Northwestern came out looking to deliver an early knockout punch and it did just that against Salisbury.

The Tigers rode their quick start to a 27-14 win over the Falcons in the District 11 Class AA semifinal game.Salisbury didn't help its cause, hurting itself with a bad snap, a blocked punt and an interception.Salisbury's opening drive stalled on the Northwestern 36-yard line, forcing it to punt. The snap sailed over punter Mason Donaldson's head, resulting in a hurried kick that netted six yards.The Tigers' ground game, which accounted for 374 yards on the night, went to work and in just nine plays, covered 70 yards to go up 7-0 on a Dylan Snyder 12-yard quarterback keeper.Salisbury also had to punt on their next possession and Dylan Lobach ruined that attempt by breaking through for the block. Northwestern recovered on the Salisbury five-yard line and Harry Hall took the opening handoff of the drive and put the Tigers up 14-0."Those plays were big for us, especially coming so early, because it gave us that momentum," said Dylan Snyder. "We look to make things happen and that gave us a lot of momentum."On the second play of their next drive, Salisbury would again hurt itself when Tevon Weber attempted a pass into the stiff wind and Northwestern's Trevor Cunningham intercepted it.Again the Tigers stayed on the ground, working inside the 10 before Brandon Miller came on to kick a 25-yard field goal, to make it 17-0 Northwestern with just over three-minutes gone in the second quarter.For the first time this season, Hall wasn't the leading rusher for Northwestern, that honor went to Snyder, who ran for 172 yards on 20 carries."Harry hurt his ankle against Northern Lehigh and he's still battling it," said Tiger coach Josh Snyder. You could see there were times when he had trouble making a cut, so it was a good night to get other players involved in the offense."Right after Miller's field goal, Devin Irwin took the ensuing kickoff and ran it back 86 yards for Salisbury's first score of the night, making it a 17-7 game.Northwestern got the ball back with 8:23 left in the half and drove to a first-and-goal at the seven, but Salisbury's defense came up big and stopped the drive, tackling Hall for a two-yard loss on the final play of the half."I don't know what it is about Salisbury, but nobody has played us as hard down close as they have this year," said coach Snyder. "They stopped us in the first game and they did it again tonight. You have to hand it to them, because that would have been big for us to get that score."Dylan Snyder scampered 45 yards on a keeper in the third quarter for his second touchdown and Miller added a 26-yard field goal to end any Salisbury comeback hopes.REMATCH ... The win sends the Tigers into a rematch with Notre Dame next week in their attempt to repeat as District 11 champions. Notre Dame downed North Schuylkill 35-15 in the other AA semifinal. Notre Dame downed Northwestern 31-19 in the opening week of the season.BLOWIN' IN THE WIND ... A strong, constant wind affected the game, but Snyder had no doubts about letting Miller try a 26-yarder into the wind. "He's got plenty of leg and even though the wind was blowing right at him, I didn't think it would be a problem for him," said Snyder.