Not many people gave Salisbury a chance when the Falcons hosted Notre Dame (Green Pond) last Friday night. But the Falcons believed in themselves, and that’s all that mattered.

Salisbury (3-2) held the Crusaders’ high-powered offense in check, allowing just seven points through three quarters, and defeated Notre Dame, 23-21, on Salisbury’s home turf.

“Going into that kind of a game, you know they are going to be able to put points up on the board,” Cerco said. “Our defensive coordinator did a fantastic job in game planning. And then from there, our kids did a fantastic job of executing the game plan. There were so many times when kids were exactly where they were supposed to be, when they were supposed to be there, and doing what they are coached to do.

“This is a significant win for our program. We have 38 players and they have 70.”

While the Crusaders’ offense had been getting a ton of attention all season, it was Salisbury’s defense that stole the show. And it came up with the game’s biggest play.

With just under two minutes to play and Notre Dame (3-2) facing a 4th-and-1 in Salisbury’s red zone, Falcon senior cornerback Timmy Buda stopped a quarterback keeper to hand the ball back over to the blue and white. Senior free safety Trey Weber was also there to force quarterback Andrew Darno to the outside.

“[Weber] played a really great game at free safety,” Cerco said. “He came downhill and made a whole bunch of tackles, broke up some passes and forced a fumble. There was [another] play down on the goal line, and there were about three kids in on the tackle, and Trey was the first one there right at the goal line. He was just driving the running back backwards and the ball just came out.”

The Falcons were able to take over on downs and run out the clock, picking up a key first down on a Quintin Stephens run.

Perhaps it should have been Salisbury’s offense getting all the praise. Stephens went 13-of-23 for 206 yards and three touchdowns. Chad Parton (nine catches for 144 yards) caught two of those scores, and Timmy Budda (two catches for 45 yards) hauled in the other at a key moment.

The ground game was also outstanding. Buda led the way with 66 yards on 12 carries and the Falcons ran for 139 yards as a team. Parton added 40 on the ground and finished with 188 total yards from scrimmage.

“Every game [Stephens] has experience, the better he is getting,” Cerco said. “That’s not always a guarantee. He’s doing a good job managing everything and understanding what we’re asking him to do.”

But the storyline was Salisbury’s ability to come up with a big defensive stop when needed and hold Notre Dame to its lowest point total of the season thus far. The Crusaders scored at least 42 points in their three wins.

“We’ve been in situations where things have happened and we’ve let it affect us a little bit too much,” Cerco said. “Our kids always play hard, but sometimes they get bogged down in a situation or something that happened. They were able to overcome those points in this game.”

Darno completed 9-of-19 passes for just 74 yards against the Falcons. He did throw three touchdowns. Matt Frauen Jr. paced the Crusaders with 128 yards on the ground, Darno added 99.