HELLERTOWN - Palmerton did everything it could to stay with Saucon Valley. And the Panthers did some to help the Bombers keep the game close for a while.

Eventually Saucon Valley's size, speed and experience won out as the Panthers walked away with a 35-7 Colonial League win."Way too many turnovers, too many penalties," said Saucon Valley head coach Phil Sams. "Those guys had a good game plan. They came out and played good defense against us. They stacked eight guys in the box. A lot of credit to them and the game plan they played against us. Also, we weren't sharp."The Panthers (3-0) committed eight penalties for 86 yards and fumbled the ball away three times.Palmerton (0-3) stayed within striking distance, trailing just 14-7 at halftime, but the Bombers failed to convert any of the turnovers into points."The first half we were right there," said Palmerton mentor Chris Walkowiak. "We missed some opportunities in the first half, some turnovers that we didn't turn into points."Big plays hurt us. They have speed, but it's nothing we didn't see on film. We knew it was coming. We're giving up a lot of size ... They wore us down."The Panthers gave up a fumble on their first offensive play of the game. After Palmerton failed to gain a first down, Saucon drove 70 yards in eight plays, with quarterback Brandon Holub scoring on a 47-yard run with 3:33 left in the first quarter.Holub, who threw for 100 yards and ran for 96, hit receiver Alston Wolfe with an 11-yard pass that made it 14-0 with 10:18 to go in the first half.The Bombers cut the lead on their final possession of the second half, aided by a fourth-down pass interference penalty.One play after the penalty gave Palmerton a first down at the Panther 18-yard line, quarterback Garrett Perschy connected with Andrew Sabo for a touchdown that cut into the lead with nine seconds left before halftime."At halftime it was 'hey we're in this game but we're not in it to get a pat on the back and say we played to 14-7 at halftime,'" said Walkowiak. "That's the message we sent: let's go and finish this game. It didn't work out that way but it's something for us to work on."The Panthers showed more efficiency in the second half. While they gave away one fumble and committed five penalties, they overcame those mistakes and put up three unanswered touchdowns.Holub's one-yard scoring run got momentum back less than two minutes into the second half. It capped a 67-yard drive and made the score 21-7.Holub hit Wolfe for a 56-yard score with 1:58 left in the third quarter and Zach Patiet capped the scoring with a three-yard run early in the fourth.While the Bombers were a big underdog, they still went to Hellertown expecting their first win."We expect them to play for 48 minutes and the kids lived up to it," said Walkowiak. "They came and laid everything on the line. We expected to come down here and play like we're capable of. Nobody thought we'd even be in this game, but our kids are resilient."ROUGH ROAD ... Palmerton's early-season schedule was one of the toughest in the league. The three teams the Bombers have faced this season are a combined 6-2 through Friday night's action. They'll head to Pen Argyl (2-1) next Saturday.BY COMMITTEE ... Saucon didn't have a single 100-yard rusher in the game, but three backs combined for nearly 300 yards. Holub ran for 96 yards. Petiet ran for 88 and Nate Kehs ran for 93.CAN ANYONE BEAT THEM ... The Panthers have now won 18 straight Colonial League games, dating back to a 39-14 loss to Northwestern on Sept. 26, 2014. They went 10-1 that year, and then followed it with last year's undefeated league championship team.