Most Northern Lehigh football games this season have been offensive battles; donnybrooks with high scores in which the Bulldogs emerged victorious.

Friday night against Tamaqua, it wasn’t like that. Northern Lehigh won, 21-7, but it was more of a methodical victory.

Coach Joe Tout agreed that the Bulldogs didn’t play up to par.

“I’m as happy and as proud as I was when we beat Notre Dame last week,” he said.

Then he added, “I don’t know if our kids were distracted tonight because it is homecoming. Because we had a big game last week, maybe we took (this game) lightly. We were in a funk tonight. We didn’t get better. We didn’t take a step forward this week.”

The Bulldogs (7-1 overall, 4-1 in the Red Division of the Colonial-Schuylkill League) started off with vigor, taking a 14-0 lead. But the offense got a little flat. “We didn’t pick up blocks,” said Tout. “I thought we had some guys who played all right.”

“We were just sloppy,” he said. “We did what we needed to do.”

Of Tamaqua (3-5 overall and 2-4 in the division), he said, “Give them credit. They fought. They battled.”

The Bulldogs scored on their first two posessions.

They took the opening kickoff with Jack Tosh returning it 16 yards. A big pass play was a 15 yard gain from senior quarterback Nick Frame to Austin Smyth that put the ball on the 22. Twice in the drive the Bulldogs converted on fourth down plays to stay alive.

Finally, Frame threw a 19-yard loop to Smyth in the end zone for a touchdown about halfway through the quarter.

A blocked punt set up Northern Lehigh’s second score, giving Northern Lehigh possession on the Tamaqua 25. The big play in this drive was a 15-yard toss from Frame to Jack Tosh on the 10. After getting to the four, John Abidelli broke through the center of the line and waltzed into the end zone.

It looked like the Raiders were going to stage a comeback, driving to the five of the Bulldogs. On a fourth and five, Frame picked off a pass in the end zone go end the threat.

The only Tamaqua touchdown came late in the fourth quarter. The Raiders had the ball on the Northern Lehigh 26 when quarterback Luke Kane threw in the flats to John Klein, who sidestepped a couple of defenders and scored with 2:11 showing on the clock.

In the drive before that, the Raiders had moved to the Northern Lehigh 12 before running out of downs.

“I’m very pleased with our team,” said Tamaqua coach Sam Bonner. “Offensively we moved the ball.”

He ran off several names of players that he felt stepped up and did a superb job in a game that was closer than a lot of people anticipated.

While the offense deserves credit, the Tamaqua defense wasn’t too shabby, either. In the second quarter, had just seven offensive plays. Although netting 62 yards on two pass completions, the Bulldogs had just 12 plus yards and four minus yards rushing.

Tamaqua had 15 plays in the quarter but a 16-yard sack kept their offensive yardage down.

SEASON IS WINDING DOWN

... The regular football season is winding down with two weeks of play left before playoffs begin. This was Northern Lehigh’s final home game. Coach Tout said, “We’re down to three regular season games and you hate not to come out with that fire and emotion. The last home game of the year and I thought our kids would come out with a better showing than they did.” Northern Lehigh travels to Jim Thorpe next Friday night while Tamaqua is home against Palmerton.

AN AMAZING PLAY

... The game highlight for Tamaqua had to be in the second quarter. The Raiders had the ball on the 41 and quarterback Luke Kane dropped back to pass. He was chased out of the pocket and raced around the back for a brief period before leaping and passing to Declan Coleman, who made an amazing catch at the 10.

HOMECOMING

... It was homecoming in the Bulldog Stadium, and of Northern Lehigh’s eight candidates for homecoming king, seven were football players. Lineman and defensive tackle Seth Adams was named Homecoming King. The Homecoming Queen was Bianca Carrilon.