With the division schedule heating up, Salisbury will look to bounce back from last week's loss to Northwestern with a matchup against Northern Lehigh (4-2).

The Bulldogs, who have won three of their last four games, are coming off a loss last week against Catasauqua, 25-23. The Falcons and Bulldogs are separated by just a game in the standings in the more competitive West Division, as no team currently sits below .500. On the other side, four of the six East Division teams have losing records.

While Friday's game at Bulldog Stadium may be a bit more important than their previous conference games, the Falcons (3-3) are approaching this contest the same way they have all season.

"Every game we want to do well and come out with a win," head coach Andy Cerco said. "But as you approach the end of the season, every game counts a little more, especially when you're sitting at 3-3.

"We're preparing for this game just as much as we would any. It just takes on another level as you get closer to the end of the season."

When it comes to Northern Lehigh's offense, their philosophy has been as straight forward as anyone: They like to run the ball. A lot.

When the two teams met last season, the Bulldogs threw one pass the entire game. That was a throw as the clock was winding down in the first half on a fourth down. The approach figures to be similar a year later.

And the one carrying the ball won't change either.

Senior running back Nate Farber-who has rushed for more than 100 yards in a game four times this season-is the primary ball handler the Bulldogs utilize in their option scheme offense. Last week, Farber rushed for 261 yards on 39 carries. The Bulldogs' offense generated a total of 350 yards on the ground as a team.

"He's a workhorse runner," Cerco said. "Their fullback I think is around 200 pounds, so that definitely helps out when they want to run the ball straight ahead."

Farber eclipsed the 200-yard mark on the ground against Salisbury last season.

The Bulldogs' work senior Austin Arnold in the running game as well. He carried eight times for 58 yards last week.

When the Bulldogs decide to air it out, junior quarterback Chad Cederberg is the one behind center. He completed just one of seven passes last week, an 11-yard strike to Austin Lancsak.

Their option offense is one similar to that of Northwestern's, but with a few different wrinkles spread throughout it.

"They run some option, so we're going to have to be disciplined when it comes to defending the option," Cerco said. "That definitely posses a challenge again when you don't see option every week. We're fortunate that last week Northwestern ran some option.

"Northern Lehigh runs triple-option, but they run it out of two tight end situations and stuff like that. Northwestern spreads you out a little bit more, and they have some more home run threats in comparison to Northern Lehigh. Northern Lehigh will chuck you for three, five, eight yards, and be happy with that."

During last week's game against Northwestern, the yardage was there for the Falcons' offense. Salisbury had a total of 326 yards on offense. The points, meanwhile, weren't up to par with their season average of 32.6 points per game heading into the Northwestern game.

But despite the difficultly getting across the goal line, Cerco believes his team got the looks it wanted for the most part.

"We were definitely getting what we wanted to," Cerco said. "It's just a matter of making plays. Sometimes you do, and sometimes you don't…Overall our kids played really hard. Like we say, from the first whistle to the last, it should be the same effort. And they did that."

Kickoff is at 7 p.m.