Salisbury head coach Andy Cerco is fully aware that his team had a chance to win both games to begin the season.

Coming off of a three-point loss to Saucon Valley to open the season, the Falcons were right with last season's District 11 Class AA runner-up Palisades at the half, trailing 13-12 as intermission hit.

But in what has been a season full of inconsistency, it was a turnover-plagued second half that ultimately handed the Pirates their first victory of 2014.

Salisbury committed three second-half turnovers, which led to 20 unanswered points in the Pirates' 33-12 victory over the Falcons (0-2) on Friday night at Salisbury High School.

"Anyone who was at both games can honestly say that they were both winnable games," Cerco said. "Without looking at the film, this one was obviously a winnable game for us. It got out of hand a little bit there.

"If you look at the Saucon Valley game, the first half we didn't play very well. We came out in the second half and turned it on. It was kind of the direct opposite this game where we played pretty well in the first half, and in the second half we did not. We just have to focus on playing a complete game."

Following three Palisades turnovers in the first half that resulted in six points for the Falcons, the final 24 minutes were a different story.

The Pirates, who took advantage of the only Falcons' miscue in the first half when they mishandled a kickoff, cashed in when Salisbury turned it over in the third and fourth quarters a combined three times.

"That's the game right there," Cerco said. "When you get into a situation where your offense is turning the ball over that much, it's extremely difficult to get out of that."

Still ahead 13-12, the Pirates (1-1) saw their first opportunity near the end of the third quarter. A bad Falcon snap out of the shotgun resulted in a 34-yard fumble recovery for a touchdown by Wyatt Schilling that put Palisades in front 20-12.

After the Falcons' defense came up with a big turnover on downs early in the fourth quarter, Tevon Weber's lost fumble gave the ball back to Palisades. Six plays later, quarterback Nick Sanders scored from seven yards out to push the lead to 27-13 with 6:12 to play.

Another lost fumble by Weber on the next possession had the same result, just in a shorter amount of time. Levi Wilkins scampered 54 yards two plays into the drive that put the nail in the coffin with 4:31 to play.

The Falcons managed just 81 yards of offense in the second half.

"Our defense played really well," Cerco said. "We had a fourth-and-goal and we stopped them. I thought at that point we could turn some things over on offense. For whatever reason we had some difficulty running the ball in the second, so we had the pass game, and it produced some turnovers."

Weber found Mason Donaldson on an 8-yard touchdown that put Salisbury ahead 6-0 early in the second quarter.

But running back Christian Gretzinger, who rushed for 185 yards and two touchdowns, capped an eight-play Pirate drive with a 9-yard score that tied it after a missed extra point.

On the ensuing kickoff, a misplayed ball by the Falcons' deep returners gave the Pirates back the ball at the Falcons' own 4-yard line. Gretzinger plunged into the end zone 11 seconds after his first score to put the Pirates up 13-6.

The Falcons, however, used an 11-play drive to make it a one-point game going into halftime after Weber threw his second touchdown of the half.

"We felt that we had an advantage with the defensive front they were giving us," Cerco said. "For whatever reason we had some difficulty in the second half blocking that same front."

Weber went 10-of-18 for 163 yards and two touchdowns. Kyle Hartzell caught three passes for 88 yards.