It’s not how long you have the ball.

It’s what you do with it when you have it.

Northwestern didn’t put any sustained drives together in Friday’s night Colonial League contest at Palmerton.

But then again, the Tigers didn’t need to.

Josh Snyder’s quick-strike offense was in full force against the Blue Bombers, as Northwestern pulled away for a 57-28 victory.

“We don’t have a huge line this year,” said Snyder, Northwestern’s head coach. “We’ve got a lot of guys under 200 pounds. We’re not playing with a tight end as much. We’re not grinding out five, six, seven, eight yards like we’ve done in the past. We’re a little bit more, I’m not going to say gimmicky, but we’re using a lot of motion, a lot of misdirection, a lot of guys pulling, and spreading people out side-to-side.

“We’ve been able to hit some big plays. Our skill guys are a tough cover, especially Justin Holmes, Nick Henry, Justin Rodda, Cade Christopher. They’re a pretty good four to have on your side.”

The Tigers (3-1) scored eight touchdowns against Palmerton, and five of those scoring drives were five plays or less. The longest march to the end zone took eight snaps.

“We have a wide variety of plays that we have for every situation in a game,” said Rodda, who ran for a score and also caught a TD pass. “We really use our expansive play book to make the best of what we’ve got.”

Holmes used his legs and his arm to give the Bombers (1-2) fits all night. The Tigers’ quarterback ran for 152 yards and four touchdowns, often carrying tacklers fighting for extra yardage, and threw for 263 yards and three scores.

“He had a monster game,” said Snyder. “I told him he had it humming tonight, and it was nice to see ... He was in the zone running the ball, making great decisions, getting rid of the ball. I’d like to see him keep himself out of trouble at times, get down or run out of bounds to live to fight another day, but I’m not sure that’s in his DNA.”

After Palmerton opened the game with an impressive drive, taking a 7-0 lead on a Cole Serfass 10-yard touchdown run, the Tigers responded. Rodda took a jet sweep 40 yards to the house to tie the game. On their next possession, a 32-yard toss from Holmes to Rodda set up the QB’s 8-yard tally. Holmes broke free for another score the next time his team had the ball, going 36 yards to up the margin to 22-7.

“It was a nice start for us and it gave us some momentum,” said Bomber head coach Chris Walkowiak. “We just couldn’t maintain it. They’re a good football team. They’re as good as advertised.

“I thought we ran the ball well overall. We just can’t get into a shootout with them ... “(Running the ball) was definitely something we were working on this week, trying to improve the run game. So it was a positive that we did that.”

Palmerton’s run game helped produce a score midway through the second frame that closed the gap to 22-14. Serfass and Lucas Heydt both picked up chunks up yards that led to a Serfass tally.

But the Tigers managed to get in the end zone right before the half - on a Holmes 2-yard run - and then opened the second half with a 75-yard scoring strike from Holmes to Rodda to quickly push the margin to 36-14.

“That was a big swing,” said Snyder of scoring right before the half. “We like getting the ball coming out in the second half. We work hard at practice watching the clock ... with working time management. At the end of the first half, you can kind of double up there, score within under a minute left and then get the ball coming out. So it’s sort of a twofer.”

Christopher delivered his own twofer to help Northwestern put the game away.

The sophomore snared a pair of touchdown passes in third quarter as the Tigers pulled away. The receiver has six catches on the season, all of them for touchdowns.

“He’s a kid who will drive you crazy because he’ll have a mental lapse on one or two plays ... and then you come back to him and he redeems himself,” said Snyder. “It’s nice to see that he can bounce back.”

Serfass finished with 172 yards on the ground for the Bombers, while Heydt added an 8-yard touchdown and Matt Machalik finished the game’s scoring with a 63-yard burst to the end zone. But in the end, Northwestern just had too much firepower.

“We had matchups that we thought were solid, but they just made the plays,” said Walkowiak. “You just pick your poison in who you want to try stopping. We did a decent job early on with their inside run, but they hurt us on the outside ... And then they were also very efficient in the pass game.”

MILITARY MEN

... Palmerton wore camouflaged jerseys, honoring the armed services.

UP NEXT

... The Tigers travel to Salisbury on Friday, while the Bombers will be at Saucon Valley.