During Friday night's contest against Notre Dame-Green Pond, the Salisbury football team remained within striking distance for much of the first half.

However, the Falcons struggled to close out the first half and put together a consistent showing in the final two quarters. That's been a struggle for the Falcons throughout the season.

After trailing by 11 points midway through the second quarter, the Crusaders went on to score the final 21 points to secure the 41-9 victory on Friday night at Salisbury High School.

"They scored first. We responded right away with a great drive," head coach Andy Cerco said. "We were blocking and doing all that stuff. We just have to find a way to break down that wall, and continue moving forward."

Crusader running back Trey Watson, who rushed for a game-high 145 yards on 15 carries and added two scores, had an impact in Notre Dame-Green Pond pulling away.

Following a 21-yard Salisbury field goal by Mason Donaldson that made it 20-9 in favor of Notre Dame-Green Pond, Watson capped off a 12-play Crusader drive with a three-yard touchdown run that increased the lead to 27-9 just before halftime. All 12 plays were runs, with seven coming from Watson, who tallied 54 yards on the drive.

"They've got some really great athletes and their well-coached," Cerco said. "They're just good football players. And the thing is, we've got good football players. We can match up. It's just a matter of how long sometimes. We've got to find a way to get that fixed."

Watson picked up where he left off in the second half. This time, however, it didn't take as long for him to reach the end zone. After two runs for negative yardage on the team's first offensive series in the second half, Watson took the first play of the second drive 56 yards up the left sideline for the score. That made it 34-9 with 6:22 to play in the third.

Andre Blackett added a one-yard touchdown run with just minutes remaining to increase the Crusader lead to 41-9.

"That's the other side of the coin," Cerco said. "Defensively, we need to come up with some answers as far as stopping the run game, and getting after people a little bit more. We're not doing a great job of that right now. We as coaches need to figure that out and come up with some answers."

Heading into the game, the Falcons were without a number of their players due to injuries and various reasons. With a number of the players suited up playing both sides of the ball against the Crusaders, it made it difficult as the game progressed.

"We're down guys to begin with and then everyone is going both ways so we don't have a lot of guys to put in," Cerco said. "It becomes a difficult process and I think that's what kind of builds throughout the game."

While Watson led the Crusaders' rushing game that totaled 279 yards, it was two other running backs that got the scoring going early.

Jim Federico tallied 43 yards on the ground and scored late in the first quarter to make it 14-6 in favor of the Crusaders. Mitch Daniel then scored on a 12-yard touchdown run up the middle 3:31 later.

Quarterback Kordell Theadford, who passed for 105 yards and rushed for 34 more-opened the game with a one-yard touchdown in the first four minutes.

Tevon Weber responded for Salisbury on the ensuing drive, finding Troy Parton for a nine-yard touchdown strike that brought the Falcons to within a point after a missed point after attempt. Weber completed 11 of 22 passses for 211 yards, but the Falcons were never able to take the lead over the Crusaders.

Teddy Denver ran for 47 yards on 15 carries, while Devin Irwin rushed seven times for 41 yards. Troy Parton led the way with 72 receiving yards on four catches, while Hunter Roth caught three balls for 57 yards.

"Our kids played hard," Cerco said. "Our effort was great, and our attitude was great. It just wasn't our night, I guess."