Big games and Salisbury football are words that haven't been used together very often in recent years.

With just four total victories in the four previous seasons, it has been a long time since the Falcons played a meaningful late season game.

But on Friday night in Slatington, Salisbury found itself in that situation.

The Falcons entered the game at Northern Lehigh with a .500 record and sitting only a couple of spots outside the final District 11 Class AA playoff spot. Magnifying the importance of the game even more was the fact that the Bulldogs were sitting just in front of them in the district rankings.

The good news for Salisbury is it showed it can play with a team that is a district playoff contender. The bad news is the Falcons couldn't prove they could beat a team that is a district playoff contender.

Northern Lehigh's 14-13 victory left third-year Salisbury coach Andy Cerco both frustrated and proud.

Frustrated because a slow start put his team in a halftime hole it couldn't quite overcome. Proud because the Falcons played a second half that left them tantalizingly close to fully overcoming a two-touchdown deficit.

"Our kids aren't used to being in big games and tonight was a big game," said Cerco. "I don't know if that affected the way we played in the first half or not, but obviously we need to get off to a better start.

"I'm proud of our second half effort, but we can't wait until the third quarter to start playing football."

To call Salisbury's start slow would be an understatement. The Facons didn't pick up their initial first down until less than 20 seconds remained in the opening half. They were outgained 195-53 in total yards over the first two quarters and trailed 14-0.

"Definitely a story of two different halves," said Cerco. "The frustrating thing is we didn't change anything at halftime.

"The only thing that changed was our execution. Our players came out in the second half and decided to make plays."

Salisbury did that immediately.

Taking the second-half kickoff, the Falcons drove 63 yards in just seven plays to get on the board.

After going just 3-for-8 for 33 yards in the first half, Salisbury quarterback Tevon Weber surpassed those numbers on his opening drive of the second half as he completed all three of his pass attempts for 57 yards. The final two completions came on back-to-back plays as he hit Shane Wittman for gains of 23 and 19 yards the second one producing a touchdown with 8:28 left in the third quarter.

The Falcons drove deep into Northern Lehigh territory on their next possession before fumbling the ball away and then punting on their third possession of the half.

But the next time Salisbury touched the ball, it drove 56 yards in five plays for a touchdown. Weber and Wittman had a 40-yard connection on the drive that culminated with a 17-yard Weber to Nico Scarcia touchdown with 4:49 left in the game.

The Falcons were denied the tie, however, when the Bulldogs' Nate Farber busted in to block the conversion attempt.

Salisbury got one final possession, taking over on its own 18-yard line with 1:32 remaining. But the Falcons failed to generate any more offense and turned the ball over on downs.

"We came out strong and did a nice job of taking the game to them," said Northern Lehigh coach Joe Tout. "But Salisbury is a very good team and we knew at halftime that they weren't going to go down without a fight."

The Falcons did show plenty of fight, just not enough to earn the decision.

Weber finished the game 11-for-19 for 169 yards and two touchdowns. Wittman was the Falcons' leading rusher (10 carries, 29 yards) and receiver (three receptions, 82 yards).

"We are going to become accustomed to playing in big games," Cerco confidently predicted. "We're heading in the right direction. We aren't where we want to be yet, but we are getting closer.

"We need to tighten the screws a little and learn to play four quarters of football, but we are going to be all right. We are going to get where we want to be."

The Falcons (3-4) will host Catasauqua this Friday night.