For Salisbury, facing Northern Lehigh last Friday was a matter of bad timing.

The Bulldogs struggled early in the season, dropping their first two games to Palisades and Southern Lehigh.

But since then, they’ve been gradually improving.

And against the Falcons, they hit their peak.

Salisbury couldn’t stop Nolehi’s running game and the host team pulled away for a 56-27 Colonial League victory.

“They’re a good team,” said Falcons head coach Andy Cerco. “They play hard, they play really hard. They’re a well-coached team.

“I have no words for (Northern Lehigh dominating line of scrimmage). They were probably stronger and played harder ... They have some big dudes up there.”

Those big dudes up front opened holes for a trio of talented runners, who all topped 100 yards on the evening. Junior Matt Frame led the way with 210 yards and four touchdowns. Mike Repsher added 144, while Joe Abidelli finished with 107.

Frame opened the scoring with an 8-yard run and added two more scores - one on a 68-yard burst - in the first half as the Bulldogs built a 28-7 advantage.

“We’re definitely peaking,” said Frame. “We started off slow and we’ve just been getting better every single week ... Our running game is really powerful right now and we knew that would help us out today.”

Despite being dominated up to that point, Salisbury seemed to get some momentum late in the first half and early in the second.

Chad Parton made a one-handed interception and returned it 24 yards for a touchdown with just 1:34 remaining until halftime. After receiving the second-half kickoff, Parton reached the end zone again - this time on a 52-yard pass from quarterback Quintin Stephens - on the second play from scrimmage.

Just like that, it was a one-score game at 28-20.

“We should have felt that momentum there,” said Cerco. “I know I did, but obviously some other things happened on the field. I don’t know, maybe we didn’t have the momentum we thought we did.

“When we cut it to eight, at that point anything can happen. We just didn’t have it tonight.”

Any kind of emotional lift evaporated in a matter of minutes.

Abidelli broke free for a 58-yard touchdown run, and after the Falcons couldn’t move the ball, Repsher returned a punt 65 yards for another score and a 42-20 lead.

Following another three-and-out by Salisbury, Northern Lehigh scored again on a 10-yard run by Abidelli.

“We felt like we put together four quarters last week,” said Bulldog mentor Joe Tout about his team’s win against Pen Argyl. “We did the same tonight.

“(Salisbury) scored right before the half and then they scored right away (to open the second half) but our kids put the throttle down after that. We have to clean some things up, but our kids really responded tonight.”

Frame capped off his big night when he broke loose for a 70-yard touchdown on the first play of the fourth quarter. That tally initiated the Mercy Rule.

The Falcons managed one more score late in the fourth quarter on Toby Linn’s 6-yard run. Linn had gains of 10 and 23 yards to set up the touchdown.

Parton finished the contest with eight catches for 177 yards, while Stephens completed 12-of-21 passes for 210 yards and ran for 49 more.

“They’re really quick,” said Frame, talking about Parton and Stephens. “All week at practice we focused on containing them ... We had two people that we had to lock in on - No. 20 and No. 8 - because we knew they were their two weapons we had to worry about.”

“If someone told me to describe Salisbury, I’d say scary because even if you get pressure on (Stephens), he just does such a great job of running around,” said Tout. “And then (Parton) is a burner and he just makes plays.”

Parton’s 177 yards put him at 1,779 receiving yards for his high school career, making him the new career leader for Salisbury. The senior is also three receptions short of the school record of 107.

Northern Lehigh finished the evening with 519 rushing yards, averaging 14.8 yards per carry. Salisbury’s offense managed 320 yards, but its defense just couldn’t get stops against the Bulldogs.

The loss dropped the Falcons to 1-4 on the season, while Northern Lehigh is now 3-2.

Salisbury’s regular season finale is Friday when it hosts Southern Lehigh.