HELLERTOWN — Ian Csicsek did a little bit of everything on Friday night.

The Saucon Valley tailback ran for three scores and added an interception to his impressive senior resume en route to a 42-14 victory over Northern Lehigh.

“I knew last year, when we played them and looked at their roster,” said Northern Lehigh head coach Joe Tout. “They had 17 juniors and a lot were starting. When people asked us before the season, who do you think could win the league? This was the team that I thought could be pretty good.”

Csicsek was one of those juniors, and now he’s proving to be one of the biggest weapons in the entire district. Prior to Friday’s game, he had 822 yards (8.3 yards per carry) and a dozen touchdowns through four contests in 2018. He racked up 97 yards on just 15 carries against the Bulldogs on Friday.

“We knew they were a bigger team and they’re pretty tough,” Csicsek said. “But we had a little size advantage, and we took advantage of it. We made our blocks and did what we were supposed to do.”

But the strong runner made an impact on the other side of the ball too.

In the second quarter, Csicsek jumped a deep-out route for an interception, hurdling a Bulldog down the sideline, and setting himself up for a 2-yard plunge two plays later to make the score 28-0.

With 44 seconds remaining in the first half, trailing by 35, NL quarterback Gage Hunsicker was intercepted again, this time by Justin Kyra. On the following play, Saucon Valley’s speedy freshman quarterback Dante Mahaffey hit Patrick Morrissev in stride for a 77-yard score and a 42-0 Panthers advantage at intermission.

“They’re as good as advertised,” Tout said. “We knew they’re a good football team and they don’t really have a weakness. They have a scholarship lineman in No. 77 (Tim Weaver, 6-5, 285) and a scholarship tight end in No. 80 (Morrissev), and the tailback (Csicsek) is going to be playing college football. They have a nice team.”

Youth for both teams entered the game after halftime. The Bulldogs went back to the basics, and some encouraging signs showed. After just one first down in the first half, Tout’s squad had six in the second half.

“We wanted to see some positive things after halftime and we did,” said Tout. “We were fortunate they called off the dogs after halftime. We went back to base-plays and did some positive things. We told our guys not to quit in the second half, and they didn’t.

“The good thing is we got out of this healthy. That’s always been half of the problem the past couple of years.”

Justin Paul lead the Bulldogs with 41 yards on nine carries.

GOTTA GET READY … Tout said his team will regroup and prepare for Southern Lehigh, who just earned a huge 40-15 victory against reigning District 11 champion Palisades on Friday. “There is no shame losing to this team, we have to bounce back. We need to move on. We need to learn from this, not put our heads down, and get ready for Southern Lehigh.”

SLUGGISH START? … The Bulldogs went three-and-out on their first three possessions. “I don’t know if we got a little intimidated tonight early, but we were hoping to be more competitive,” Tout said. “We were hoping to take that next step tonight against a top-tier team.”

NO HARM … The Bulldogs didn’t commit a penalty against the Panthers.

ERASED … Csicsek’s first carry of the game would have gone for a long touchdown, but it was called back for holding.