Salisbury football head coach Andy Cerco won’t make any excuses. But when ya team begins a game without its leading rusher and a few other players, then loses a number of other offensive weapons mid-game, the task gets a bit more difficult.

Regardless of who was and was not on the field on Friday night against Palisades, Salisbury put forth a performance that Cerco wasn’t pleased with. And it started just seconds into the game.

Salisbury lost a fumble on its first offensive possession, and Palisades scored moments later to take an early lead. That would foreshadow a first half in which the Pirates (4-2) scored 28 points before downing the Falcons (2-4) by a 42-20 final score.

“That’s never a good thing, to start the game on your first offensive drive with a fumble,” Cerco said. “We just need to do a better job across the board, and that starts with us as coaches. We need to do a better job coaching them. We need to play better. That’s what I told them right after the game.”

After Cameron Vaka fumbled on Salisbury’s second play from scrimmage, the Pirates got to work behind running back Jared Colletti. The junior tailback scored from 15 yards out to give Palisades a quick 7-0 lead just over two minutes into play.

On the Pirates’ ensuing possession, Colletti capped a 12-play drive with a 2-yard touchdown run up the middle to give Palisades a 14-0 lead early in the second quarter. The Pirates’ defense then held Salisbury to a three-and-out, and Colletti returned the punt 70 yards to push their advantage to 21-0 within the blink of an eye.

Kyler Newton then added a 1-yard touchdown run before halftime to give the purple and gold a 28-0 advantage.

“The effort was there for the most part,” Cerco said. “Our kids played with good effort. We’ve just got to play better. We have to do a better job with our assignments. We have to do a better job of blocking. We have to do a better job of tackling. That’s the bottom line.”

Salisbury’s woes on the defensive side of the ball continued once the second half got underway. And the recipient was Colletti once again, bursting through the front line for a 2-yard touchdown that brought the score to 35-0 just 1:57 into the second half, putting the mercy rule in effect.

Peter Forestieri got the Falcons on the scoreboard with his 3-yard touchdown run in the third quarter, but it was a little too late. Palisades halted any thought of a comeback by scoring on its next play from scrimmage, a 50-yard touchdown run from Trey Gretzinger.

“We had some good offensive plays,” Cerco said. “Alex Glenn did a good job running the ball. Our offensive line did a good job blocking on those plays. We can’t put it together. We’re inconsistent right now.”

Salisbury was without running back CJ Wittman before the game even started as he’s recovering from an injury he suffered last week. And then Forestieri and Christian Butz also left the game due to injury, limiting the Falcons’ options in the backfield.

But with those exits left a void needed to be filled. And sophomore running back Delano McKenzie provided a nice option when those players went down with injury. McKenzie recorded runs of 69 and 68 yards, the second a late touchdown for Salisbury’s third score of the game. Eric Frankenfield scored minutes prior on a 29-yard touchdown run.

The loss dropped Salisbury to two games below .500, and the Falcons have lost their third straight game after starting 2-1. But the message after its most disappointing loss through six games was to leave it in the rearview mirror.

“Yesterday is over and can’t be changed,” Cerco said. “If we get hung up on it, that’s not a good thing.”