Stat leaders, plus a few milestones and records

Northwestern, Palmerton and Southern Lehigh are a combined plus-32 in turnover differential through seven weeks.

The Tigers, Blue Bombers and Spartans predictably are a combined 21-0 entering this weekend.

There has long been a correlation between taking care of the ball and winning percentage. The three Colonial-Schuylkill League unbeatens and two winless teams strengthen that belief.

Only one team with a winning record has a negative turnover ratio.

Milestones

— Catasauqua’s Aiden Hess and Pen Argyl’s Brad Rissmiller each reached the 1,000-yard passing mark in Week 7. Rissmiller accomplished it for the second consecutive season. Hess did it in his first year as a starting quarterback.

— Palmerton’s Matt Machalik needs 103 yards to get to that mark for a third year in a row. He broke Garrett Perschy’s program career completions record (331) in Week 6. He has 352 and counting.

— Southern Lehigh’s Cade Sawyer is 93 yards shy of a second consecutive 1,000-yard rushing season. He reached 2,000 career rushing yards (2,253) in Week 6 and has 44 career TDs.

— Northwestern’s Dalton Clymer is 35 rushing yards shy of 3,000 for his career and 247 shy of 1,000 for a second year in a row. He also is four TDs shy of 50 for his career.

— Pen Argyl’s Damian Tyminski is among District 11’s top 10 in career receptions with 146. He is closing in on the top 10 in career receiving yards (2,373). His 38 catches this year leads District 11.

— Notre Dame-GP’s Danny Darno leads District 11 with 17 TD passes and 1,443 passing yards.

— Jim Thorpe’s Justin Yescavage leads all District 11 receivers with 768 yards.

— Machalik leads all runners from the 17 area teams with 1,357 rushing yards. He trails Williams Valley’s Alex Achenbach (1,672) and Minersville’s Luke Stevenosky (1,489) for the District 11 lead. Achenbach is coming off a 314-yard, five-touchdown performance against Mahanoy Area. Achenbach has two 300-yard games this season, three 200-yard games and twice has rushed for five TDs in a contest.

— Machalik and Stevenosky are tied for the district lead with 24 TDs. Sawyer has 23. Machalik’s 82 career TDs puts him on District 11’s top-10 all-time list.

Morning Call reporter Tom Housenick can be reached at 610-820-6651 or at thousenick@ mcall.com