Mike Repsher has been solid all season.

The Northern Lehigh junior has provided versatility out of the backfield, working as a change-of-pace back to add another dimension to a balanced offensive attack.

Repsher’s not the focal point of the offense – and that’s by design. The Bulldogs are at their best with a full compliment of weapons at their disposal.

But Repsher took centerstage last Friday, accounting for 316 yards of offense and three touchdowns in Northern Lehigh’s 34-21 victory over Palisades to earn Times News Player of the Week honors. Repsher carried the ball a season-high 20 times for 207 yards and a touchdown, while also hauling in three passes for 109 yards and two scores.

It marked the second straight week Repsher went over the century mark on the ground after he gained 146 yards rushing on 10 carries in a win over Salisbury in Week 7. Repsher has 353 yards rushing over the past two weeks.

“We felt, last week against Salisbury, he had a very good game.” said Bulldogs head coach Joe Tout. “But we’re better off when we’re mixing with everybody.”

Northern Lehigh (5-3) was without Matt Frame, who entered the Palisades’ game as the team’s leading rusher, putting Repsher in a spot to handle more of the workload.

“Matt’s our inside guy,” Tout said of Frame, who he expects to return this week. “When you look at Mike’s size – you have to keep teams honest – he’s not a kid you’re going to send in between the tackles a ton.

“So it wasn’t necessarily our plan to have him carry as much as he did, or anything like that. It was just the game kind of dictated that. We rode the hot hand. Joey Abidelli (12 carries, 45 yards) also carried the ball well, but Mike just had a different gear.”

Repsher scored on pass plays of 46 and 30 yards, while also adding a 16-yard touchdown run as the Bulldogs racked up 423 yards of offense and scored over 30 points for the third time this season.

And he did it taking what the Pirates’ defense was giving him.

“They were flying to the ball. But they always had a corner and a backer on the backside; they were very disciplined,” Tout said. “They sat, so early on they were flying and we ran some reverses, and nothing worked because they sat there for it.

“So Mike saw in the zone the cut-backs were there, because they were overpursuing, but it wasn’t a full reversal of the field. Once he did that, that was kind of the difference in that game.”

Where patience and persistence helped Repsher grab chunks of yards on the ground, it was pure speed that allowed him to find space in the passing game.

“One of his touchdowns was just a vertical route, and he just ran by the guy,” said Tout. “The wind had died down; it was very windy when we got there, and it started to die down. But they put a firetruck out with the ladder up, and a big flag on it. So you get a pretty good feel down on the field for how windy it is.

“We ran a play, not the exact same play, on second and long we ran some vertical routes, but we ran Mike on something else, and he was open, but he wasn’t the primary route. So we came back the very next play and adjusted it, and that was his longest receiving touchdown (46 yards). But when our quarterback (Zach Moyer) threw the ball, it looked like it was going to be overthrown by five or 10 yards. But he did a great job, and I think it hung up just enough (for him to get it). It was a fun play to watch. It almost reminded me, at the high school level, of DeSean Jackson, where you just throw it and watch him run under it. I thought that was big for us because that loosened things up. Now the next time we get the ball back, they’re not able to load up the box as much.”

Repsher now leads the team with 593 yards rushing (8.01 yards per carry) and 272 yards receiving. His eight touchdowns are also a team best.

But there was only one statistic Repsher cared about.

“To me, winning was the best thing overall,” he said. “We worked so hard and were on it all week.

“Overall, everybody just did a great job. The line, they were fantastic.”

Repsher and the Bulldogs will look to win their third straight against a streaking Northwestern squad , which has won seven in a row, on Friday.

“Starting now, this is a big week against Northwestern,” Repsher said. “We’re going to work twice as hard and just grind and grind to get the W.”