Meet Coach Cosmos — the man who calls the scores before the coin toss even flips.
A grizzled former assistant coach who vanished for one off-season and came back… different. Third eye open, whistle that hums instead of blows, and a clipboard that shows him plays before they’re run. Nobody knows which team he coached for, or if he ever did. He shows up Thursdays, taps his temple twice, and delivers the week’s picks in short, cryptic bursts — then disappears until next week.
The first week is always a doozy
The cosmos speaks not only in triumph, but in honesty…and honesty says the vision was strong, but not unbreakable.
Fifteen and six. Not a bad debut for a man who reads the stars for a living. But let it be know, I bow to Honesdale, Western Wayne, and Lake-Lehman, three programs who looked into my crystal and decided fate was theirs to rewrite, not mine to dictate. The cosmos respects that kind of defiance. It is, after all, how legends are made.
But beyond my own ledger, the greater vision this week was a troubled one for District 2. Only twelve wins among thirty-three teams – a district that stared into the mirror and did not always like what it saw. And Lakeland alone dared to step beyond these borders and return victorious against outside competition. The rest of the kingdom stayed close to home, and close to home is not always where fortune lives.
Strangest of all, I sense a disturbance among the elders, the five winningest active coaches in this district, men whose sidelines rarely know defeat, all fell in the same week. That is no coincidence, mortals. That is the strength of schedule reminding even the most decorated among us that respect must be earned anew, every single Friday.
The cosmos does not claim infallibility. It claims only the truth. The truth this week was a humbling one for many, myself included
Here are his predictions for Week 2:
“The film doesn’t lie. Neither do I.”
THE BIG BOYS
Hazleton Area at Williamsport
The cosmos knows old rivals when it sees them, and though the WVC no longer binds Williamsport to this land, the memory of that kinship lingers whenever these two 6A giants meet.
I look upon Hazleton Area first and see a young team that met a wall last week and did not yet know how to climb over it. But youth learns fast, mortals, and pain has a way of becoming instruction. There is a shadow over their quarterback, J.J. Lantigua, felled in that same contest. The vision is uncertain whether he returns in time, though I sense he is not far. Should he remain sidelined, the Cougars do not go silent. Xavier Heck already announced himself with a hundred yards in Week 1, and I see him carrying that weight again if called upon.
Across the field, Williamsport found itself locked in a shootout until one hand steadied the storm. Tevin Williams, seizing the moment when it mattered most and steering his Millionaires safely home. That is the mark of a quarterback the cosmos does not overlook.
The stars favor Williamsport tonight, and I will not pretend otherwise. But do not mistake favor for certainty. Hazleton Area carries too much resolve to go quietly, and I sense a night where the favorite must earn every inch before the whistle finally settles this one.
Cosmos Says: Williamsport 30, Hazleton Area 20
THE STARS
Berwick at Pittston Area
The cosmos watched Week 1 closely, and it saw something curious — two reigning WVC champions who forgot their defenses on the bus. Berwick and Pittston Area both stumbled from the gate, yet the fire of a contender does not extinguish with one loss. It merely waits for Week 2 to prove itself again.
Tonight, two stars pull the eye above all else. Lucas Lo Presto is no longer a rising name. He has arrived. Three touchdowns, three different paths to get there: a catch, a throw, a fumble scooped from chaos and carried home. That is not talent alone. That is a player the game itself seems to bend around.
And yet Brady Cleaver answers with his own transformation. Once content to simply hand the ball to his all-state running back and watch the machine work, he now steps into the light as a playmaker himself – 144 yards on the ground, 220 more through the air in his first taste of this new role. The vision shows a young man discovering just how much he is capable of carrying.
I gaze upon these two forces and see them canceling each other out — brilliance meeting brilliance, a wash written in the stars. When equals collide, the outcome falls to those standing in the shadows. Someone else must step forward and tip the scale.
The film does not yet reveal that name. But it will, before the night is through.
Cosmos Says: Berwick 35, Pittston Area 32
THE TOSSUP
Mid Valley at Tunkhannock
The cosmos judges no team too harshly by a single defeat — for how a team falls often reveals more than how it wins.
Mid Valley fell by the slimmest of margins, a two-point conversion away from turning a loss into a tale of triumph. Yet the vision does not linger on that near-miss without warning — I saw the cracks beneath it, an offense limited to two touchdowns, holes that a stronger foe will not forgive so easily. The quarterback throne sits empty still, unclaimed, and until someone steps forward to fill it, the Spartans will have issues taking advantage of a receiving corps as gifted as any this league has to offer. Fate favors those who use what they’re given.
Tunkhannock’s fall was of a different nature — not a stumble, but a collision with a buzzsaw the schedule-makers placed in their path far too soon. There is no shame in that reckoning, only a lesson learned early. But I see a flicker of hope stirring in the Tigers’ camp. Lucas Ciprich, a back who can bend a game’s fate if given the chance to carry it. Feed him the ball, and the underdog at home may yet find himself standing toe-to-toe with fortune.
Two teams licking different wounds, seeking different remedies. The film suggests this one stays closer than the experts might lead you to believe
Cosmos Says: Mid Valley 18, Tunkhannock 14
THE RIVALRY
Montrose at Susquehanna
The cosmos marks certain nights on the calendar long before the schedule-makers do, and this is one of them. Susquehanna County holds its breath once a year for the Battle for the Bluestone, and this time the stars align it for a Thursday.
I see history layered thick over this rivalry, but also recent hardship on both sides. Montrose returns to the LFC having rebuilt what needed rebuilding, numbers restored where they once thinned. Susquehanna, meanwhile, walked through a difficult season with a roster too young to know its own strength yet, and only a single win to show for it.
But records mean little when the Bluestone is on the line. I see the Meteors, who broke a long-suffering losing streak last year and finally lifted that trophy in 2025 – a taste of victory that will not fade easily from memory. And I see the Sabers, wounded pride and home turf both driving them to reclaim what was lost.
This is not merely a game, mortals. It is a covenant renewed between two communities who measure their falls and autumns by this very night. The film shows a battle worthy of its name, tight and unyielding until the final whistle decides who carries the Bluestone home.
Cosmos Says: Montrose 21, Susquehanna 20
THE UPSET
Western Wayne at Old Forge
The cosmos remembers last week clearly — Western Wayne seizing an upset that was theirs to take, while Old Forge watched a 21-point lead slip through their fingers, an upset denied at the final hour. Fortune does not forget a debt like that. It only postpones the collection.
Now the Wildcats must travel into the Devils Den itself, a venue whose very name carries a warning. History has not been kind to visitors who wander in uninvited, and I sense the Blue Devils intend to honor that legacy tonight. They know what got away from them last Saturday, and I see them arriving with pitchforks raised and fire in their eyes, unwilling to let a second chance slip free.
Western Wayne carries the confidence of a job well done, hungry to turn one win into two and prove last week was no accident. But the vision does not favor them in this den. I see the Blue Devils claiming the victory that eluded them in Week 1, settling their own unfinished business on their own sacred ground.
Comos Says: Old Forge 28, Western Wayne 24
THE BARN BURNER
West Scranton at Carbondale
The cosmos rarely gets to peer this far into the past — these two programs, separated by little more than a short bus ride, have not shared a field since 1949. Seventy-seven years of silence, broken tonight.
I look first to the Invaders, still riding the current stirred up last week when the Sostre Brothers announced themselves to the district. With the arsenal West Scranton carries — a train of weapons, each one capable of doing damage on its own — I do not see that momentum slowing. It only builds speed.
But Carbondale does not arrive empty-handed. Frankie Roman and Caedon Voglino give the Chargers their own brand of danger, though I sense their truer intention lies elsewhere — in the trenches, where a stout offensive line and a stable of capable ball carriers hope to grind this game down to their own rhythm, and keep the Invaders’ train from ever reaching full speed.
The vision shows fireworks regardless — a combined 78 points a week ago was no accident, and I do not see the scoreboard slowing down tonight either. When the dust settles, I see West Scranton crossing a threshold they haven’t touched since 2013 — two wins to open a season, road weapons proving too much for Carbondale’s ground game to fully contain.
Cosmos Says: West Scranton 42, Carbondale 34
THE MOMENTOUS ONE
Lakeland at Lake-Lehman
The cosmos does not always announce its favorites through comfort — sometimes it speaks through the ones who answer adversity first. Lakeland felt a tremor when Rocco Spataro went down, their starting quarterback lost to injury before the vision could even settle. But fate does not leave a throne empty for long. Jackson Pochas rose to meet the moment, and I saw no hesitation in him — only a standout performance that steadied a program with championship ambitions still very much alive. The path to defending both a league and a district crown remains open before them.
Across the field, I sense a new king rising in his own right. Mike Mully made his head coaching debut for the Black Knights, and the stars do not often smile on a first outing the way they smiled on his — a road upset, a statement before the ink was even dry on his name. Lake-Lehman looks up at Lakeland and asks the question every challenger must ask: can we reclaim the summit? The vision does not promise it. But it does not deny them a fight either — this is a team with enough fire to make Lakeland earn every yard of it.
Cosmos Says: Lakeland 31, Lake-Lehman 20
THE OTHERS
Trinity Prep (FL) over Abington Heights
North Pocono over Scranton
Valley View over Crestwood
Wyoming Area over Hanover Area
ES South over Wallenpaupack
Dunmore over Lackawanna Trail
Palmerton over Nanticoke
Holy Redeemer over Nativity
Dallas over Wyoming Valley West
Northampton over Delaware Valley
Scranton Prep over Trinity
Wilkes-Barre over Stroudsburg
Riverside over Holy Cross
Honesdale over ES North
“Cosmos out. Trust the film.”
