Head coach Andy Cerco doesn’t want his football team to get caught up in the score from last week’s game when it beat Catasauqua by 18 points. He doesn’t want them to look at scores from around the league either, in particular a four-touchdown defeat Northwestern suffered against Palmerton in Week 1.

Salisbury is well aware of the type of team that Northwestern is, and its rich tradition of successful football. With the slate cleaned from last Friday night, Cerco and his team will head to New Tripoli this week with a clear head.

“We told our kids today that you can’t look at that,” Cerco said. “We have to really focus on what we need to do and get better as a team. We are not outcome-based. Their score didn’t matter. Our score doesn’t matter from the first week.”

Northwestern struggled to stop Palmerton quarterback Tekoah Guedes both through the air and on the ground. He totaled 369 yards and four touchdowns against the Tigers, including an impressive 136 and three scores on the ground.

As it played from behind early with a 21-0 deficit, Northwestern was forced to sling the ball around the field with quarterback Devon Bollinger. The Tigers ran the ball just 13 times for only 19 yards.

“Northwestern, they did what they normally do and what they’ve been doing the past couple of years,” Cerco said. “They threw the ball quite a bit. It just seemed they couldn’t put anything together, like a scoring drive.”

Bollinger did connect on eight of his 14 passes for 169 yards and two touchdowns, both to tight end Caleb Clymer. And during film sessions, Bollinger reminded Cerco of former Falcon quarterback Tevon Weber and how he played under the lights.

“He’s a tall kid and he throws the ball accurately,” Cerco said. “He’s got a strong arm. He understands what they are trying to do offensively, and he gets the ball to their playmakers. They like to hit the tight end. That is something we have to account for.”

Clymer caught six passes for 148 yards against Palmerton.

Cerco, however, knows that loss will only motivate Northwestern back on its home field Friday night. He’ll need another 48 minutes of error-free football from the Falcons in order to stay competitive with last year’s district runner-up.

He also figures that if his offensive line blocks the way it did against Catasauqua, the Falcons will be tough to stop in the running game.

“The other thing that really stood out was our running backs and quarterback faking was really good,” Cerco said. “You saw it on film. The one play the linebacker ran right to the running back who was faking the handoff.

“Those are just as good as blocks and really, really important in our offense.”

Kickoff is at 7 p.m. at Northwestern High School.