Daniel Boone has had its share of good quarterbacks — better make that very good quarterbacks — in recent years. Chris Bokosky, calling the signals up at Lehigh University nowadays, owns a few pages of season and career marks in the area’s record books. Casey Smith had the unenviable task of following Bokosky, but responded with just under 2,000 yards and 25 touchdowns. And Anthony Heimbach, who last year expected to catch and carry the football until getting to camp and discovering an injury to a teammate forced him under center, didn’t exactly toss wobble after wobble last fall while leading the Blazers to the District 3-AAA semifinals.

So was head coach Dave Bodolus really that concerned when Jon Monteiro strolled out to call the signals in his debut last Friday night?

Nope.

“I don’t think you can expect the kind of game (that Monteiro had), not when it’s his first varsity start,” Bodolus said. “But we certainly knew he was capable of it.”

What exactly did Monteiro do?

Well, he completed 10 of 17 attempts for 235 yards and an area record-tying five touchdowns — three to wideout Zach Keeley and two to tight end Mitchell Stead — to underline the Blazers’ 40-0 romp at Donegal.

“Jon has a heck of a group of receivers to throw to, and that helps any quarterback,” Bodolus said. “Our offensive line played well, too.

“But he was so poised. He has a good head on his shoulders. He understands what we want to do, makes good decisions, and throws the ball accurately. He had some pressure on him at times, but he didn’t get rattled. He handled himself very well.”

Monteiro was actually penciled in to start last year. Bodolus was well aware of who he was getting, and just how promising a talent he was, too. But an offseason leg injury cost Monteiro his entire sophomore season.

Now a 6-foot, 190-pound junior with very reliable receivers in Keeley, Stead, and Kyle Yarmush — to name just a few — and a very productive running back in Nate Greene, Monteiro may well be the next quarterback to orchestrate another banner season.

Yes, you can bet your helmet, shoulder pads, and cleats that the Blazers are determined (and favored) to get into the I-C Division One and District 3-AAA mix yet again.

“We want to be balanced offensively,” Bodolus said. “We want to be able to run the ball and pass the ball, and you’re obviously not going to be able to do either without a quarterback who makes good decisions. So Jon is very important to us … to this team. But we’re confident he can do the job.”

Monteiro’s five touchdown passes against Donegal – which covered 38, 18, 8, 7, and 31 yards – tied the area record originally set in 1982 by Phoenixville’s Steve Rife and equaled only two times since.

HONORABLE

Player of the Week honors, a no-brainer obviously, go to Monteiro.

Coach of the Week honors go to St. Pius X’s George Parkinson, who took his Lions down to Philadelphia last Friday night and opened with a 6-0 shutout of Simon Gratz. Quite an achievement for the very young Lions considering the long bus ride through rush-hour traffic and playing in an intimidating environment.

GETTING DEFENSIVE

Perkiomen Valley head coach Scott Reed hopes his team gets a little defensive before Friday’s trek to Coatesville.

In their opener at Upper Dublin, the Vikings came up short, 55-42 – the second-highest number of points a PV team has allowed in a game. The only game they gave up more was 37 years ago, or way, way, way back in 1971 – long before Reed was even born – in a 56-0 loss to then Bux-Mont League rival Central Bucks West.

“It was our first game, so whether it was how good (Upper Dublin’s offense) was or how badly our defense played, I don’t know,” Reed said. “I know one thing, though, and that is Upper Dublin came to play.

“That team moves the ball really well. Going in, we thought they’d score some points, but we didn’t think they’d score that many. The bottom line was we tackled very poorly.”

Josh Mastromatto ran through, over, and around the Vikings for 220 yards and four touchdowns, and added two more scores on receptions from quarterback Derek Giannetti, who was 11 of 19 for 182 yards. Overall, the Cards’ winning hand totaled 533 yards.

“I think we’re more upset with the consistency of (Upper Dublin’s) drives,” Reed added. “And then in the second half, there were so many big plays.”

Enough big plays to make everyone forget the Vikings actually led 14-10 at halftime … a four-point spread that disappeared in a hurry when the Cardinals put 45 points up on the board in the final two quarters.

“We have a lot of work to do, especially to get ready for Coatesville,” Reed said of the Red Raiders, considered (and ranked) among the top Class AAAA teams in District 1.

Reed is only the fifth coach in the history of Perkiomen Valley’s program, following Scott Fuhrman, John Strawoet, Ken Donahue, and Bill Fretz, who guided the Vikings after the jointure of Collegeville-Trappe and Schwenksville high schools. … PV had given up 54 points in games on two occasions, in 1981 to Hatboro-Horsham (54-0), and in 1984 to C.B West (54-0). … The combined 97 points from last Friday night was far and away the most scored in any game involving a PV team, breaking the mark of 89 set in 2002 in a 48-41 loss to Boyertown.

SPECIAL TIMES

Tom Barr and his staff at Owen J. Roberts will be working on two specific things this week – special teams and holding onto the football, both of which were costly in the 47-21 loss to Downingtown West. The Wildcats saw two of their early scores negated by returns for touchdowns on the ensuing kickoffs. And, if that wasn’t enough, they turned the football over four times.

MOVING UP

Boyertown quarterback David Crognale ran past the 1,500-yard career mark during the Bears’ loss to Muhlenberg last Friday night. Crognale, a four-year starter, is within reach of becoming the first quarterback in area history to run for more than 2,000 yards. He is also approaching the 3,000-yard career mark passing the football.

Lost in Perkiomen Valley’s setback to Upper Dublin was another solid performance by quarterback Zach Zulli. The senior was 19 of 27 for 257 yards and four touchdowns. He now has 212 completions, 3,560 yards, and 42 touchdowns and is likely to pass or get close to a select list of area career leaders in all three categories by season’s end.

LONG DISTANCE

Another record (of little or no importance) was set last weekend when eight area players went 50 or more yards for touchdowns (in one night).

They were Boyertown’s Logan Herb (65-yard run); Perkiomen Valley’s Lynwood Snowden (90-yard kickoff return) and Rhashad Santiago (65-yard reception); Pottsgrove’s Preston Hamlette (94-yard run) and Terrell Chestnut (76-yard run); Spring-Ford’s David Tyler (63-yard run); St. Pius X’s Cole Parkinson (70-yard reception); and Upper Perkiomen’s Shawn Wenhold (56-yard reception).

For the record, Phoenixville’s Anthony Nattle was just a step shy of joining the group after taking a pass 49 yards for the Phantoms’ lone score.

PAC-10 RECAP

It wasn’t necessarily a good opening night at all for the Pioneer Athletic Conference. The league was 3-7 overall, with only Pottsgrove (21-7 over Exeter), St. Pius X (6-0 over Simon Gratz), and Upper Perkiomen (42-7 over Allen) accounting for the wins.

It won’t get any easier this week, either. Only two teams are home (Pottstown faces the explosive Mastromatto and Upper Dublin on Friday night and Methacton entertains Kennedy-Kenrick on Saturday afternoon).

Also Friday night, Boyertown heads up to another corner of Berks County to play Governor Mifflin; Owen J. Roberts, Perkiomen Valley and Uppper Perkiomen travel to Ches-Mont League rivals W.C. East, Coatesville and Downingtown West, respectively; Phoenixville heads down to Delaware County to meet Chichester; and Pottsgrove and Spring-Ford visit neighboring Suburban One representatives Wissahickon and Norristown, respectively, to cap the frenzy.

DID YOU KNOW

The PIAA’s enrollment figures and competition classifications for the next two seasons revealed some interesting numbers. St. Pius X is the largest of only five Class A football programs in District 1. The Lions’ male enrollment (194) tops Bristol (134), Calvary Christian (126), Morrisville (99) and Jenkintown (73). … District 1 has just three schools in Class AA with Harriton, Lower Moreland and Springfield-Montco. … Five area schools – Owen J. Roberts (510), Pottsgrove (410), Upper Perkiomen (392), Phoenixville (381) and Phoenixville (360) – and 17 others make up the district’s Class AAA field. … Spring-Ford (833), Methacton (686) and Perkiomen Valley (670) are all AAAA entries. … Up in District 3, Daniel Boone (498) is one of 33 teams in Class AAA.