Bangor came into Tiger Stadium Friday night looking to ruin Northwestern Lehigh’s homecoming and knock the Tigers from the ranks of the undefeated.

That didn’t go too well. In just nine offensive plays, Northwestern had reached the end zone twice and led 15-0, which grew into a 53-24 win over the Slaters (3-2) to keep the Tigers unscathed at 5-0 on the season.

Cade Christopher, who set up the first scoring drive with a nice return on the opening kickoff to give the Tigers the ball at their own 47. On the second play of the drive, Christopher went from Bangor’s 47 into the end zone and Luke Benvin provided the extra-point to put Northwestern up 7-0. The next drive used just seven plays to move 80 yards and again, Christopher was there to cap the drive by pulling in a 37-yard TD pass from Justin Holmes and then cash in on the two-point conversion to make it 15-0 Tigers.

Northwestern Lehigh’s third drive stalled, but that didn’t mean the Tigers were kept off of the scoreboard. Benvin came on and nailed a 30-yard field goal and the Tigers lead grew to 18-0.

“We wanted to come out and get some quick points on the board and we were able to do that tonight,” said Tiger head coach Josh Snyder. “Cade was just phenomenal for us tonight. We can use him anywhere and in any situation and he seems to come through. It’s great to have athletic guys like him that can help us that much.”

While the offense was piling up points, the Northwestern Lehigh defense was keeping the Bangor side of the scoreboard at zero. On the Slaters third drive of the night, quarterback Eric Striba may have been getting a little frustrated and launched a long pass into double coverage which was intercepted by Jacob Peters for his second interception of the season.

On the ensuing drive, Christopher again got to feel the end zone turf when he took a handoff on a second-and-five and ran 52 yards to the end zone for his third score of the night. Again, Benvin added the extra point and the Tigers held a 25-0 lead with 11:06 to play in the first half.

Bangor got on the board thanks to a couple of turnovers, with an interception leading to a nine-play drive that saw Striba rush into the end zone from 19 yards out. Kael Godshalk then recovered a fumble and ran 37 yards for a touchdown, making it 25-12 in favor of the Tigers with 2:41 left in the half.

Sensing that the momentum was shifting slightly, Northwestern flexed their muscles with an efficient 77-yard drive, running 13 plays over the final 2:24. Holmes completed six passes on the drive, including one for 24 yards to Ryan McDonnell and then finding Christopher in the end zone again. Holmes and McDonnell also connected on the two-point conversion to make it 33-12.

“It was huge, that was a momentum changer right there. They were coming back and that just put the cherry on top,” said Christopher of the late touchdown to end the first half. “We were able to keep the pressure on them all night and never let them get too much momentum. We played a good game on both sides of the ball.”

Northwestern put the game away with rushing touchdowns from Holmes (26 yards), Dalton Clymer (1 yard) and Taylor Wikert (44 yards). Bangor countered with two touchdown drives of their own, but the damage had already been done.

The combination of Christopher and Holmes has been a key part of the offense this season for Northwestern Lehigh. Against Bangor, both had over 300 all-purpose yards. Holmes had 346 yards picking up 219 yards passing, 95 yards rushing, 27 on kickoff returns and five yards receiving. For Christopher, he amassed 307 total yards with 100 yards receiving, 99 rushing, 92 on kickoff returns, 11 yards on punt returns and 5 yards passing. On the season, Holmes has 1,346 all-purpose yards and Christopher has 942.

“They’re both so athletic that they allow us to do some different things with them,” Snyder explained of the talented duo. “Cade has played quarterback when he was younger and Justin was a receiver until last season, so that allows us to have them switch roles in some sets and show something different.”