Another week. Another blowout.

Tamaqua made it three straight mercy-rule victories to open the season, rolling to a 37-7 victory over Schuylkill Haven on Friday night.

The Raiders built a 37-point second quarter lead and then turned the second half over to the reserves.

“We’ve had some pretty big margins of victory early in the season,” said Tamaqua coach Sam Bonner. “But we need to stay grounded and keep improving.

“It’s nice to be playing well and controlling games, but we can’t be satisfied. We’re stressing to the kids that we have to keep getting better. Things are going to get much harder as we go deeper into the season.”

Despite the lopsided outcomes through the first three weeks, Bonner has been able to find areas where the Raiders need improvement.

Between the first and second weeks of the season, Tamaqua’s rushing attack showed the most improvement. Between the second and third weeks, it was the Raiders’ run defense.

“Even though we shut out Mahanoy Area last week, we weren’t happy about allowing over 200 yards on the ground,” said Bonner. “This week at practice, we emphasized firing off the ball and attacking on defense.

“I thought our front four did a really nice job of that tonight. Kobe Brish is a great runner and if you let him get turned upfield he’s going to be a lot of trouble. I thought we did a nice job of getting penetration and not allowing him to do that.”

Tamaqua held Brish to just 14 yards on eight carries — all in the first half. The Hurricanes finished the opening half with just six rushing yards on 19 carries.

Meanwhile, the Raiders’ offense continued to be a big-play machine. Tamaqua ran just 20 plays from scrimmage in the opening half, but those plays produced 11 gains of 10-or-more yards and four offensive touchdowns.

One week after going a perfect 9-for-9 against Mahanoy Area, quarterback Brayden Knoblauch was nearly perfect again. Knoblauch was 6-for-7 for 124 yards against Haven, including a 50-yard strike to Cody Hamm to set up the first Tamaqua TD, and a 29-yard pass to Jake Barron for the fourth touchdown.

“Brayden has been so efficient for us,” said Bonner. “In the last two weeks, he has just one incompletion.

“Because we had some big plays on the ground and we built a big lead early, he didn’t get to throw the ball too much tonight. But he continues to play extremely well. He’s been so accurate this season.”

When Knoblauch wasn’t slicing up the Haven defense, the Tamaqua running game was.

Pierce Demetriades ran 11 yards for the first Raider touchdown, and Nate Boyle added scoring runs of three and 70 yards as Tamaqua built a 21-0 first quarter lead.

“The last two weeks we’ve been getting nice balance on offense,” said Bonner. “Our run game has opened up our pass game and our pass game has opened up the run game.”

After Knoblauch and Barron hooked up for their touchdown with 3:53 left in the half, the defense took over. Cam Schilling intercepted a pass and raced 45 yards for a touchdown to make it 35-0, before Lucas Schickram capped the big opening half by sacking Haven quarterback Trent Creasy in the end zone for a safety.

TAKEAWAYS ... Tamaqua (3-0) forced four turnovers. Schilling and Demetriades both intercepted passes, while Jared Reed and Bobby Hollenbach recovered fumbles.

PROPS FOR PIERCE ... With all the Raiders’ star power, Demetriades sometimes gets overlooked. But time-and-time again during the first three weeks, he has come up with big plays. Last night, he flashed his versatility, running 11 yards with a reverse for a score, catching two passes, including a 14-yarder down to the three-yard line that set up Tamaqua’s second TD, and picking off a pass from his cornerback position on defense.

CENTURY MARK ... Boyle turned in his second straight 100-yard rushing performance, gaining 100 yards right on the nose. He did it on just six carries — all of them in the opening half.