For the second week in a row the Salisbury football team Salisbury scored first and had a lead in the game. But for the second straight week a scoreless second half hurt Salisbury’s chances as they fell 27-7 last Friday night at Saucon Valley.

The Panthers tied the game before halftime and scored three times in the second half.

Salisbury took the lead on Josh Brooks’ 48-yard touchdown run in the first half. The Panthers answered with a Travis Riefensthal touchdown.

Saucon Valley got a third-quarter touchdown from Landon Beckowski on a five-yard run. Tyler Pfizenmayer scored a pair of Panther touchdowns in the fourth quarter to seal the win.

Saucon Valley piled up 225 rushing yards with Joshua Torres (10 carries, 77 yards) and Pfizenmayer (7 carries, 76 yards) leading the way.

Riefensthal went 8-for-18 for 183 yards and on interception.

Nick Beck (10 carries, 75 yards) and Brooks (6 carries, 58 yards) led the Falcon rushing attack, which put up 168 yards in the game.

Beck completed seven of 16 passes for 79 yards in the game as the Falcon passing game found more consistency than it had in the season-opening loss to Panther Valley.

Defensively, Toby Linn, Jake Gibbons and Jaccob Bucchin led the way with three solo tackles each. Derek Trinidad picked off a pass and had one tackle for loss in the game.

The Falcons travel to Jim Thorpe next week to take on an Olympian team that’s also searching for its first win of the season.

Salisbury head coach Andy Cerco is excited for his team to make the trip up north. It is a different kind of trip than his team is used to and a different kind of football town.

“Jim Thorpe is a great town in the coal region,” said Cerco. “It’s smaller like Salisbury and really loves its football. A lot of these guys have probably never been there before so it will be a really cool experience making the road trip up there and experiencing game day in Jim Thorpe.”

While Salisbury is looking forward to playing a different team in a different town, the Falcons (0-2 overall) will all business this weekend.

“We know it’s going to be a tough game,” Cerco said. “Every week is. But the fact that they want and need a win just as bad as us makes this one even tougher. We have to be at the top of our game and I think the guys are ready for this one.”

Even though Salisbury lost in its first two weeks of the regular season, it has been in each game with chances to win.

“The guys have really been playing hard the first two weeks of the season,” said Cerco. “We were within just one score in both games later in the games and had our chances to win. We’ve just got to do a better job of finishing and getting over that hump. We have the guys to do that and they are competing and working hard and I’m proud of their effort.”

Jim Thorpe dropped a one-point game in its opener, 27-26 to Blue Mountain, and then lost to Bangor 29-7 last weekend. Cerco knows that the Olympians will be a physical team when they meet this Friday night.

“They have some big, tough kids, especially on the offensive and defensive lines,” Cerco said. “We’re going to have to be just as physical to be able to stop them. They also have an athletic quarterback and running back that we will have to contain.”