After a big win last week and a game against Colonial League power Palisades next week, Northwestern’s game at Salisbury Friday night was what you could call a trap game.

The Tigers players weren’t falling into any trap though, as they came out with touchdowns on their first three possessions and went on to beat Salisbury 28-14.

Nick Henry rushed for 162 yards, giving him two straight 100-plus yardage games to open the season. Henry carried the ball 18 times in the win. In all, Northwestern rushed for 257 yards on the night, but did throw the ball more against the Falcons than they did in their opener. Junior quarterback Deven Bollinger threw 18 times for 126 yards.

“Nick has just been really solid for us here in the early going,” said head coach Josh Snyder. “He hasn’t broken a really long one yet, but he’s just consistent and keeps picking up a few yards here and there for us.”

On Northwestern’s first drive of the night, Henry rushed for a total of 24 yards and caught one pass for 10. His final carry went for 19 yards into the end zone and Connor de Wit added the extra point to make it 7-0. Bollinger would throw touchdown passes to Justin Rodda and Ryan Haas on the next two possessions and the Tigers were suddenly up 21-0 in the first quarter.

Salisbury cut the lead to 21-7 on a 2-yard run by Tim Buda in the second quarter. The two teams traded three-and-out drives before Northwestern put together an impressive 85-yard march, but couldn’t get the ball into the end zone. Instead, de Wit attempted a 22-yard field goal and missed.

“That was a really good drive and we did everything right, but their defense stepped up and we couldn’t come away with anything,” said Snyder. “If we could have scored there, we could have pretty well put the game away, but we left the door open because they got the ball to start the second half.”

On their second drive of the second half, the Tigers went 65 yards and capped the drive with a 7-yard pass from Bollinger to Tyler Loback to go up 28-7. The Falcons opened the fourth quarter by completing a 42-yard drive with a 10-yard run by Chad Parton to make it 28-14.

The Tiger defense shut down Salisbury’s passing game in the second half with quarterback Jakob Kamp coming up empty on 15 straight passes.

The resurgent ground game has been the storyline for the Northwestern offense this season. In its first two games, they’ve had three 100-plus yard performances. Nick Henry has crossed the century mark in both games and Bollinger breached the 100-yard mark in Week 1.

“We knew that the ground game could be this good,” said Henry. “The offensive line has been just pushing guys around and we’ve got some guys who can hit holes and make things happen, so this isn’t a surprise to us.”

Running back Buda finished the night with 106 yards rushing on 16 carries for Salisbury.

SPREADING THE WEALTH … Five different players had three carries or more for Northwestern’s offense, as they ran the ball 44 times in the game.

FLAGS-A-FLYIN’ … There were a total of 18 penalties in the game, 11 on Salisbury. Both teams were unhappy with the officials at times. Salisbury players showed their frustration by getting called for unsportsmanlike conduct and personal fouls.

FINALLY BACK … Senior Anthony Collucci returned to the field for the first time in over a year. He has been hampered by continuous issues with his hamstring but was cleared to practice and play this week.