It's way too early to see if defending Eastern Conference champion Northern Lehigh is a postseason contender again this year, but after their opening game don't rule it out.

The Bulldogs overcame all sorts of adversity to pull out a 20-6 win over Pen Argyl in a Colonial League contest.First, the 'Dawgs depend on a two tailback system on offense. The key component of that was supposed to be junior Ryan Farber, but Farber got injured in practice Thursday. Before that, Austin Lancsak, a senior fullback and linebacker, tore an ACL and underwent surgery earlier this week.As if this wasn't bad enough, Northern Lehigh drove to the Green Knights one on their first possession, lost the ball on a fumble, and then late in the first quarter saw the opponent take a 7-0 lead.Joe Tout, starting his 10th season as head coach for the Bulldogs, said the game was a good indicator of what he expects the rest of the season."I think our kids have some toughness, they're in shape, they're in very good condition," he said. "They made a ton of mistakes but it didn't get them down."Of losing Farber, he said, "I thought, years back, we would have wondered who would have picked up the slack and made the plays. (Austin) Hemingway came out and made the plays."Especially impressive to Tout was the defense. "I thought our defense was absolutely outstanding," he said. "I knew our defense was going to be our strong point.The Knights were held to just 44 yards of offense in the second half. In the third quarter, Pen Argyl ran the ball six times for no yardage.CJ Young, a 6-1, 165 senior, was the offensive workhorse for Northern Lehigh, carrying the ball 25 times for 121 yards. He was thrown for a loss just once - in the third quarter when he missed a lateral and recovered the fumble for a 14 yard setback.Northern Lehigh got its first score late in the second quarter thanks to a blocked punt by Young which gave the Bulldogs the ball on the Green Knights 5. Young carried to the one, then punched it into the end zone. The kick for the point after bounced off the uprights.In the second half, Northern Lehigh dominated.BEING STINGY ... Pen Argyl had the ball for 10 plays in the third quarter, compared to 16 plays for the Bulldogs. The time of possession for Northern Lehigh was over eight minutes. In the final quarter, Pen Argyl controlled the clock but couldn't capitalize. They got the ball to Northern Lehigh's six, then Taz McNair knocked the ball loose and Seth Keiser recovered the fumble.LOCATION, LOCATION, LOCATION ... Just like real estate, location is important. Take the fourth quarter, for instance. Pen Argyl had the ball on its own 14 and a penalty pushed them back to their nine. The tenacious defense of Northern Lehigh held and the Bulldogs took a punt on the Green Knight 28. Austin Hemingway, a 5-9 sophomore, took only his second hand off of the night and barreled up the middle for a score.LONGEST RUNS ... The longest run of the game was a 43-yard carry by Young in the fourth quarter. It happenened late in the game, moving the ball from the Nolehi 37 to the Pen Argyl 20 with only about a minute left to play. For Pen Argyl, Legan Sterner had a 33 yard run in the first quarter. In the second half, an eight yard carry was Pen Argyl's longest gain.A LIVE MASCOT ... The Bulldogs have a mascot this year after not having one for the past two season. It's Bourbon, a tan and white, 4 1/2 year old bulldog owned by assistant middle school principal Jill Chamberlain. Bourbon succeeds Rosie, a bulldog that also had been owned by Chamberlain but passed away about five years ago. Bourbon couldn't serve as mascot the past two seasons because of a leg problem.