What a difference a year can make.

Last season it took Salisbury 11 weeks to win its first football game. An extra game added at the end of the season allowed the Falcons to avoid a winless season.

This year the team didn’t need to wait as long for its first victory.

Salisbury won its opener Friday night by beating Panther Valley in all phases of the game for a 28-6 win and a 1-0 start to the season.

“We’re an explosive offense,” said first-year head coach Kevin DiZenzo. “We have a stout defense. When we started rocking and rolling it was hard to stop us.”

Jason St. Leger led the offense with three rushing touchdowns in the game.

“It feels great,” said St. Leger. “This is the first time I’ve won a real game in a long time. Scoring three touchdowns was great. I scored four total last season.”

On defense, Jacob Watson, Derek Trinidad, Tyshaun Cladio, Jordan Tocci-Wachter and Griffin Lakics all made big plays during the game, while newcomer to the team AJ Moren came up with an interception that set up a touchdown.

The Falcons stopped to Panther drives before opening the scoring early in the second quarter.

Trinidad made a fourth-down stop to end a long opening drive by the Panthers before Salisbury forced a punt on the next PV possession.

Salisbury started its first scoring drive at its own 8-yard line and used eight plays to go 92 yards, capped by St. Leger’s 15-yard dash up the middle and into the end zone.

Panther Valley then mounted a 10-play drive that ended with Moren’s interception. He leaped to tip the pass, stayed with it and pulled it down to get his team the ball with 1:16 left in the first half.

Moren is one of several players that came out for the football team for their first time this season, giving the Falcons their largest high school roster in several years with 60 players.

“We have a guy AJ Moren, never played football before,” said DiZenzo. “He’s a baseball player. He’s coming out and getting interceptions. The recruiting paid off.”

Two plays after the interception, St. Leger broke free for a 60-yard touchdown. He finished the game with 124 yards on 11 carries.

Salisbury increased its lead on a St. Leger 31-yard run with 4:31 left in the third quarter to go ahead 21-0.

“Momentum was a big thing in the game,” said St. Leger. “We just kept our heads straight, stayed locked in and did what we had to do to get the win.”

The Falcons’ final score came after an errant punt snap resulted in a Panther Valley fumble at its own 16-yard line that was recovered by Watson.

Trinidad carried the ball three straight times, scoring from 6-yards out to give his team a 28-0 lead early in the fourth quarter.

The Panthers got the ball back and went 68 yards to pay dirt, aided by a pass interference penalty, to break the shut out.

Salisbury’s defense allowed 202 yards in the game, but 58 of them came on the final PV drive. The Falcons didn’t let PV within 20 yards of the end zone until the game’s final drive.

The Falcon offense put up 281 yards, with 178 coming on the ground. Salisbury quarterback Andrew Lucas was an efficient 5-for-6 for 65 yards. Caleb Gonzalez made two receptions for 51 yards in the game.

While they committed more penalties than DiZenzo wants to see (6 for 39 yards), the Falcons didn’t turn the ball over in the game and limited costly mistakes.

“We let them have that momentum and they ran with it,” Panther Valley head coach Mark Levine said. “I give them credit. They came to play today. We knew St. Leger is a heck of a player. He was a heck of a player on both sides of the ball tonight.”

The Falcons controlled the line of scrimmage most of the game on both sides of the ball.

“Being a part of this program last year, being offensive and defensive line coach, seeing what those guys did tonight really excites me,” said DiZenzo.

St. Leger made several big stops for the Falcons, along with Trinidad, whose fourth-down stop on the Panthers’ opening drive helped set the tone for the game.

The Falcons also won the battle on special teams, as kicker/punter Joshua Hudak helped make sure Panther Valley drives started on the Panthers’ side of the field. His three punts averaged 39 yards each. He also kicked one touchback and several other deep kicks off that the Panthers found hard to handle.

Salisbury, which lost to Panther Valley in its last two season openers, hasn’t started 1-0 since beating Pen Argyl 25-16 to start the 2019 season.

“A lot of confidence going into next week,” said St. Leger. “We needed a win like this to go forward and be confident.”

The Falcons won’t have long to savor the win. They travel to Green Pond Friday night to take on a Notre Dame team that put up video game numbers in a 71-64 win over Garden Spot last week.