Even had the weather been perfect, the battle between Northwestern and Saucon Valley would have likely come down to a battle between running backs Harry Hall and Evan Culver. With the field soaked and rain falling throughout the game, Hall and Culver put on a show, combining for 392 yards of rushing. Unfortunately for Northwestern, Culver had 283 of those yards and scored four times as the Panthers beat the Tigers 27-21.

Saucon Valley (5-0) opened the game with a methodical 19 play, 80 yard drive that consumed almost 9:00 of the first quarter. Culver carried the ball on 10 of the 19 plays, accounting for 60 yards. Northwestern (3-2) took a different approach when they got the ball and used just five plays to go 50 yards, with Hall ending the drive with a 24 yard touchdown run, setting up Brandon Miller to tie the game 7-7 with the extra point.The Tigers defense came up big late in the third quarter when Saucon Valley quarterback Zach Thatcher was stripped of the ball as he headed for the end zone. Dylan Lobach recovered the ball at the one-yard line to keep the game tied 21-21. The Tigers weren't able to take advantage of the turnover and punted the ball away after picking up just one first down on the ensuing drive.On the second play of the fourth quarter, Northwestern looked to go to the air and break the tie with a big play. Dylan Snyder saw a wide-open Joe Colucci and lofted a pass that would have hit him in the numbers, but Thatcher dashed toward the sideline from mid-field and arrived in time to knock the ball out of the air, denying what would have been a sure touchdown. Again, the Northwestern drive would stall, leaving the Tigers to punt.Sauco Valley scored their final touchdown of the game on a two-yard run by Culver, but a big play by Teagen Golden on the extra point, again seemed to shift momentum back to Northwestern. Golden went high in the air and timed his leap perfectly to deflect the kick, holding Saucon Valley's lead at six."The center had his head down and I knew I could make a jump. With the bad conditions, I knew he was kicking low, so I knew I just had to make that one jump and I got lucky," explained Golden. "We put ourselves in good position after that, but things happened. We could have had it."With just under 5:00 left to play, Northwestern faced a fourth-and-six and punted the ball away. The defense again came up big and forced the Panthers to punt from their own 42 yard line with a little over 3:00 on the clock. Punter Mike Kane had trouble with the snap and hurried off a kick that went high in the air, but just three yards down field, again leaving Northwestern with great field position at the Saucon Valley 45. A bad snap put Northwestern into a fourth-and-15 with :28 to play. Snyder, who was battling a sore shoulder suffered when he was hit just out of bounds on a play, fired downfield, but the ball was again deflected, giving Saucon Valley possession with just :19 remaining. Thatcher took the snap and kneeled down to end the game."I'm proud of my team, they came out and gave us our best shot. They were really getting a push up front, because of their size and physicality. The elements may have played into that a little bit, but you have to hand it to them," said coach Josh Snyder.NO RECORD, YET ... Harry Hall remains 138 yards short of Brett Snyder's career rushing record of 4,281 yards for Northwestern. Hall now has 47 career touchdowns, leaving him four shy of Snyder's record of 51.GET WELL CHET ... Northwestern was without offensive/defensive lineman Chet Karpyn, who is out with a knee injury. The Tigers missed his size and presence on both sides of the ball, which was part of the problem in trying to stop Culver.RUN BRETT RUN ... Brett Schillinger, who returned kicks for touchdowns in each of the last two games, had returns of 50 and 58 yards for Northwestern.