Passing clinics are usually held in the summer.

Northwestern, however, decided to hold one on Friday night.

Taking advantage of man coverage and focusing on its aerial attack, the Tigers threw for 370 yards and six touchdowns in rolling to a 49-0 Colonial League victory over Palmerton.

“We’ve been working hard on it in practice, just pitching and catching,” said Northwestern head coach Josh Snyder. “We had a couple of drops and bad balls in previous games, but we really concentrated hard this week on it at practice. And we wanted to get our screen game going, too.

“Plus, we wanted to get it on tape that we can throw, so we can get some guys out of the box and teams just don’t load up on us ... We want to be multi-dimensional on offense, and this year we’ve got guys that are capable of catching it and running it, doing both, so it really keeps defenses off-balanced. We can be pretty tough if we can be that way.”

The Blue Bombers will attest to that.

The Tigers first offensive play from scrimmage was a screen to Nick Henry, who rambled 47 yards to set up the game’s first score.

“We knew against a man-to-man team, screens are great if you can block the guy that’s guarding the screen guy, so our first offensive play was that,” said Snyder. “And then we hit one to Nick for a touchdown in the second quarter. So I was happy with our screen game.”

Quite honestly, there wasn’t much Snyder could be disappointed with in the contest.

Following that first score — a Tyler Lobach 2-yard run — the Tigers dented the board two more times in the opening frame. Quarterback Deven Bollinger hit Derek Holmes with a perfect strike for a 32-yard tally before hitting Justin Rodda on a slant that turned into a 75-yard touchdown and a 21-0 advantage.

“They’re as good as advertised,” said Palmerton mentor Chris Walkowiak, whose team dropped to 1-5. “They were very well-prepared and they were physical, like we knew they were going to be watching them on film. They just took it to us on both sides of the ball.

“Henry’s a tough runner and with Bollinger, they’re a good 1-2 punch. We also knew Rodda would get the ball, he’s a nice player, and in man-to-man coverage they just beat us.”

While Northwestern’s offense was clicking on all cylinders, its defense was also getting the job done.

Forcing three-and-outs on four of Palmerton’s first five possessions, they continued to get the ball back into Bollinger’s hands.

The junior signal-caller found Ryan Haas for a big 27-yard pickup in the second quarter during a drive that resulted in a 14-yard scoring toss to Lobach. Right before the half, the Tigers (5-1) ran another screen to Henry that went for 36 yards and a 35-0 lead.

“We had a great game plan and great play calling,” said Bollinger, who finished with 268 yards passing and five touchdown throws. “Our skills and line worked well together tonight and it showed on the scoreboard.

“Everyone, from the outside to the inside, did a great job ... When you get the passing game going, the running game moves along and the same holds true the other way.”

The Tigers added two more scores in the second half as Bollinger connected with Haas from 13 yards out, and back-up Josh Gornicz lofted a 54-yard TD toss to Justin Holmes in the final frame.

“We had the ball in a lot of different guy’s hands tonight,” said Snyder. “I’ve been telling them all year we don’t really have any superstars. They share the ball, they block for each other, they’re genuinely excited and happy when other guys succeed. You don’t see that a lot in today’s society.”

MISSED CHANCES ...Trailing 7-0, Palmerton put together a nine-play drive that ended up at the Tiger 23. But an incomplete pass on fourth down ended the threat. Later in the first half, a big pick-up on first down was negated by a motion penalty.

THIRD-DOWN SUCCESS ... Northwestern converted its first nine third-down opportunities, and three of them required more than 10 yards for a first down.

UP NEXT ... The Tigers host Southern Lehigh in a key Colonial League contest on Friday, while the Bombers travel to Catasauqua. “We have four games left,” said Walkowiak. “It’s crunch time. If we want any chance of extending our season we obviously have to win out but we have some tough games left starting with Catasauqua.”