For Northern Lehigh, the approximate 90-minute bus ride for a game at Palisades never seems pleasant.

So, Bulldogs’ quarterback Garrett Smoyer and his teammates didn’t want to waste any time setting the tone for the night against winless Palisades.

They certainly didn’t.

The Bulldogs (3-1) scored on their first three possessions, and their bus ride back seemed a little short with their 38-7 victory.

Smoyer, who had a crisp night passing, completing 11 of 15 for 162 yards, tossed a 21-yard scoring strike to Kaiden Smith and added a 20-yarder to Chase Gall. Adding in Anthony Hanna’s 20-yard field goal gave the Bulldogs a 17-0 first quarter cushion.

“It was a very important game to get off the bus after a long ride and take care of business tonight,” stressed Smoyer. “Everyone played great tonight and we all performed to our ability. And I’m proud of all my guys.

“Some of the big plays that I made tonight came from me getting the ball into the hands of my playmakers and letting them do all the work from there. We had a great night overall as a team, which makes my job a lot easier as a quarterback when I have great skill guys to throw to.”

Head coach Joe Tout was pleased his team hit a pinnacle that it had been seeking this season. Posting a 31-0 halftime advantage was halfway there.

“We played a complete game tonight, which is what we were looking for,” said Tout. “We scored our first three drives of the game. We scored two touchdowns in the second quarter to take a big lead at half.

“We were happy with our passing offense, and Garrett threw the ball well. We came out and threw well to set up the run. Palisades played a lot of man and blitzed a lot. We ran a lot of our screen game against them as well.”

Tout cited the offensive efforts of Gall, Kaiden Smith (27 yards rushing, 43 yards receiving and two touchdowns), and Mason Rothrock (team-high 61 yards rushing, TD).

Defensively, Tout noted the contributions of Bill Slattery, Dawson Newhard, Landen Klimek and Jayden Rehrig.

“We had big screen passes from Chase Gall, Mason Rothrock and Kaiden Smith,” added Tout. Defensively we were solid as well. Our team did a great job with executing the scouting report. Our special teams were excellent as well. Overall, we are very happy with our performance.”

Rothrock, who had a total of 77 yards entering the game, saw a similar picture in a dominating effort.

“I thought it went really well in all aspects of the game,” offered Rothrock. “Our offense was able to come out firing, Both our line and our skill players were a huge part in our success.

“Our defense is always one of our specialties. We have guys that love to hit and just be aggressive no matter what.”

Yet Rothrock knows there is a long season ahead.

“I feel that this was a complete game,” he said. “But no matter if we win or lose, we always have things to work on and fix. With the coaching staff we have, I’m confident they will help us get it done.”

Coming off a 46-6 rout of Pen Argyl last week, Tout believes his team is beginning to reach another level.

“We feel like in the last two weeks our offense is starting to click, which we expected,” emphasized Tout. “We understood that we had a tough schedule for the first two games. But we felt we could start to gel after that, and I think that’s what’s starting to happen.”

JAIL THE PIRATES ... The Bulldogs held Palisades to 149 yards of total offense, 20 yards passing

GRIND IT OUT ... Lukas Eck was the Bulldogs’ second leading rusher behind Rothrock with 47 yards.

NOW, TWO UP ... Northern Lehigh edged Palisades, 28-27, in a District 11 Class 2A quarterfinal playoff game last season. Palisades earlier won a regular-season matchup, 28-14.

PIRATES’ POVERTY ... Palisades has been outscored, 169-41, in four games.

THIRD TIME’S THE CHARM ... The Bulldogs were 4-for-5 on third downs (80%), and they scored three touchdowns of six yards each.

GROUND THE FALCONS ... Next Friday the Bulldogs host Salisbury, who lost to Northwestern on Thursday night, 69-7.

N. Lehigh 38, Palisades 7

N. Lehigh 17 14 7 0 - 38

Palisades 0 0 0 7 - 7

NL - Smith 21 pass from Smoyer (Hanna kick)

NL - Gall 20 pass from Smoyer (Hanna Kick)

NL - Hanna 20 FG

NL - Karetsky 6 run (Hanna kick)

NL - Rothrock 6 run (Hanna kick)

NL - Smith 6 pass from Smoyer (Hanna kick)

P - Mutterperi 68 run (LeBlanc kick)