ALLENTOWN - There were several times Tamaqua was down Friday night against Salisbury.

But the Blue Raiders were never out.

Tamaqua ripped off 19 unanswered points to prevail 27-21 against the Falcons and pick up their second straight victory.

A 50-yard touchdown pass from Nathan Gregoire to Zander Coleman with 7:38 to play in the fourth quarter capped the comeback.

“It means so much to us,” said Gregoire. “We picked each other up, and that’s what teammates do, and that’s how we got that win. We picked each other up and we kept fighting through it.”

Gregoire tied it at 21-21 with a one yard run – his second of the night – with under 10 minutes to play in the fourth quarter.

The Blue Raiders (2-3) started the drive at the Falcons’ 38 after recovering a fumble.

Tamaqua forced a three-and-out on Salisbury’s (0-5) next drive and took over at midfield. On the first play from scrimmage, Gregoire hit Coleman, who sprinted down the sideline, for the go-ahead score.

“It feels great, with those big plays, when we’re down at half it lets us get back into the game,” said Gregoire. “And it lets us keep fighting back, and gives us energy, and that’s what we needed.”

The Blue Raiders’ defense punched the ball loose again on Salisbury’s next drive, which would turn out to be the Falcons’ final possession of the game.

Tamaqua took over with 6:01 to play at its own 49 and picked up three first downs on its final drive to eventually seal the win.

Gregoire finished with 153 yards passing and 55 yards rushing.

Coleman, the reigning Times News Football Player of the Week, had five catches for 95 yards to go along with 80 yards on the ground.

The Blue Raiders had turnovers on their final two possessions of the first half, but Salisbury couldn’t cash in.

The Falcons drove to the Tamaqua 24 after a fumble recovery but couldn’t convert on fourth and 11.

After an interception put the Falcons at the Blue Raiders’ 10, they were again unable to capitalize. A first and goal netted a loss of two yards before a pair of runs put the ball at the three.

But the Tamaqua defense stuffed a pass for a loss of three yards to end the drive to keep the deficit 15-8 at halftime.

Salisbury’s first drive of the second half ended with a 62-yard touchdown run from Chase Fenstermaker (15 carries, 118 yards) to make it a 21-8 lead.

“I thought (defensive) Coach (Clarence) Opolsky and the staff made good adjustments and I thought we did a better job of shutting down that run a little bit more that they were kind of chunking us earlier on,” said Tamaqua head coach Sam Bonner. “And offensively, we knew they were loading up the box on us, and we knew we were going to have to throw on early downs. I think some of the adjustments we made helped us out a lot as well.”

A 78-yard drive on their next possession ended with a five yard touchdown run from Coleman to trim the deficit to 21-15.

Tamaqua’s defense would force two fumbles and a pair of punts on the Falcons’ final four drives.

After trailing Lehighton 27-20 in Week 2 before eventually falling 55-42, the response to early adversity Friday was exactly what Sam Bonner wanted to see.

“We went down by two scores, and I feel like that could have spiraled, and in Week 2 it kind of did on us,” said Bonner. “This time, we came back, and we ended up answering with three of our scores. That’s building character. We have a lot of young guys that are getting into the mix that are stepping up and playing.

“And our goal, like it is every year, is to get better each week, and especially this year with a lot of the young guys that we have playing. And a lot of those guys have been stepping up and making plays for us, which is great to see.”

WINNING STREAK

... Tamaqua earned its first win of the season last Saturday with a 34-14 triumph against Pen Argyl.

NEXT

... The Blue Raiders host unbeaten Notre Dame Green Pond (4-0) next Friday.