline reporter Tony Cocca (and other coaches and media members) have said that with the way Parkland has been playing, they’d label the Trojans as the best team–right now–in the Lehigh Valley area. Although they are a much smaller school, Catasaqua also can claim that they deserve more attention as one of the best teams in this area, and they certainly should after a completely dominating performance against the reigning champions last weekend. On last week’s “RCN SportsTalk” show there were grumblings from some Rough Rider supporters that their team wasn’t listed earlier as a “2A team to watch” in the frequently reprinted Harrisburg Patriot News statewide poll.

There’s lots of polls out there: some for the leagues’ top spot, some for districts, some for the Eastern PA region and some for even a broader scope. I’ve never been a fan of the “state poll,” which I personally find ridiculous since the voters for this poll normally only get to see teams in only one part of an area in Pennsylvania. How in the world can you compare, contrast and rank the teams in your neck-of-the-woods with most of the rest of the state’s teams that you’ll never see in person or on TV, until, of course, you get to the end of the playoffs, when it’s clear to everyone at that point who the best teams are?

We stopped doing a weekly poll on our program as it seemed a waste of airtime to spend a chuck of our show comparing and arguing who’s the better teams each week, only to have things completely change around after witnessing a couple “upsets” week in and week out. I’m very proud to say that, for what it’s worth, our own “RCN SportsTalk” pre-season predictions correctly named the 10 teams that are now the current owners of the 10 best records in our coverage area. The only thing that proves at this point is that the teams have handled the higher expectations and endured the closer scruntiny of the media. Those same Trojans that Cocca & Company have dubbed the best team in the Lehigh Valley will get another chance to test their mettle as the featured guests on this Thursday’s “SportsTalk” as they talk about their season to date, preview the road ahead to the playoffs, and respond to your questions and comments about the current football landscape. We might even see if they themselves believe they are number one in the league, the district, or beyond?

Is Parkland the best team in the Lehigh Valley right now? If and when Easton plays Parkland again in the playoffs, who do you think would win? And could Catty outlast all other local teams in the PIAA playoffs? Give us your opinions here on our blog, or email them to rcnsportstalk@rcn.com and we’ll be able to read and respond to your comments this Thursday at 6pm on RCN-TV.