Joe Tout didn’t see the final result he was looking for on Friday night.

But it didn’t take the Northern Lehigh head coach long to find a lot to build on after a 35-27 loss to Palisades.

“I’m happy with the effort, I really am,” said Tout. “I thought our kids battled. I thought they beat us up a little bit up front, but I thought our kids competed.

“We had a chance to go up there late.”

The Bulldogs went toe-to-toe with the Pirates for four quarters in their first game of the season. Palisades was playing its third.

Northern Lehigh put together an 80-yard march that chewed up just over seven minutes before Matt Frame went in from three yards out to make it 28-27 with 2:34 to play in the fourth quarter. The Bulldogs’ two-point conversion try failed, and the Pirates (2-1) recovered the ensuing onside kick attempt.

Mason Smeland (26 carries, 242 yards) went 56 yards for another score with 1:38 to play on the ensuing drive. With Northern Lehigh out of timeouts, Palisades sealed the win with an interception on fourth down of the Bulldogs’ final possession.

“We have to come back and not hang our heads,” said Tout. “I thought our effort was good. We had some mistakes tonight but those are kind of things that you expect early. But there are a lot of positives. We’ll be all right. This is a good group, and they’ll fight and they’ll get better.”

The contest was back-and-forth throughout.

The Bulldogs opened the scoring in the second half when Dylan Smoyer hit Trevor Amorim for a 43-yard score. Brett Misera’s extra point made it 21-14 with 7:01 to play in the third quarter.

Palisades responded on the first play of its next drive when Smeland raced 81 yards on the first play from scrimmage, and Delaney Hilferty’s extra point made it 21-21.

After forcing a punt on Northern Lehigh’s next possession, Palisades put together an 11-play drive that stretched from late in the third quarter to the 9:37 mark of the fourth, when Jaden Newton recovered his own fumble in the end zone to make it 28-21.

Much like Tout saw encouraging signs from his squad, so too did Pirates head coach Ramie Moussa, who thought back to a 36-28 season opening loss to Northwestern where his team watched an early lead slip away.

“I feel really good about what we did in the second half,” said Moussa. “The Northwestern game we were locked up tight going into the fourth quarter and we couldn’t find that way to get over the hump. Tonight we did that. We come out at halftime, get a fast start. And all over the field; defensively we got stops when we needed them. But that’s our motto, play the next snap and that’s what we did tonight.”

Mike Repsher opened the game with a 60-yard touchdown run on the Bulldogs’ fourth play of the game to make it 6-0 after the extra point try failed.

The Pirates responded on their next drive when Newton hit Smeland for a 16-yard score. Hilferty’s PAT made it 7-6 with 6:58 to play in the opening period.

Smeland went in from five yards out on Palisades’ next possession and Hilferty’s kick pushed the lead to 14-6 with 11:00 remaining in the second quarter.

The Pirates forced a fumble on the Bulldogs’ next possession and drove to the NL 29-yard line. But on fourth-and-seven, Brett Misera returned the favor, scooping up a loose ball on a fumbled snap and racing 62 yards, with a two-point conversion run by Izaiah Ramos knotting the score at 14-14 with 4:13 left in the first half.

Palisades drove the ball down the field on its final drive of the first half, but Amorim picked off a pass in the end zone with under a minute to play before the intermission to keep the game deadlocked at 14-14.

BACK-AND-FORTH

... There were no punts in the first half. The teams punted once each over the final two quarters.

UP NEXT

... Northern Lehigh is scheduled to host Southern Lehigh next Friday.