In looking at the schedules before the season starts, there are certain games that most fans will automatically circle as must-see.

After a few weeks, the luster will inevitably rub off some of those contests.

Now, after six weeks' worth of games, it is good that we can still look at the remaining schedules and find some tasty treats still on the menu. A few of them were probably not circled on too many' peoples' to-do lists.

What follows are the games that I would not want to miss, if I were able to see all of them.

n It starts tonight with Southern Columbia at Selinsgrove. This one has been on the list since it first appeared on the two schools' schedules. And what a match-up it should be.

The Tigers have put together a running game that will harken back to some of their, well, a few of the, er, well, you know, so many of those great teams from the past 25 years. Then there is the Seals' defense, which treats running games with shear disdain.

Southern averages 324.5 yard rushing per game; the Seals give up 48.1 per game. Something has to give.

n Friday, Oct. 17. Lewisburg at Mount Carmel. This comes under the "who woulda thunk it" category. Imagine, if neither stumbles tonight, it will be the unbeaten Green Dragons (first time since 1981) and unbeaten Red Tornadoes (last unbeaten season: 2002), in the Silver Bowl. It will be Lewisburg's wide-open offense (scoring 36.5 points a game) versus the Red Death defense (yielding just 4.8 points a game with three shutouts).

The teams have played just three times before, but it's doubtful anyone will remember. They met in 1912, 1913 and 1914, with the Red Tornadoes winning the three games by a combined score of 229-6. But, hey, Mount Carmel also beat the Bucknell freshman 24-6 in 1913.

n Friday, Oct. 24. Mount Carmel at Southern Columbia. Enough said, except that these programs have combined to win 11 state titles in the last 14 years.

n Friday, Oct. 31. Montoursville at Selinsgrove. These two nearly always decided the Central Susquehanna Conference Division I championship so why not let them do the same in the first year of the Heartland Athletic Conference Division I. The Seals' defense will face a running game as good as Southern's with a bigger offensive line. It's fitting that this game falls on the final day of the regular season. It's also Halloween.

In addition to the above gems, Shikellamy fans, if they haven't already, will want to mark Friday, Oct. 24, on their calendars. If the young Braves don't have a win by then, that night's game with struggling Milton will be their chance to keep the school's streak of never having a winless season intact.

ONE-MAN WRECKING CREW: Lewisburg coach Todd Tilford and his staff wondered why some of their plays were not working in their 24-7 win over Central Columbia on Friday until -- until they watched the game film Saturday morning. That's when they noticed the Blue Jays' No. 25, senior linebacker Andrew Yacina.

"I knew he disrupted a lot of things against us (Friday) night, but didn't fully appreciate it until we saw him on Saturday (morning). Some of the plays he was making were (the) best I've seen from a linebacker," Tilford said. "We were getting frustrated about why certain things weren't going well offensively for us, but sometimes the other guy just makes a good play. And He made a lot of them."



LAST WEEK, SEASON: 21-9; 126-43, .739.

This week's picks:

Tonight

Southern Columbia at Selinsgrove ­-- Sorry. You will have to wait a second. Still waiting for the coin to come down. It's heads? OK. Cue the drum roll.....Southern 21, Selinsgrove 19.

Shamokin at Montoursville -- Shamokin, when healthy, probably matches up as well as anybody against the huge Warriors. Montoursville 34, Shamokin 14.

East Juniata at Newport -- The unpredictable Tigers catch the Buffaloes when they are reeling, but need to find a way to win without do-it-all Wade Truitt. EJ 14, Newport 7.

Jersey Shore at Mount Carmel -- They last played in 1923 when the Red Tornadoes won 2-0. It will not be as close 85 years later. Mount Carmel 38, Jersey Shore 14.

Danville at Shikellamy -- The Braves should be able to run against the Ironmen (everyone does). But can they stop them? Danville 21, Shikellamy 20.

Lewisburg at Mifflinburg -- The Green Dragons will snatch the Little Brown Jug and deliver one to the jugular in the Wildcats' playoff hopes. Lewisburg 28, Mifflinburg 10.

Warrior Run at Loyalsock -- The Defenders are running out of chances to get that second win. Loyalsock 42, Warrior Run 13.

Line Mountain at Upper Dauphin -- The Eagles need to overcome their injuries and regroup quickly or the Trojans will end their losing streak at three and extend the Eagles' losing streak to two. Line Mountain 14, Upper Dauphin 8.

Milton at Central Columbia -- The Black Panthers can only hope the Blue Jays are looking ahead to next week's game with rival Southern. Then again, it might not matter. Central 48, Milton 6.

Saturday

Lourdes Regional at Carson Long -- The Red Raiders make it four in a row. Lourdes 52, Carson Long 6.

Elsewhere in the Eastern Conference: Athens over Wellsboro, Bloomsburg over Montgomery, Bucktail over Cowanesque Valley, Canton over South Williamsport, Northwest over Columbia-Montour Vo-Tech, Hughesville over North Penn-Blossburg, Muncy over Wyalusing, Troy over Sayre, Towanda over Tunkhannock, Central Dauphin over Williamsport, Pine Grove over Halifax, Williams Valley over Juniata, Tri-Valley over Millersburg, Pocono Mountain West over Jim Thorpe, Nativity BVM over Mahanoy Area, Marian Catholic over Minersville, Panther Valley over Shenandoah Valley and Berwick over Pittston Area.

n E-mail comments to hraker@dailyitem.com.