Salisbury faced off in a defensive battle against Catasauqua on Friday in which the Rough Riders outlasted the Falcons to pick up a 6-0 victory.

The only scoring play of the game came when Catasauqua’s junior quarterback Christian Fye connected with senior wide receiver Jacob Scheirer for a 23-yard touchdown late in the first quarter.

This lone scoring drive came following a fumble from Salisbury’s junior quarterback Nick Beck.

The Salisbury offense struggled to put together long drives throughout the game, only putting up one drive of more than 40 yards and gaining less than 200 yards of total offense.

The offense’s struggles were especially shown in its inability to convert on third down.

The Falcons only managed to convert on two of their 10 attempts on third down but were able to pick up the first down on two of their four attempts on fourth down.

Despite the offensive struggles Beck put up a solid performance in his first start as signal caller for the Falcons.

Beck completed 10 of 17 passes for 96 yards and also picked up another 42 yards on the ground.

“He played really well,” said head coach Andy Cerco. “He rushed for a lot of yards. He made some really good decisions in the passing game, and he made some decisions a quarterback in his first start is going to make.”

Though the Falcons’ offense failed to put up any points, the defense did a tremendous job, holding the Rough Riders to only six points and 193 total yards.

The defensive unit was led by seniors Anthony Scarcia and Ben Krauss, who had nine and six tackles respectively.

“Our defense played fantastic,” said Cerco.

The Falcons will look to get things going offensively and keep up the good defense as they head into their next game at Saucon Valley on Friday when both teams will be looking for their first win of the season.

The two teams met last season and Salisbury handled the Panthers picking up a 43-22 win.

The Falcons will be heading into the game with some new faces at key positions but will be looking for the same outcome.

Cerco noted the benefit that victory has on the team heading into the game this week saying, “I think our kids have a little bit of a confidence level because of that experience.”

He also mentioned that the team can’t be looking ahead too much during practice and preparations for the game saying, “We’ve got to focus on us.”

The game is set to kick off at 7 pm from Montford E. Illick Stadium.