Salisbury and Northwestern battled back-and-forth Friday night at Tiger Stadium, with both teams taking advantage of some opportunities and missing others. The end result was a 30-21 Northwestern win.

Salisbury led 14-7 at the half, but it looked like Northwestern would tie the game on the opening drive of the second half. The Tigers used 10 plays to move the ball to the Salisbury 7-yard line. From there, quarterback Dylan Snyder ran the ball three times and worked down to the 1-yard line for a fourth-and-goal. The Salisbury defense swarmed on him when he carried the ball for a fourth straight time and stopped him inside the one, giving the ball back to Salisbury.

Unfortunately for the Falcons, it would be one of those missed opportunities.

Salisbury looked to put together a long drive and take a commanding lead, but the Northwestern defense had other ideas. Quarterback Tevon Weber tried a keeper to give the Falcons some room to operate, but linebacker Dylan Lobach flew in to close the hole, tackling Weber in the end zone for a safety to make it a 14-9 game.

“Our kids made a great stop and they made a great play,” said coach Andy Cerco.

Salisbury chose to kick the ball off to Northwestern rather than punt the ball. The kick went to Brett Schillinger at the 14-yard line and the senior wide receiver and defensive back did what he has now done in three of the last four weeks.

Schillinger ran hard down the field and into the end zone for an 86-yard touchdown return that put Northwestern in front 17-14 when Harry Hall ran into the end zone to complete the two-point conversion.

Weber completed 20 of 29 passes for 246 yards in the game and threw for three touchdowns, two to Mason Donaldson, his favorite target. Alex Kubinec also pulled in a 35-yard catch for a touchdown in the fourth quarter. Despite a heavy rainstorm prior to the game that left the field wet and slippery, neither team turned the ball over.

Salisbury struck first when Weber hit Donaldson on a 13-yard pass play, with Donaldson adding the point after for a 7-0 lead early in the second quarter. Northwestern struck quickly on a 72-yard run by Hall to tie the game, but after their next drive stalled, the Falcons went back to work.

On a third-and-15, Weber hit Kyle Hartzell for 22 yards and a first down. After a delay of game penalty cost the Falcons five yards, Weber hit Donaldson, this time, for 17 yards and a 14-7 lead that they carried into the locker room at halftime.

With Northwestern up 17-14, Salisbury put together a 12-play drive that consumed 88 yards and just about five minutes of the game clock on their first possession of the fourth quarter. Weber finished the drive with a 35-yard strike to Hartzell and the Falcons reclaimed the lead at 21-17.

Northwestern’s big-strike offense hit again when Snyder found Trevor Cunningham with a 78-yard touchdown pass, but the extra point missed, leaving the Falcons within striking distance at 23-21 with 2:35 left to play.

The Falcons turned the ball over on downs at their own 15 on the next drive and Northwestern capitalized to go up 30-21, effectively ending the game.

The loss dropped Salisbury to 3-3 on the season, while Northwestern moved to 4-2.

“Our kids gave a good effort and made some big plays when they needed to,” said Cerco. “The effort was definitely there, but you have to hand it to Northwestern, because they made plays, too.”