Ground and pound.

Power spread.

Whatever it’s called and however it’s run, Northwestern does it effectively.

The Tigers have found an identity - and success - running the ball this year, averaging an area-best 304.2 yards per game on the ground through the first five weeks of the season.

That trend continued Friday night, as Northwestern dominated the line of scrimmage on both sides of the ball in a 20-0 victory over Saucon Valley.

The Tigers (5-1) rushed for 328 yards and held an explosive Panthers’ offense to more than 200 yards below its season average.

“Six games into the season, 5-1, we’re really happy where we’re at,” said Northwestern coach Josh Snyder. “We know what type of football team we are going to be this year. The first half of the season, believe it or not, it was still something we were trying to figure out. But we’re a spread, ground and pound team. We mix in some screens and some shot plays, the other teams know that and they still have to try to stop it.

“Saucon Valley is a good football team and they tried and we were still able to move the ball on the ground, get first downs, eat the clock, and anytime you get a shutout you play pretty decent defense against a pretty explosive offense.”

An injury to dynamic quarterback Cade Christopher in the second quarter altered the game plan for Northwestern, but the Tigers got another big performance from Dalton Clymer (26 carries, 145 yards) and a breakout game from Landen Matson (six carries, 142) to keep the offense moving forward.

Northwestern bulldozed its way to a 14-0 lead in the first quarter, with Christopher scoring from 15 yards out on the first drive, and Clymer - who rushed for 176 yards last week against Lehighton - going in from three yards out with 0:16 left in the first period.

“We knew we had to get off the bus and start strong,” said Clymer. “We’ve had some slow starts, keeping some teams in the game a little bit. But tonight we did a great job of that, putting up 14 points in the first quarter, which was awesome.”

That’s where the score stayed heading into halftime.

The Panthers found some rhythm on offense with a long drive to open the third quarter, one that nearly ended in the end zone.

After converting on fourth down earlier in the drive, Saucon Valley (2-4) faced another fourth down, this time a fourth and six from the Northwestern 36-yard line.

Quarterback Travis Riefenstahl fired a pass into the end zone for Jared Rohn, but it was ruled incomplete, keeping the score 14-0 with 6:57 to play in the third quarter.

The Tigers took over, and Clymer capped the ensuing drive with another three-yard score on the first play of the fourth quarter to push the lead to 20-0.

Northwestern forced a fumble on Saucon’s next drive, with Sam Mauro recovering the ball.

The Panthers got the ball back one more time with 4:45 left in the game, but the Tigers’ defense came up big again, with Blaine Snyder recording back-to-back sacks before Saucon turned the ball over on downs.

Snyder, along with Mauro, Austin Sosnovik and the rest of the defense limited a Panthers’ offense that had been averaging 372 yards per game to 152 total yards.

“It’s huge,” Snyder said. “Our defense played a great game and we had a great game plan from our coaches. We put in three new packages and it’s great to see all the guys come together and learn everything really quickly and play the way we did.”

POUND THE ROCK

... Snyder praised enter Blaine Snyder, right guard Cam Shields, left guard Jared Meck, right tackle Josiah Gornicz, left tackle Ben Walters and tight ends Buck Miller and Sam Mauro for setting the tone and paving the way for the offense.

HIGH PRAISE

... Matson came through with several big runs - including 51 and 27 yards in the first half for the Tigers. “He was figured to be that slot that could take the top off and run that speed sweep,” said Snyder. “He was a little bit inconsistent early on with some different things and we had to change things up. But he’s been practicing hard, he’s been playing JV the last couple weeks to get his confidence up and even last week he had a couple nice speed sweeps, and then he coughed the ball up. So it was one of those things where he worked hard at practice again, he was in the game plan to get the ball and he was making great decisions and I’m proud of him for battling back and keeping the right mindset and working hard and making the most out of his opportunity.”