SALISBURY TOWNSHIP - One of Palmerton's biggest issues all season has been finishing drives with trips to the end zone. It became evident quite quickly that putting together scoring drives would be difficult once again on Friday night.

After forcing Salisbury into a turnover on downs to start the game, Palmerton mustered an 11-play drive of its own, only to see the ball turned back over to the Falcons just 12 yards shy of the end zone. Following a Falcon punt, Palmerton advanced to Salisbury's 24-yard line, but once again saw a drive halt, this one via punt.Salisbury capitalized on back-to-back drives in the second quarter, not even two minutes apart, to take a 14-0 lead. The Falcons (6-3) grew that lead to 29-0 in the third quarter before capping a 36-0 shutout over the Blue Bombes (4-5) on Friday night."We had some opportunities in the first quarter," head coach Chris Walkowiak said. "Twice we were inside the red zone and we didn't score. That's been our Achilles heel the past few weeks of having opportunities and having chances to score, and not being able to do it."The district tournament now seems out of reach for Palmerton, who entered last night as one of a handful of .500 teams. Salisbury only strengthened its bid for a rare postseason appearance as the No. 3 team in Class AA currently."Right now we don't control our own destiny anymore," Walkowiak said. "We'll see where the standings start off, but we knew it was a game for playoffs. But right now we're going to focus on Northern Lehigh and winning that and see what happens."Palmerton held one of the Colonial League's top offenses scoreless for more than a quarter-and-a-half. But once the Falcons got their offense rolling, it didn't seem to stop putting up points.Shane Wittman scored from nine yards out that broke a scoreless game late in the second quarter. Exactly 1:54 later, following a Palmerton three-and-out, quarterback Tevon Weber connected with Mason Donaldson for a 66-yard touchdown catch and run on a 3rd-and-22 play.The Blue Bombers' offense, on the other hand, struggled to find much running room through their line. Their longest run of the first half was nine yards, and five attempts resulted in negative yards. Running back Mike Stasko, who entered the game with 1,134 yards on the ground, was held to just 27 on 13 attempts.On the other hand, three Salisbury ball-carriers finished with over 62 yards, led by Wittman's team-leading 80 on just seven attempts."Their running backs did a great job of running the ball tonight," Walkowiak said. "They were real physical. When they hit us, they hit us with some force and were dragging us there."Palmerton was able to take its opening drive of the second half across midfield, but nothing would come to fruition.THERE'S A FIRST FOR EVERYTHING... Friday's loss was the first time in nine games this season that Palmerton was shut out.STASKO STUFFED OF RECORD... A week ago, the Palmerton junior moved into second place in Blue Bomber history for single season total touchdowns at 19. The Falcon defense kept Stasko from crossing the goal line, keeping him a touchdown behind Chris Siracuse's single-season record of 20 set in 1998. Statistics accumulated by District 11 statistician Duke Helm.