It’s early in the week, but after last Friday’s performance against Palisades, one message is being preached around the locker room at Salisbury High School.

“After watching film with them, there were plays in the game where we were doing what we were supposed to and things were successful,” football head coach Andy Cerco said. “It’s just focusing on being more consistent. They believe in each other. The coaches believe in the fact that they can come out and play. We just have to get to the point where we’re consistent.”

Consistency will be a pivotal factor for Salisbury (2-4) as it hosts a red hot Pen Argyl team (4-2) on Friday night in what is Week 7 of the Colonial League season. Pen Argyl has won three of its last four games, including a 42-21 victory at Northern Lehigh last week. The Green Knights are also responsible for one of Northwestern’s two losses this year, coming a week earlier with an impressive 35-21 win.

With preparation underway for the Green Knights, Cerco sees a similar offensive approach to the one Palisades displayed last week. Both teams feature running backs at a high volume and would like to run the ball as much as possible. Cerco is just hoping this time a different result is on the horizon.

“That is one of the advantages that we have, facing similar teams back-to-back,” Cerco said. “It’s not as if we’re preparing for a new scheme or any surprises or anything like that. I would say that Pen Argyl does some different things with their formation. Their primary focus is that they are a downhill running team and want to get the ball to No. 5.”

Pen Argyl’s offense is centered around a traditional power style, whereas Palisades ran some pro offense with twin backs a week ago.

But much like Palisades did with featuring its star running back in Jared Colletti, Pen Argyl will feed Logan Sterner the rock as much as possible. And just like Colletti, who scored a punt-return touchdown last week, Sterner took two back to the house on punt returns against Northern Lehigh-the first from 81 yards and the second from 88.

“They are a traditional power football team,” Cerco said. “They want to line up and run the ball. It’s very similar to Palisades in that their main goal is to run the ball. They have a good back. He’s a good athlete. They want to get him the ball as much as possible.”

Sterner accounted for 134 yards on the ground in last week’s win over the Bulldogs. He added 21 more receiving yards and accounted for all six of the Green Knights’ six touchdowns-three rushing, two return and one receiving.

“I don’t know if you can take him out of the game,” Cerco said. “We’d like to limit his abilities. That’s a tall order. He’s a good player, and their offensive line is good.”

Lining up behind center is quarterback Logan Ruppert. And while he doesn’t throw the ball often (eight attempts last week, two completions) he’s capable of making plays through the air.

Salisbury is hoping to get a number of players back from injury for Friday’s game. Running back CJ Wittman, quarterback Lucas Irwin and defensive end Jaxon Costello were a number of Falcons that didn’t even suit up for last week’s game against Palisades. And then a number of others went down with injury a week again in the rainy conditions at the Pirates’ home field.

“At this point it’s too early in the week to kind of know where we are at,” Cerco said. “It’s kind of day-to-day with them and working with our training staff.”

Friday will also be the homecoming game and youth night for Salisbury. A parade prior to kickoff will make its way through Salisbury, starting at Harry S. Truman School and ending down at the high school.