POTTSVILLE - They've done it to opponents all season long.

And on Saturday night, Palmerton was no exception.Using a methodical ground attack that wears teams down, Schuylkill Haven piled up the rushing yards in the second half of the District 11 Class 2A championship game and pulled away from the Blue Bombers for a 42-7 victory."They grind it out," said Palmerton head coach Chris Walkowiak. "They pound you. And then they have three guys that can break it.Big plays. That's been an Achilles Heel for us this season. When we weren't playing well earlier, that's what hurt us. They caught up to us tonight, but that's a credit to them. They came off the ball. We knew what they had. They're a good football team."Walkowiak's club held its own with the Hurricanes, trailing by just a 14-7 margin late in the third quarter. But four touchdowns, two of them by freshman Kody Brish, in an 11-minute span turned a tightly-contested battle into a rout."We just made adjustments," said Haven mentor Mike Farr, whose team ran for 320 yards after the intermission. "It's part of the game ... We couldn't figure out what was going on (in the first half). We kept trying things ... There was something wrong. We drew everything up, and we were like, Ok, there's what's wrong ... and the rest is history."We were blocking incorrectly. That's why they were giving us problems ... We didn't play really well in the first half. But the guys said forget about it. Let's go. We have to move on. They came together ... and our play makers made it happen."Led by Kyle Kralik up front, the Blue Bomber defense frustrated the Hurricane running game over the first two quarters. Outside of a 20-yard touchdown run from Mike Kalyan on the first play from scrimmage, which came after Palmerton fumbled the opening kickoff, Schuylkill Haven managed just 56 yards on 21 attempts.Unfortunately for Walkowiak, his offense wasn't having the same type of success. Given the ball many times in Haven territory, the Bombers (6-6) were able to get inside the 25-yard-line on three different occasions. But each time they came up empty on the scoreboard and trailed 7-0 at halftime."Credit has to go to our defense in the first half," said Walkowiak. "We didn't have the great start that we wanted, but once we settled down defensively, we did very well. We held them in their own neck of the woods. We'd get the ball and we moved in their end, but we just didn't capitalize."Haven's second-half adjustments worked immediately, as quarterback Danny Lozada broke loose for a 73-yard touchdown run in the opening minute of the third frame to up the score to 14-0.But Lozada's counterpart - Palmerton's Garrett Perschy - drove his team 73 yards in eight plays to get in the end zone. Perschy hit five different receivers during the march that ended with an 11-yard scoring toss to Jordan Nelson."That's a high-powered offense," said Farr. "That's a good offensive football team. We knew we had them outmatched in the box. But we knew the quarterback was really good, and we knew they had good skill guys. But we're blue collar kids. For us, it's not worrying about yardage ... it's making sure we weren't going to give up the big play."Farr's defense didn't give up any big plays the rest of the night, while his offense was just getting started.Brish made it 21-7 with a 34-yard burst up the middle at the 1:54 of the third quarter. On its next possession, and the first play of the final period, Lozada sprinted down the sideline for a 61-yard tally. Preston Gehring added a 17-yard TD run after a Palmerton turnover, while Brish finished things off with a 73-yard score."I'm very proud of the senior class for their fight and really the fight of all these kids," said Walkowiak. "When we were 0-3 everybody counted us out ... to win six games at the end of the season and keep on fighting and get us this opportunity is a credit to them."PRESSURE ON PERSCHY ... Haven's defense gave Perschy fits all evening. The Hurricanes sacked Palmerton's quarterback five times, knocked down five passes and came up with two interceptions.THIRD-DOWN PROBLEMS ... The Blue Bombers were only 2-of-11 on third-down conversions. "We need to execute on first down, and then on third down, move the chains," said Walkowiak. "We didn't do that. And we also didn't have the big plays tonight."FLIPPING THE FIELD ... In the first half, Palmerton ran 22 plays at midfield or in Haven territory, but had only 11 such plays in the second half. Conversely, the Canes ran only five plays in the first half at midfield or on the Bomber side of the field, but had 13 of them in the final two frames.