BANGOR — Tamaqua’s defense set the tone in the first half.

When its offense got rolling in the second half, there was little Bangor could as the Blue Raiders spoiled the Slaters’ homecoming with a 20-0 win.

Tamaqua’s defense stifled Bangor, holding it to negative-23 yards rushing on 15 attempts.

“We take it personally,” said senior linebacker/wide receiver Brady McCabe. “We come from coal region football. We want to own the line of scrimmage on every play no matter who we’re playing. Our front seven, those are the toughest dudes on our team. We don’t want the ball to come on our side of the line of scrimmage. That’s our goal.”

McCabe had three tackles for loss in the game as Bangor had seven plays finish behind the line of scrimmage.

The Slaters (0-6) failed to gain a first down on their first three possessions of the game.

“Our guys are starting to play a little bit tougher up front,” Tamaqua head coach Sam Bonner said of his defense, mentioning Malachi Stewart and Carter Troutman as two of those players.

“Some of the younger guys are getting better as the year goes on,” Bonnerh said. “That’s always our goal is to get better as the year goes on.”

The Raiders (3-3) wore down their opponent on both sides of the ball Friday night at Bangor Memorial Park.

Their first possession of the game spanned 51 yards on 12 plays and ate nearly seven minutes off the clock. Not one play on the drive went for more than 10 yards.

Stewart pounded in the touchdown from a yard out with 3:32 left in the first quarter.

After a second Bangor three-and-out, Tamaqua mounted another long, time-consuming drive, going from its own 21-yard line to the Slater 9 in 15 plays before penalties killed the drive.

The Raiders chewed 10 minutes off the clock with the drive, but gave the ball back at the Bangor 20-yard line.

A turnover ended Tamaqua’s third possession and the first-half clock stopped its fourth one.

When the Raiders got the ball to start the second half, they fed their workhorse. Terrence McDowell carried the ball all six plays of the drive, including a 39-yard burst that set up his 3-yard touchdown just two minutes and 15 seconds into the third quarter.

McDowell had 54 yards in the first half and 137 in the second half to finish with 191 yards on 30 carries.

“We were a different team when we came out after halftime,” McDowell said. “It’s just all about adjustments. First half we were going inside and then in the second half the outside stuff opened up.”

The Slaters’ fourth three-and-out of the game followed the touchdown and saw McCabe make a stop for no gain and a sack before Troutman’s tackle for loss on third down to force a punt.

McDowell and Stewart led another long Raider drive before McCabe caught a 17-yard touchdown pass from Chase Serfass for a 20-0 lead with 3:16 left in the third quarter.

Tamaqua owned the line of scrimmage on both sides of the ball as it ran for 259 yards on 46 carries.

“We try to wear (the defense) down,” said McCabe. “We preach it up front. We want to punish them every play. We want to make them feel like they want to quit.”

The Raiders didn’t punt in the game, but did see two drives end on downs after penalties put them behind the chains.

“Usually when you don’t punt you score a few more times,” said Bonner. “When you run an offense like we run it’s tough to get behind the sticks. I think we had two drives where we should have had scores that got screwed up with penalties. We have some really stiff competition these next four weeks. We have to make sure we clean that stuff up.”

THREE IN A ROW … McDowell now has three straight games with over 100 rushing yards. The sophomore entered Friday’s game with 807 yards on the season and is nearing the 1,000-yard milestone.

QB CONSISTENCY … Serfass completed six of his 10 passes for 63 yards and a score. His lone interception came on a pass that went off the hands of a Tamaqua receiver.

LOOKING AHEAD … The Raiders have a difficult schedule over the final four weeks of the season as they host Southern Lehigh and Lehighton in their next two games before finishing with road trips to Northwestern Lehigh and Blue Mountain.

Tamaqua 20, Bangor 0

Tamaqua 6 0 14 0 - 20

Bangor 0 0 0 0 - 0

T - Stewart 1 run (run failed)

T - McDowell 3 run (McCabe pass from Serfass)

T - McCabe 17 pass from Serfass (run failed)