Salisbury head coach Andy Cerco knows wins can be tough to come by in the Colonial League, especially with a young group of players. The foreseeable future might be Salisbury’s toughest stretch of the entire 2016 football season.

That upcoming gauntlet begins with a meeting against Notre Dame (Green Pond), one of two undefeated teams left in the Colonial League. After it hosts those Crusaders on Friday night at 7 p.m., the Falcons must travel up to Palisades, another offense that can put up points in a hurry, in two weeks.

But the only thing on the agenda at the moment is dealing with the unbeaten Crusaders on Friday night. Notre Dame is coming off a District 11 Class 2A title last year, and despite graduating a number of key seniors, it returns plenty of firepower for its attempt at a repeat run.

“I really think they’re excited about playing one of the top teams, not only in our league, but in the state,” Cerco said. “They are ranked I think No. 3 in the state. There is no better opportunity than to face a team that ranks anywhere atop the state and have an opportunity to play against them and win the game.

“We told our kids today, there hasn’t been a game where we’ve been beaten because that team is that much better than us. We haven’t done things correctly, which has led to us having some difficulties.”

Leading Noter Dame’s high-scoring attack on offense is quarterback Cole DeFranco, a gifted passer and runner. Take last week as an example. In a 39-21 win against Northern Lehigh, DeFranco completed 14-of-24 passes for 136 yards.

But it was his rushing that opened up the scoring lanes for the Crusaders. DeFranco rushed for a team-high 95 yards on just nine attempts, and three of those carries resulted in trips to the end zone. He leads Notre Dame with 224 yards on the ground through four games.

“I do know it’s his first year starting at varsity football,” Cerco said. “Schematically they are very similar. They want to run the ball on inside zone with some quarterback reads, and they throw the ball with some short screens, some hitches and they take their chances deep as well.”

As a passer, DeFranco’s 773 yards and five touchdowns through the air have been a key in Notre Dame scoring at least 39 points in every game thus far. With the upcoming matchup, Salisbury’s defense will face its toughest challenge of the young season on Friday night on its home turf.

Taking the ball out of the backfield for the Crusaders is shifty tailback Mitch Daniel, responsible for 40 yards on the ground last week against the Bulldogs. He’s accumulated 210 yards on the ground as the midway point of the season approaches.

“He’s a quick kid, and he plays with a lot of energy,” Cerco said. “On film when you watch it, there are times that he hits it really well and there are times where it gets clogged up, kind of just like any other team.”

It goes without saying how important the turnover battle is against any opponent, but none more critical when you host the league’s top team. A week ago, Bangor turned three Falcon turnovers into 14 points and that was a deciding factor in the victory.

Notre Dame is just as capable of producing those types of plays on the defensive end. Trea Lovell returned a 64-yard interception back for a touchdown just before halftime last week to give the Crusaders a commanding 28-7 lead; Northern Lehigh wouldn’t get within two touchdowns the rest of the game.

Special teams also played a big role in the Falcons’ loss as week ago to Bangor. The Slaters returned two kickoffs into Salisbury territory, including a 97-yard touchdown by Saivaughnn Vass in the opening quarter. The Falcons need to improve in that phase of the game if they want to pull off the upset.

“We kind of approached that with our guys [on Monday], ‘They are regular high school kids just like you,’” Cerco said. “A lot of people give them a lot of hype because right now they are playing really well.”

Friday will be “Shirt Off Your Back Night” at Salisbury where seniors will honor members of the school district that have had an impact on their lives. Kickoff is at 7 p.m., with pregame honors starting shortly before.