Although neither coach wanted to use the conditions as an excuse in last night's Colonial league battle between Palisades and Northern Lehigh, the downpour reeked havoc on both team's possession ability.

Despite the weather factors, Northern Lehigh cruised to a 36-6 triumph over the winless Pirates and remained undefeated, approaching the midpoint of the season, at 4-0.In the game, there were 14 total fumbles and barely any pass attempts, but thanks to Trevor Yashur's ground attack, the visitors proved to be no match for the 'navy-n-white.'Nolehi managed to overcome losing three of four fumbles that came late in the contest and thanks to a 23-point first quarter advantage, built enough of an insurmountable lead."We felt with the conditions, we couldn't get too worried about it," Northern Lehigh head coach Joe Tout mentioned. "The weather definitely is a neutralizer; but, we came out and built that 23-point cushion and they got the job done."At times, Tout feels his roster enjoys, and even prefers the wetter conditions."Our kids actually thrive on a wet field," he said. "At times that maybe Palisades was unsure, we benefited, in that the kids play better."In that explosive first quarter, it was the Trevor Yashur show. His number got called for rushing opportunities the first eight Northern Lehigh plays from scrimmage. He scored on three of them.The first scoring drive was three Yashur efforts and the third was a 54-yard burst for a 7-0 lead.The fourth (14 yards), and fifth (nine yards), set up the sixth (20), and seventh, which was another touchdown - a six-yard score for a 14-0 lead.After their second turnover-on-downs, Palisades immediately gave up a 60-yard Yashur score that put his individual rushing mark at 180 yards on eight attempts, with three touchdowns, all with still 5:25 left in the first quarter."Trevor ran hard," Tout affirmed. "He had the hot hand and he ran tough. We have confidence in him to do that."With about three minutes left in the quarter, Kyle Greenawald took down Pirate quarterback Jesse Snyder in his own end zone for the safety and the lead was 25-0.On Northern Lehigh's subsequent possession, Kirk Bender coughed the ball up and senior Tim Kepp heisted it and was off to pay dirt, adding six to their score.At the intermission, Palisades had three fumbles and NL two. Considering the weather, meningitis is a potential sickness a player could get. However, it was 'fumble-itis' that began spreading.After the break, things got messy with 10 fumbles and an interception.Luckily, for the Bulldogs, the lead was big and the inevitable damage had been done.Bender and Kyle Schomp both added scoring runs of their own in the second, with runs of one and seven, respectively.Yashur was the offensive standout of the game, as he finished the night with 22 carries for 243 yards and those three huge touchdowns.Palisades head coach Jim Brady stated, "When your offense is sputtering and you're not going anywhere, your defense has to step up. After the first quarter, I think we did that and did a good job. Northern Lehigh scored on the same play three times - the power toss that they run so well."That they did.