When two teams are evenly matched, there are a few critical factors that can decide the result.

Winning the turnover battle is probably the most important of those factors, and on Friday night Northern Lehigh proved that to be true.

The Bulldogs (5-5) forced six turnovers versus rival Palmerton in the “Battle for the Blue Mountain,” defeating the Bombers by a 47-21 score.

The victory snapped a four-game losing streak against their rivals and allowed them to avoid a losing season for the first time since 2014.

“I thought the last couple of years Palmerton came out with more heart and more fire and they seemed to want it more than we did, so I wanted us to come out and be physical and play with a lot of energy early in the game,” said Northern Lehigh head coach Joe Tout.

“I know it’s not an exciting thing to say when you win a football game, but whoever generally wins the turnover battle wins the game, and that’s been the difference this season in some of our wins and losses, so to win that tonight was huge for us.”

From the onset, Northern Lehigh established its physicality.

The Bulldogs actually stumbled a bit early in the first quarter, muffing a punt and setting up Palmerton with good field position at the Northern Lehigh 30, but they got the ball right back, intercepting a pass and returning it to their own 49. A 37-yard run by power back Justin Paul gave the Bulldogs their first score of the game.

Northern Lehigh would then use that physicality on the defensive end to force three more Palmerton turnovers in the first half. The result was a 27-point second quarter, giving the Bulldogs a 34-7 halftime advantage. Tout’s squad would convert all four of their offensive possessions into points, including the ones that were a result of the Bomber miscues.

The Bulldogs kept the pressure on in the third as well, forcing yet another interception that was converted into six.

Paul once again was able to find the end zone on a 28-yard run to extend the Northern Lehigh lead to 34 points. Paul was the workhorse for the Bulldogs as he rushed for 125 yards, scored three touchdowns and also caught a touchdown pass.

Northern Lehigh did a good job of never letting Palmerton get back into the game, even when the Bombers moved the ball well offensively. Any time Palmerton seemed to gain some type of momentum, the Bulldogs defense made a play in the form of a turnover.

“Turnovers have been an Achilles heel for us throughout the season, and obviously that was the difference in the game tonight,” said Palmerton head coach Chris Walkowiak. “It certainly turned the tide of the game and we could never get any momentum, even when we had some opportunities offensively.

“They just did a good job tonight, they took advantage of our mistakes and missed assignments. Give them credit, they played physical. They were physical up front and they ran the ball hard, and most importantly, converted off our turnovers.”

For the Bulldogs, their last game of the season was a strong finish that improved on their record by five wins from a season ago. Defeating a rival, as well as the record improvement, is a good foundation to build off for 2019.

“I’m not a big theme guy, but on our shirts this year the key word was rise,” said Tout. “We wanted to bring our program back to respectability, we wanted to rise to the occasion tonight and the kids did that.”

AIR BULLDOG ... Is Coach Tout going with a new-look offense for next season? The Bulldogs, which have been a predominantly run-first team for forever, gave quarterback Gage Hunsicker the opportunity to air it out and he didn’t disappoint, throwing for 176 yards and two scores.

THATS A WRAP ... This was likely the final game for both the Bulldogs and Bombers. With the loss, Palmerton missed out on a District 11 2A bid and didn’t have enough points for an Eastern Conference berth after Northwest Area was victorious. Schuylkill Valley’s win over Hamburg kept the Bulldogs from earning an Eastern Conference berth.