Jalen Simpson has a knack for getting his team on the scoreboard first.

He was a part of Notre Dame's game-opening score against Southern Lehigh last week, collecting a 22-yard touchdown pass from his quarterback Cole DeFranco. The Crusaders went on to win.It was the same result on Friday against Northern Lehigh in another Colonial League meeting.The fans were still finding their seats when Simpson took the opening kickoff 83 yards to the house. His second quick score in two weeks propelled the Crusaders to a 39-21 victory over the Bulldogs."He's one of our play makers," said Notre Dame head coach Phil Stambaugh. "We want to make those big plays and put our offense in a good position. We blocked well, 'J' hit the hole, and it gave us a powerful start."Simpson wasn't the only one making big plays on the Crusaders sideline.After Northern Lehigh went three-and-out on its first possession, DeFranco scampered for a 68-yard score just four minutes into the game. The ND quarterback compiled 258 yards of total offense."He has some tools and we just have to get a little better with some of our decision making," explained the Notre Dame coach. "Overall, Cole played a very good game. I'm trying to groom him to be an elite quarterback. There are times where he's making sophomore mistakes, but I know he's going to keep working and getting better."However, the Crusaders weren't flawless on offense.Austin Hemingway recovered a fumble late in the first quarter, which set the Bulldogs up in the red zone. Kellen Hendrix then topped off the drive with a one-yard plunge, which cut the deficit to 13-7."We're trying to figure out if we're better off being a spread team, or better off being in the "I"," said Northern Lehigh head coach Joe Tout. "I thought we did a nice job offensively, we moved the ball and had them a bit off balance by going different formations. The play action was good tonight. We hit some things early, but we went into a lull for a while."Unfortunately for the Bulldogs, the Crusaders ended the first half the same way it began- with more electric plays.After another 16-yard DeFranco rushing score, cornerback Trea Lovell made an athletic play on a 63-yard interception return that made it a 25-7 Crusaders lead at intermission.Credit the Bulldogs, as the game never got out of hand despite the Crusaders' explosive first-half plays.Northern Lehigh scored twice in the second half, once on a beautiful 10-yard pitch-and-catch from Tekoah Guedas to Damion Rodriguez off a play fake in the corner of the end zone."We were happy in the fact that we felt like we got better today," said Tout. "We think we improved with the turnovers. We're focused on our kids and I thought we did some good thing tonight. There are a lot of winnable games out there so that's our focus now."DECEIVING NUMBERS ... Other than DeFranco's 68-yard first quarter run, the Bulldogs' defense held the Crusaders to single-digit rushing gains for the rest of the game.POWER LINE ...Notre Dame's Jack Nesbitt, EJ Medina and Mikey Degaetano were constantly blowing up plays in the backfield.NOT CONVERTING ... Notre Dame didn't convert the point-after on its first three scores. The Crusaders missed a kick and didn't convert two pass attempts.