The Northwestern football team took care of Wilson on Saturday, 53-0, to remain undefeated on the season heading into this Friday’s matchup against fellow unbeaten Southern Lehigh.

Northwestern stormed right out of the gate against Wilson when quarterback Shane Leh found Dalton Clymer for a 22-yard touchdown pass for the first score of the game. The Tigers added 14 more points in the first quarter to take a 21-0 lead.

“Obviously, two opposite records coming into the game,” Northwestern head coach Josh Snyder said after his team mercy-ruled the winless Warriors. “We wanted to come out and have a strong showing. We we wanted to start out really well on both sides of the ball, and that’s just what we did.

“We came out and had a couple stops and got the ball back on offense and drove the ball into the end zone. We were pretty balanced on offense throwing it, as well as running it. We wanted to have a good showing going into our Week 10 showdown against Southern Lehigh and I thought we did that.”

The Northwestern scoring blitz only continued when the Tigers put up 26 more points in the second quarter to lead 47-0 at halftime. Leh threw for two touchdown passes in the game and seven different Northwestern players found the end zone in the romp.

“It’s just great execution by our offense and defense,” Leh said. “It was a great team effort. Everything’s been going great.

“At the beginning of the season, we didn’t really know what to expect. We didn’t know the team we really were. As the end of the season is coming now, things are starting to really come together and work well. We’re ready to finish the season strong.”

Everything was clicking for the Tigers against Wilson as Northwestern outgained the Warriors 441-97. Northwestern backup quarterback Brady Krimmel got some playing time in the offense in the second half and also picked off Wilson’s Jeramy Cressman for the only interception of the game. Cressman had a tough time getting the Wilson offense going as the Tigers pressured the quarterback throughout the game.

“It’s tough (coming into a season) because you’re never really sure exactly what you have until you get out there and start playing games,” Snyder said. “I thought we were going to be very competitive. I knew what we had coming back in terms of our skill, but our line really started to gel together quickly.

“Some of the players and components that we felt needed to play well for us to be really good have done exactly that. They’ve turned into really good football players. The team chemistry is always a factor and these guys are really tight. They’re really connected and play for one another. They’re unselfish and only really care about the bottom line. When you have that, you got it rolling and you win more games than you lose.”

Leh said one of the keys for the Tigers this season has been not looking too far ahead. “Just taking it week-by-week,” Leh said. “We’re just trying to win every week and focus on that week. That’s just how we do it.”

Friday’s matchup of unbeatens in New Tripoli is one that fans have been looking forward to for several weeks, but Snyder said he has not been letting his players do that.

“Our goal is to go 1-0 every week,” Snyder said. “We were fortunate enough to find a way to win every game that we’ve played so far, putting us at 9-0, going into a pretty neat situation in Week 10. There have probably been very few times that you’ll go into a Week 10 game with two 9-0 teams. It’s going to be great for our community and kids. We’re sure there’s going to be a lot of hoopla around it and we’re looking forward to game and the preparation for the game.”