Even before Salisbury played a game, the writing was on the wall. The Falcons knew wanted to accomplish in 2015.

“We want to get to district finals,” said quarterback Tevon Weber prior to the season.

Whether or not people took that claim seriously in August or not is one thing. But now the Salisbury faithful can do nothing but believe.

Salisbury (7-3) clinched the No. 3 seed in the District 11 Class AA playoffs with a win over Southern Lehigh on Friday. The Falcons are making their first district appearance since 2009. They’ll look to ride a four-game win streak when thet travel to No. 2 Northwestern (8-2) on Friday night.

“I think there is a level of excitement about the opportunity that we have this week,” Cerco said. “I don’t think there have been too many Salisbury teams at all in this situation to where we’re going into the district playoffs with an opportunity to knock off a team that we lost to earlier in the year.”

When the Falcons qualified for districts in 2009, they did so as the No. 7 seed with a 4-6 record. They fell to No. 2 Northern Lehigh in the quarterfinals round of the eight-team tournament.

Over a half decade later, there is a different buzz around this postseason Falcon team.

“When you plan things out in anything, we kind of try to take it as anything you do in your life,” Cerco said. “You have short-term goals and long-term goals. Your short-term goals are week in and week out, day in and day out. We got together in the offseason and talked, and it is one of our long-term goals. We have another short-term goal with practice this week.”

When the two teams square off on Friday night, it’ll be the second time in just over a month. The first duel went Northwestern’s way, with the Tigers pulling out a 30-21 victory in the fourth quarter on October 9.

“It was a back-and-forth game,” Cerco said. “It was a great high school football game to be a part of. The chips kind of fell where they were, and they earned the win.”

Tiger running back Harry Hall was a big part in the Tigers’ offense during the last meeting, racking up 191 yards on 32 carries. Northwestern will rely on that same formula come Friday, and Cerco knows it.

“Not much has changed with what they want to do,” Cerco said. “They have a really good running back there and a good offensive line. Their quarterback does a great job of managing their offense, and they’re well accomplished.”

Hall is up to 1,444 rushing yards and 22 touchdowns on the ground through 10 games.

“He’s continuing to have success for them,” Cerco said. “One thing I noticed, in crucial situations for them he really steps up and makes some plays. He’s a good player. He’s going to do well no matter what team he is playing. That’s both sides of the ball really; he’s a really good linebacker, too.”

While the Falcons are adamant on treating each opponent the same week-by-week, there’s a chance at redemption against a team that has been a steady presence in the postseason in recent years. Knocking off the Tigers would position Salisbury in the Class AA title game, a feat they had set months ago.

“I think there’s an intrinsic motivation there, as far as we faced this team and we’re familiar with this team,” Cerco said. “We know what they’re about, they know what we’re about.”

The winner will take on either top seeded Notre Dame (Green Pond) or No. 4 North Schuylkill in next week’s title game.