Several postponements had created a long layoff between games for the Tamaqua soccer team.

But the Raiders shook off the rust quickly and provided an outburst of goals in Saturday’s match versus Northern Lehigh, pulling away to a 6-0 victory at Bulldogs Stadium.

Tamaqua added four goals in the second half as they cruised to the non-league win in just the team’s second game of the season.

“We hadn’t played a game since Blue Mountain on Sept. 4,” Tamaqua coach Greg Sheeler said. “We were a little rusty since we haven’t played since then. Once we got use to our touches and (adjusted) to the turf field, I think we pulled it together.

“We made the appropriate passes and we finished. We had a lot more opportunities and probably should’ve cashed some more of them in that we did have.”

Tamaqua got a big game from junior Nathaniel Noftz, who had two goals and also picked up a couple of assists. Senior Jacob Rudy, who had a goal and two assists, also played well.

Sheeler said it was good to play soccer again, explaining the Raiders will have a tight schedule in the upcoming weeks since standing water became an issue at Tamaqua’s field last week.

“This is only our second game of the season and a lot of the teams already have seven games in,” Sheeler said. “So we’re going to be cramming games in throughout the next couple weeks. It’s going to be tough when we have five or six games a week.”

Senior Derian Stianche put Tamaqua up on the board with a goal eight minutes into the game. Rudy made it 2-0 about nine minutes later. The Raiders then broke it open with a pair of goals in the opening two minutes of the second half.

Meanwhile, Northern Lehigh is still looking for its first win of the season to break a long losing streak dating back to last season. The Bulldogs did have a few chances to score, but to no avail.

“More effort, I don’t know what else to say,” Northern Lehigh coach Jason Ruch said. “We have a lot of sophomores, but our defense was atrocious today. We’ve been coaching for four years and when you can’t mark somebody up and you know the other team is going to go long-balling, you just let them run by you.”

UP NEXT ... Tamaqua has a shorter turnaround than Northern Lehigh as the Raiders face Lehighton Monday. The Bulldogs square off against Salisbury on Tuesday.

THE OTHER GOALS ... Tamaqua also got goals from Khalid Holland and Michael Shlanta.

BARRAGE OF SHOTS ... The Blue Raiders held a commanding 30-6 advantage in shots.