Just over the mountain and a few miles south on Route 309 resides one of Salisbury’s biggest rivals.

When Southern Lehigh (7-2) hosts the Falcons (6-3) on Friday night in their regular season finale, there’s more on the line than just another Colonial League win, although that’s how the Falcons will approach it.

There’s a chance to leapfrog those Spartans for the No. 2 spot in the West Division. And there’s an opportunity for Salisbury to regain possession of the prized trophy of the traditional helmet.

“Obviously for the school community it’s a big rivalry every year,” head coach Andy Cerco said. “We take it as this is another football game. And really that’s how you have to approach everything, whether it’s a rivalry game, a significant game in your season, a playoff game, or whatever the case may be.”

For the first time in a few years, there’s a significant buzz and anticipation around the game after Southern Lehigh has dominated play in the series in recent years. The players are aware of that.

“For our players, from their perspective, they’ve had our number the past couple of years,” Cerco said. “I think our players are obviously aware of those things, so it does bring a little bit more significance to the game for our players in that respect.”

When the two teams meet on Friday night, plenty of people expect a barrage of points to light up the scoreboard. Salisbury fans know all too well how talented the Falcons’ offense is, but they might not be as familiar with the Spartans’ attack.

“They run some of the same stuff that we do,” Cerco said. “They’re a wing-T based team, and from there they do some different things. But they try to fit the scheme around their players and talents.”

Leading the charge is quarterback Blake Levengood, who is near the top of the District 11 leaders in passing yards and touchdowns. His favorite target on the outside is Ethan Price, who has become one of the more feared wide receivers in the area and has eclipsed the 1,000-yard mark.

Cerco knows that while Southern Lehigh’s offense as a whole is as dangerous as any in the league, the Levengood-to-Price connection needs to be a focal point all week.

“They’re both pretty talented players,” Cerco said. “You look at the film and it’s like, ‘OK he’s covered, he’s covered, oh wait he’s not covered.’ There was one time in the Northwestern game that they had two guys on their wide receiver, and the quarterback just put the ball in there and he went up and got it.

“They’re definitely right up there as far as being able to move the ball offensively.”

Running back Tim Walter leads the Spartans’ charge out of the backfield with over 400 yards, while Levengood adds a nice one-two punch in the ground game as well.

After having arguably its best game of the season as a unit, Salisbury’s offensive and defensive line has it’s work cut out for them once again against the Spartans.

“They have a good offensive and defensive line, so we have another challenge this week in that sense,” Cerco said. “With the experience of last week, hopefully we can build from that and carry that mentality into this game.”