It’s no secret that Northwestern boasts a number of talented players.

And because of how successful they have been — jumping on teams early and often reaching the mercy rule by halftime — those players rarely get to showcase their skills for a full game.

Take for instance, starting running back Chase Sukanick.

In the two games prior to last Friday’s contest against Saucon Valley, the junior managed a total of just eight carries.

Against the Panthers, however, certain circumstances allowed Sukanick to see more time and run the ball frequently.

Needless to say, he took advantage of the opportunity.

Sukanick had 22 rushing attempts, and collected a career-high 212 yards with four touchdowns to lead the Tigers to a 41-0 victory. He also caught three passes for 25 more yards. That performance earned him the Times News Player of the Week.

“One thing about this season is he’s just had limited opportunities,” said Northwestern head coach Josh Snyder. “Since (our first game) we just haven’t had a situation where he got more ... We ran 40-some plays of offense in the first half due to our turnovers, so we got more reps. And Chase really did a nice job of just grinding.

“On watching film, he had some major cutbacks that were pretty cool, he cut back against the grain, spins, hurdling people, breaking tackles, making guys miss, finishing in the end zone. So we sort of saw the whole package of what he can do, and that’s just the start of things for him this year.”

Northwestern turned the ball over three times in the first half against Saucon, which kept the score down. It gave the Tigers the chance to run more offensive plays, with Sukanick getting 15 touches in the opening two frames. His number was also called four straight times during his team’s first possession of the second half, with three of them gaining double-digit yardage.

“It’s definitely frustrating ... but it’s all about the team effort,” said Sukanick about having limited attempts before Friday. “I come second behind the team. I want what’s best for the team rather than myself, but it would be great to be able to run the ball (more).

“We saw during film the whole week that they had a weird defense ... so we were thinking we could throw a little short and we knew we could run behind our line. We have a big line. We had a bunch of our run plays and we found what worked. That game, one of our plays worked and we kept running it and they couldn’t stop it. It was good.”

As they say, if it ain’t broke don’t fix it.

“We always want to run the ball,” said Snyder. “Being a play caller over time, once we find what works, we just go to the well until it dries up, and we figured they would make some changes at halftime. But they didn’t, so we sort of came out and stuck to that. I think we had four or five straight carries in the second half on that opening drive and rode Chase the whole way down there for a touchdown.

“That’s sort of been our MO at Northwestern. Find something, and run it until somebody stops it, and then change up after that but he’d be the first to tell you our line was also blocking really well. I thought they did a nice job of handling the line of scrimmage and getting to the second level, and he did a good job of setting up those blockers and cutting off them and finishing in the end zone.”

Sukanick had a front row seat to the outstanding backs that preceded him and helped lead the Tigers to state championship games.

“I’ve always grown behind very good talented players,” said Sukanick. “My freshman year I was looking up to Eli, and then looking up to Braxton Lakatosh and all those guys. They were all good role models, and they definitely helped me out a lot ... I put a lot of work into this sport, I’d love to go to the next level.

“I looked up to a bunch of those guys. But I just want to be the best I can be. Hopefully I can be up on the board with those guys.”

While running the ball is his primary role, Sukanick also makes his presence felt in other aspects of the game. He plays in the secondary on defense, and also kicks off for the Tigers.

Simply put, he’s an all-around player.

“It’s not the first time I’ve seen Chase,” said Snyder. “I’ve seen these guys and coached them since they’ve been in flag football and he can play quarterback, he can be the kicker, he can punt. He could certainly do a lot of different things. He also plays defense, and that’s a tough thing ... You carry the ball 20 times and you’ve got to go over on defense and guard guys that are running up and down the field, different routes and things like that. It’s not easy.

“But we train for it, we condition for it, we practice on both sides of the ball for it, and he’s probably one of our better coverage guys right now. We’re just going to continue to utilize him and get him breaks where we can ... We’re going to continue to ask a lot of him, and continue to do so in big games down the stretch.”