Northwestern's start was exactly what head coach Josh Snyder wanted.

The rest of the game didn't quite go according to plan.

The Tigers took advantage of a couple of big plays by their special teams to score two touchdowns in the game's first 93 seconds.

But it was all Northern Lehigh after that as the Bulldogs rolled to a 57-19 mercy-rule victory Friday night.

"We talked about getting off to a good start tonight after getting off to slow starts the last couple of games," said Snyder after the game. "We did exactly that, but then we gave up way too many big plays. They made a lot more plays than we did."

Early on that wasn't the case, however, as the teams traded big plays. The Tigers and Bulldogs combined for four touchdowns in the first 2:24 of play.

It started when Northern Lehigh tried to run a reverse on the opening kickoff. The Bulldogs fumbled the exchange and Northwestern's Taylor Breininger recovered on the 11-yard line. Three plays later, Tyler Richardson caught an eight-yard TD pass from Frank Dangello.

It was the lone passing highlight of the night for Northwestern, which threw five interceptions in the game.

"We felt like we needed to pass the ball to be successful offensively," said Snyder. "It worked out pretty well for us on the game's first series when we got the touchdown pass from Frank [Dangello] to Tyler [Richardson].

"But we struggled to find any rhythm after that. It seemed like our passing game was just never able to get in sync."

The Bulldogs (5-2) answered quickly after Northwestern's early score as standout back Caleb Johnson bolted 65 yards for a score on Northern Lehigh's first play from scrimmage. A successful two-point conversion run by quarterback Dan Marsh made it 8-7.

The lead didn't last long as Cameron Richardson returned the ensuing kickoff 82 yards for a touchdown and a 13-8 Tiger lead with 10:27 left in the opening quarter.

"When you can get big plays from your special teams like we did in that first quarter, you hope that will give you momentum you can build on," said Snyder. "But we weren't able to do that because we let Northern Lehigh answer with big plays of their own."

After answering the first Tiger score in one play, the Bulldogs needed just two plays to answer the second score.

This time Marsh raced 74 yards for a touchdown and a 14-13 Bulldog lead with 9:36 left in the quarter.

The Bulldogs' next score came on a 38-yard pass from Marsh to Darien Middaugh with 2:48 to play in the opening quarter. Johnson then took over, scoring on a one-yard run, a 47-yard pass reception, and a 13-yard interception return within a seven minute span of the second quarter. That gave Northern Lehigh a 38-13 halftime advantage.

"By far, this was our best effort of the season," said Northern Lehigh coach Joe Tout. "We took a major step forward defensively. From last week to this week was a huge difference.

"We wanted to be fundamentally sound and have everyone concentrate on doing their job. That's what we did. We had 11 guys all doing their job."

Leading the way was the 1-2 punch of Marsh and Johnson. Marsh racked up 182 yards of offense, throwing for two touchdowns and running for two more. Johnson had 184 yards rushing, 56 yards receiving and scored four touchdowns.

"Caleb [Johnson] is one of the toughest runners in the league," said Snyder. "We just don't have anyone who can physically match up with him.

"We wanted to try and gang tackle him and get him before he could build up a head of steam. But once he gets moving and is seven or eight yards downfield, he's tough to bring down. There isn't much you can do at that point."

Cam Richardson had a nice game in a losing for the Tigers. In addition to the first-quarter kickoff return, he also scored the final Northwestern touchdown on a 10-yard in the fourth quarter. He finished the game with 18 carries for 113 yards.