It wasn’t a scoring drive, but you could argue it was one of the most important series of Friday night’s game against Bangor.

While Salisbury already held a sizable lead at 29-0 early in the second quarter, the Slaters drove down the field 81 yards to set up a first-and-goal at Salisbury’s 4-yard line. But instead of folding, something that seemed too much of a commonality in recent years, the Falcons halted Bangor on four straight plays, including the last two from the 1-yard line.

That stop was just one example of Salisbury’s solid defensive outing over 48 minutes. The Falcons (2-2) added an interception and fumble return for touchdowns in their 46-7 victory over the Slaters (0-4) at Salisbury High School to improve to .500 just before the midway point of the season.

“We came out and played extremely hard from the first snap,” Mason Donaldson said. “The defense had a really good stop. I think we had a three-and-out. We just played hard from the first snap, and that’s what’s most important for us.”

In all, Salisbury forced Bangor into three three-and-outs along with three turnovers.

Nick Sikora got the Falcons’ juices flowing on defense not even four minutes into the game. After Tevon Weber’s touchdown to Devin Irwin on their first series made it 7-0, Sikora intercepted Landon LaBar’s third-down pass and returned it 25 yards for the score.

“I saw that we had pressure on the quarterback so I was staying down in my zone,” Sikora said. “I watched when he was going down that he threw that ball, so I made a break on it and took it to the house.”

Shane Wittman got in on the defensive attack with a blocked punt at the Slaters’ 9-yard line. Weber found an open Donaldson on the next play that boosted the lead to 22-0.

Irwin added a one-yard rushing score on a toss early in the second quarter to put the Falcons in full control.

Then, just as Bangor was gaining some momentum with five first downs on the ensuing drive, the Falcon defense came up with one of its biggest stands of the season to keep the Slaters out of the end zone.

“That was the first time that we’ve ever done that, that I can remember,” Sikora said. “Everyone clogged up the middle, did their responsibilities and we got it done.”

“For us it was more of a momentum booster,” Donaldson said. “That was big because we struggle with goal line stops. For us to do that was really a huge morale booster. The guys played hard. Right after that you could see a lot of kids had a ton of energy.”

Donaldson added a 30-yard field goal in the final seconds of the half, and Weber threw his third touchdown pass midway through the third quarter, this one to Alex Kubinec, that put the mercy rule in effect at 39-0.

Weber’s three touchdowns came on just 15 throws, a number far lower than his per-game average for attempts. Instead, the Falcons relied heavily on their ground game, led by Wittman’s 74 yards on six attempts. Kubinec added 39 on his five carries, and the Falcons ran it 31 times.

“The offense had a good groove, [and] we were fluent,” Donaldson said. “We ran the ball extremely well, which was really important. I don’t even think we passed too much. We were on the ground a lot and that was huge.”

Donaldson found himself in the right spot at the right time on Bangor’s first drive of the second half. Kubinec stripped Slater running back Jake Fries, and the ball landed right in Donaldson’s hands. Seventy yards later he was in the end zone celebrating the Falcons’ 46-0 advantage after the extra point.

“I started to come up to make the tackle,” Donaldson said. “Alex Kubinec went in and he ripped it out. As he ripped it out, I was just running up to make the tackle. He ripped it up, I caught it and took it to the end zone.”

Bangor got on the scoreboard on the final play of the third quarter with a 38-yard strike from Labar to Brandon Schalato. It was their first offensive touchdown of the season.