Palmerton has made scoring early a clear point of emphasis — especially after its Week 1 matchup with Marian, when a slow start forced the Bombers to come back from two scores down in the fourth quarter to pull out the win.

Since then, Palmerton has taken the field with a sharper focus, putting up a combined 49 first-quarter points over the past two games to set the tone early. Its 28-point opening quarter against Palisades paved the way for a commanding 54-14 victory over the Pirates on Friday night.

“We’ve been really harping and harping to our guys to come out with a lot of intensity and focus right at the onset of the game. Because we didn’t think that in the first week we did that and we dug ourselves a hole,” said Palmerton head coach Chris Walkowiak. “And credit to our guys, because they have really bought into that and over the past two weeks they came out focused and ready to go and they set the tone.”

In the blink of an eye, the Bombers (3-0) jumped out to a 14-0 lead with less than a minute gone in the first quarter. Freshman standout Carson Eckhart set the tone immediately, taking Palmerton’s first handoff 74 yards to the end zone.

On Palisades’ ensuing possession, a fumble was scooped up by Connor Lawless, giving the Bombers the ball at the Pirates’ 19-yard line. Eckhart then made his presence felt yet again, weaving through traffic and bursting down the left sideline for his second score of the night.

“We love to establish the run early. For us, it always starts with our play up front and those guys are playing good football right now and winning the battle in the trenches,” said Walkowiak. “And Carson Eckhart did a heck of a job. He’s just a freshman, but he’s playing well beyond his years right now. He’s breaking tackles, he’s running with great vision and he’s a strong runner, and he’s only going to get better the more experience he gains. I thought we did a nice job of mixing both the run and the pass early on to keep them off balance and then obviously the explosive plays and our defense giving us good field position were big as well.”

Palmerton’s defense forced a turnover on downs and two more punts in the first quarter, and the offense took advantage.

A 39-yard pitch-and-catch from T.K. Gursky to Gaven Meixsell and a 34-yard burst from Ryan Sammy put the ball inside the 5, and Sammy capped off the drive with a 4-yard touchdown run to make it 21-0 at the 7:41 mark.

The Bombers’ final score of the first quarter came on one of their more methodical drives of the night — a seven-play, 61-yard march that ended with a 5-yard sprint-out pass from Gursky to Ben Negley.

Palmerton put 14 more points on the scoreboard in the second quarter. After forcing another punt, the Bombers cashed in on their first possession of the period with another seven-play drive. This one covered 59 yards and was finished off when Gursky connected with Meixsell on a well-placed ball for a 9-yard touchdown.

Palisades put together its best drive of the night on its ensuing possession, finally getting across the goal line on a 27-yard touchdown pass from Grayson Winsor to Everett Clark to make it 35-7 with 4:17 to play in the first half.

The Bombers answered, however, marching 70 yards in eight plays. A few strong Eckhart runs got Palmerton to the Palisades 44-yard line, and a 14-yard jump pass from Gursky to Cale Young on fourth-and-2 later in the drive kept the Bombers moving.

Gursky then capped off the drive with a nifty 26-yard scamper on a read-option play with 57 seconds remaining to put Palmerton back up by 35. Gursky also made a smart decision on the play before his touchdown run when the pocket broke down, throwing the ball away to stop the clock.

“I’ve been saying this a lot, but it’s well deserved. T.K. Gursky’s improvement from last year to this year has been tremendous. He’s keeping his eyes downfield and he’s making good decisions and living to fight another day,” added Walkowiak. “And then tonight, you also saw that he can run the ball when needed, which is another wrinkle that we can add in there. But I thought we did a good job of spreading the ball around to a bunch of different guys tonight and that’s something we’re always trying to do.”

Eckhart added a 9-yard rushing touchdown in the third quarter, and for the second week in a row, freshman Luke Machalik scored on a big-play touchdown run, scampering 49 yards in the fourth quarter to make it 54-14.

RUSHING ATTACK ... The Bombers rushed for 299 yards on the night and were led by Eckhart’s 160 yards and three touchdowns on just 10 carries.

DUAL THREAT ... Gursky did damage with his legs in this one, rushing for 53 yards and a touchdown while throwing for 157 yards and two scores.

RUN STUFFERS ... Palmerton’s defense turned in another strong performance, especially against the run, surrendering just 51 rushing yards at just over 2 yards per carry.

Palmerton 54, Palisades 14

Palisades 0 7 0 7 - 14

Palmerton 28 14 6 6 - 54

P - Eckhart 74 run (Moyzan kick)

P - Eckhart 19 run (Moyzan kick)

P - Sammy 4 run (Moyzan kick)

P - Negley 5 pass from Gursky (Moyzan kick)

P - Meixsell 9 pass from Gursky (Moyzan kick)

Pal - Clark 27 pass from Winsor (LeBlanc kick)

P - Gursky 26 run (Moyzan kick)

P - Eckhart 9 run (kick failed)

Pal - Mutterpearl 8 run (LeBlanc kick)

P - Machalik 49 run (run failed)