KINTNERSVILLE - Rain fell in varying degrees throughout the game, but there was no variation in how tough the Northwestern Lehigh defense made things for Palisades Friday night as the Tigers sank the Pirates 35-7. The win moves Northwestern to 2-1, while Palisades continues to look for its first win through three weeks of football.

With wet turf, Palisades believed its best opportunity to move the ball would be by keeping it on the ground. Junior quarterback Matt Santos was limited to just five pass attempts and every time he found little time to get rid of the ball, resulting in no completions against the Tigers defense. On the ground, Northwestern limited the Pirates to 101 yards rushing, led by Gus Yocum, who finished with 80 yards on six carries.

The highlight of the defensive performance was the fact that the starting defensive unit, which had been torched for some big plays in each of the first two weeks, allowed just a nine-yard gain by Yocum as its longest gain of the night. It wasn’t until reserve players entered late in the game that Yocum was able to open up for a 45-yard touchdown run.

“We really wanted to cut down on some of those mistakes where we gave up big plays,” said lineman Connor Snyder, a junior. “We got caught a couple times in the first two games and tonight we really focused on limiting anything that they did. Everybody stepped up their game tonight, especially on defense.”

While Northwestern limited the damage that the Palisades offense could do, the Tigers’ offense started to roll late in the first quarter and wasn’t able to be stopped the rest of the way. Deven Bollinger hit Justin Rodda for a four-yard TD catch with :49 left in the first quarter, and then found Nick Henry for his second touchdown toss in the second period, with that one going for 14 yards. The big hit of the night for Bollinger was also to Henry, when the two hooked up on a 75-yard catch-and-run down the right side to put the Tigers up 21-0 with 1:57 left in the first half.

Bollinger’s fourth touchdown pass of the night capped the scoring when he found Paul Huff open in the end zone for a two-yard strike. On the drive before that, Henry ran through the middle for a five-yard touchdown run, the only rushing TD of the night for Northwestern.

“We thought we could run between the tackles and we were able to do that,” said Snyder. “Our offensive line really played a good game for us and it was one of those nights where things worked out pretty much how we planned them.”

Bollinger finished with 147 yards passing, completing nine of this 16 passes. He was intercepted once by Yocum on Northwestern’s second drive of the game. Bollinger also finished with 64 yards rushing, just off the team-high of 65 yards rushing by Henry. The Tigers finished the night with 208 rushing yards and 345 yards of total offense.

BACK ON THE FIELD

... Justin Holmes, who missed the first two games with an injury, was in the starting lineup for Northwestern. Holmes didn’t take long to get in on the action, pulling in his first catch of the season on Northwestern’s third play from scrimmage. The sophomore receiver finished with two catches for 13 yards.

FRUSTRATION

... Last week, Salisbury was penalized for over 100 yards in its loss to Northwestern. This week, Palisades was penalized seven times for 68 yards. Two of the bigger penalties came after big plays by Northwestern, as the Pirates showed some frustration with personal foul and unsportsmanlike conduct penalties after the plays. After the Tigers went up 14-0, Palisades was flagged for unsportsmanlike conduct, resulting in Northwestern kicking off from the Pirates’ 45-yard line.

DAYTIME GAME TIME

... Northwestern has next Friday night off, but will be in action Saturday afternoon when the team travels to Wilson. The Warriors are 1-2 after pulling out a win with just :20 left in the game last week against Palisades. Last night, they dropped a 27-24 decision to Salisbury.