You can make an argument that when Palisades won the coin toss, they lost the game. Pirates coach Kevin Ronalds had his players take the ball first in an effort to keep the Northwestern offense off the field, but the Tigers then elected to have the wind at their back to start the game.

That cold, blustery wind helped to put Palisades in an early hole. The final result were three quick scores for Northwestern, who went on to take a 42-14 win, gaining a spot in the District 11 Championship game next week against North Schuylkill."They elected to take the kick, so we went with the wind and I think they threw two out of their first three plays," said Tiger head coach Josh Snyder. "We backed them up and then kicking into the wind and giving us a short field, we did what we needed to do. We marched down the field and put it in and before you know it, they're playing from behind."Palisades went three-and-out on its first possession and gave Northwestern excellent field position after a 16-yard punt that was hampered greatly by the wind. The Tigers opened their first drive from the Pirates' 31 and four plays later, Cam Richardson scored the first of his four touchdowns on a 17-yard run after taking the snap directly from center. Northwestern would start its next two drives on the Palisades 43 and 15 yard lines and put the ball into the end zone both times to push their lead to 21-0 after the first quarter.Richardson would get his second score of the night on a nine-yard run on the second possession and then Frank Dangello would hit Taylor Breininger with a four-yard touchdown pass late in the first quarter.On the night, Richardson would rush for 99 yards, have 37 yards receiving and score four touchdowns. His rushing yardage pushed him over the 1,000 yard mark in both receiving and rushing in his career, making him the first Northwestern player to accomplish that feat."It's great, but I'd give up all of my stats for a district title," said Richardson, who could have his stats and the title with a win over North Schuylkill next week.On the early possessions, junior Andrew Sorensen made big plays defensively to put Palisades in a hole. On the first play from scrimmage, he sacked Pirates quarterback Austin Krauss for a five-yard loss. Those plays allowed Northwestern to take early control of the game."We just had great motivation, great preparation and came out with our hair on fire and I decided why wait? And we started the game right," said Sorensen. "Our defense is championship material.""He's an under-sized guy and we thought coming into this year that he'd be a third down, pass rushing end," said Snyder. "Little did we know that he wasn't going to accept that role. Now, he takes on traps, he gets low, he's a wrestler and has great balance, good solid base and when he drops back, he can really get around the edge and put a lot of pressure on."In the second quarter, Palisades started to settle in a little, but the best they could muster was a 14-play drive that used up just over six minutes off the clock, but resulted in a turnover on downs when Nick Sanders attempted a fake punt that fell incomplete.In the third quarter, Krauss hit Nick Bord with an 11-yard touchdown pass to put the Pirates on the scoreboard, capping an 11-play drive that took almost six minutes. Palisades would also score with just four seconds left in the game, when Krauss crossed the goal line from one yard out on a quarterback keeper.Northwestern (10-1) now travels to North Schuylkill (11-0) next week to play for the District 11 Championship and a spot in the PIAA Playoffs. The two teams met last season to decide the Eastern Conference Championship and the Tigers pulled out a 19-18 win in which Dangello was 12-for-16 in passing and threw for 185 yards.Following the game, a number of Northwestern's seniors walked hand-in-hand across the field and back, reflecting on their last game at "The Jungle."