Salisbury pulls away from NL

SALISBURY TOWNSHIP — Northern Lehigh football coach Joe Tout has seen it a couple of times this season.

His Bulldogs have gotten off to a fast start, but then failed to put together a complete game.

Friday’s tilt against Salisbury was another example of that for Tout and his Northern Lehigh squad.

Following an early 7-0 lead for Northern Lehigh, Salisbury quickly righted the ship and took control.

The Falcons scored five of the next six touchdowns to hand the Bulldogs a 34-13 loss at Salisbury High School.

“That’s been our tale — we’re just inconsistent,” Tout said. “We’ve done that a couple of times this year. Against Wilson we did that. Against Pen Argyl we did that. We came on and got a good start.”

The Bulldogs’ defense stepped to the plate on Salisbury’s first offensive possession, forcing a quick three-and-out. Then, 11 plays and a couple of minutes later, senior running back Mason Seiler plunged into the end zone for a 3-yard touchdown run and a 7-0 lead.

That lead would hold for just a little longer than five minutes. Salisbury quarterback Jacob Kamp tied the game at 7-7 with a 5-yard touchdown run on a play action to the left side.

The Falcons struck again just 1:35 later after a quick Bulldog series. Akex Glenn got the score on a 39-yard burst.

“Defensively, I thought early we limited the big plays,” Tout said. “We’re just inconsistent.”

The Bulldogs (0-8) got within a point at 14-13 shortly after on a 35-yard touchdown pass from Zach Long to Damion Rodriguez on a 4th-and-13 play.

But Salisbury answered right back on a 30-yard jump ball from Kamp to wide out Oliver Stewart.

“The difference is just speed,” Tout said. “We just don’t have great team speed. I kind of saw that, and that’s what concerns us every week. We just don’t have great team speed, and you saw that they have athletic kids.

“I thought we adjusted early on, but then as the game went on they did a nice job of playing multiple skill kids and rotating in and out.”

Tim Buda, who led the Falcons (4-4) with 108 yards on the ground, took a hand off 57 yards around the right side for a touchdown midway through the third quarter. He was one of four ball carriers with at least 40 rushing yards.

Kamp closed out the scoring with a 6-yard throw to Lucas Irwin early in the fourth quarter.

With the season quickly coming to a close, Tout is hoping his team refocuses with two key games coming up. He wants the records to be thrown out the window moving forward.

“We told our kids we have back-to-back games they should really be excited to play,” Tout said. “Records don’t matter next week with Northwestern. We just have to be excited to play that game.”

TALE OF TWO HALVES ... In addition to all of Northern Lehigh’s points coming in the first half, most of its yards came in that first half as well. The Bulldogs gained just 88 yards of total offense in the second half.

RIVALRY STRETCH ... Northern Lehigh will face two of its biggest rivals to close out the season. Following next week’s game with Northwestern, the Bulldogs host Palmerton in Week 10.