Bangor won the coin toss and elected to defer to the second half Friday night at Tiger Stadium.

Perhaps they should have gone against convention and taken the ball because Northwestern Lehigh started scoring early and needed just nine plays to reach the end zone twice.

The Tigers quick 15-0 lead snowballed into a 53-24 win over the Slaters, keeping the Tigers perfect at 5-0 on the season.

Cade Christopher set up the first drive with a nice return on the opening kickoff to give the Tigers the ball at their own 47. On the second play of the drive, he went from Bangor’s 47 into the end zone and Luke Benvin provided the extra-point to put Northwestern up 7-0.

The next drive used just seven plays to move 80 yards and again, Christopher was there to cap off the drive by pulling in a 37-yard TD pass from Justin Holmes and then cash in on the two-point conversion to make it 15-0 Tigers.

On the night, Christopher would wind up with four touchdowns - two rushing and two receiving. He finished with two carries for 99 yards and he also pulled in six passes for another 99 yards.

“We wanted to come out and get some quick points on the board and we were able to do that tonight,” said coach Josh Snyder. “Cade was just phenomenal for us tonight. We can use him anywhere and in any situation and he seems to come through. It’s great to have athletic guys like him that can help us that much.”

Northwestern Lehigh’s third drive stalled and Snyder called on Benvin, who nailed a 30-yard field goal and the Tigers lead grew to 18-0.

While the offense was piling up points, the Northwestern Lehigh defense was keeping the Bangor side of the scoreboard at zero.

On the Slaters third drive of the night, quarterback Eric Striba launched a long pass into double coverage which was intercepted by Jacob Peters for his second interception of the season.

On the ensuing drive, Christopher again got to feel the end zone turf when he took a handoff on a second-and-five play and ran 52 yards to the end zone for his third score of the night. Again, Benvin added the extra point and the Tigers held a 25-0 lead with 11:06 to play in the first half.

Bangor’s MJ Siu intercepted Holmes to end the next drive and nine plays later, the Slaters capitalized when Striba rushed in from 19 yards out. The extra-point was no good, but Bangor was finally on the board. They scored again when Kael Godshalk recovered a fumble on the first play of Northwestern’s next drive and ran 37 yards for a touchdown. Again, the extra-point was no good and the Tigers led 25-12 with 2:41 left in the half.

Sensing that the momentum was shifting, Northwestern flexed its muscles with an efficient 77-yard drive, running 13 plays over the final 2:24. Holmes completed six passes on the drive, including one for 24 yards to Ryan McDonnell before finding Christopher in the end zone again. Holmes and McDonnell also connected on the two-point conversion to make it 33-12.

“It was huge, that was a momentum changer right there. They were coming back and that just put the cherry on top,” said Christopher of the late touchdown to end the first half.

Keeping that momentum going, Northwestern Lehigh shut down Bangor’s opening drive in the second half and then went right back to their scoring ways with Holmes rushing in from 26 yards out to make it 40-12.

“I thought that the touchdown right at the end of the first half and then getting another one to start the second half was huge,” said Snyder. “That really allowed us to swing things back in our favor. Our defense did a nice job stopping that opening drive to keep them buried.”

Bangor still didn’t go quietly, responding with a nice drive of 67 yards in just six plays with Striba and Godshalk taking turns running the ball. It would be Ashton Kluska who would score for the Slaters, rushing in from five yards out.

Late in the fourth, Bangor scored again, but the Tigers had put the game away by then, thanks to a one-yard run by Dalton Clymer and a 44-yard dash by Taylor Wikert.

AN EXTRA DAY… Northwestern Lehigh has an extra day of rest this week before they travel to Wilson (5-0) for a Saturday afternoon game next week. The Warriors are one of the surprise teams in the new Colonial League-Schuylkill League alliance.