Tamaqua’s offense presents a lot for a defense to worry about.

The Blue Raiders have more than a couple versatile skill players and a line that gives them the time and space to make big plays.

Led by Victor Schlosser’s three touchdowns, Tamaqua seemed to make plays at will in a 49-7 win Friday at Salisbury that kept the Raiders (5-0) unbeaten.

“They’re just so efficient,” said Salisbury head coach Kevin DiZenzo. “As an offensive line coach coming up myself, that was just a great job in the trenches. Kudos to those guys.”

Schlosser caught five passes for 147 yards and ran three times for 38 yards, with two of his runs going for touchdowns.

Quarterback Luke Kane added a pair of scores and 99 yards rushing on seven carries. He also threw for 105 yards and one score.

“We have a quarterback that can run and throw the ball,” said Tamaqua head coach Sam Bonner. “We have Victor, who can catch and run the ball. Throw in (Tyler) Koch, who is a tough fullback for us, blocks well and runs it. And you’ve got Brad Whalen, who is sort of an inside-outside guy. That’s not even to mention (tight end) Declan Coleman, who didn’t have any catches today but did a good job blocking for us.”

Tamaqua scored on each of its first four drives to take a 28-0 lead into halftime.

Schlosser had touchdown runs of 18 and 10 yards to get things going. He caught a 45-yard touchdown pass to make it 21-0 less than halfway through the second quarter.

The senior set up his team’s fourth touchdown when he caught a short pass and raced 78 yards to the Salisbury 2-yard line before Kane ran it in on the next play.

“Victor is one of those guys we like to get him out in space,” said Bonner. “We hit him on those quick screens and it gives him an opportunity to make plays. A five-yard pass becomes a 70-yard pass really quick.”

The Raiders got the game to the mercy rule when Kane broke free for a 56-yard touchdown run on the second play of the second half.

Tamaqua rushed for 312 yards in the game and passed for 150 yards.

While the Raiders’ offense was unstoppable, their defense was equally impressive.

Led by three sacks from lineman Jacob Hein and two from linebacker Koch, Tamaqua sacked Salisbury quarterback Andrew Lucas nine times for a loss of 58 yards. The Falcons, who scored 70 points over the previous two weeks in wins over Wilson and Catasauqua, had negative-32 yards of total offense in the first half Friday night.

Salisbury’s offense only crossed midfield three times in the game, and one of them was by just two yards.

The Falcons (3-2) did manage to break the shutout with a touchdown drive midway through the fourth quarter.

Jordan Tocci broke a 46-yard run and had five carries for 48 on the scoring drive before sophomore quarterback Keaton Frye ran in from 9-yards out with 7:18 left in the game.

Tocci led the Salisbury offense with six carries for 70 yards in the game.

Terrence McDowell and Ace Schickram also scored late touchdowns for the Raiders.

The Falcons will have an extra day to prepare for their next opponent as they travel to Pen Argyl next Saturday to take on the Green Knights (2-3).

Pen Argyl’s two wins this season came against Wilson (43-0) and Palmerton (24-7). The Knights have lost to Tamaqua (38-7), Northern Lehigh (26-14) and Palisades (21-20).

“Right now in our minds we’re 0-0 every week,” said DiZenzo. “How do we improve going into next week?

“We have a lot of football ahead of us. We have some big games coming up that we need to focus on and get better. I want to continue to climb and see where we end up without some of those mistakes.”

With the season half over, Salisbury resides in sixth place in the District 11 Class 3A rankings.

The strong 3A field has Tamaqua on top with 2023 state runner-up Northwestern (5-0) not far behind. Notre Dame - Green Pond (4-1), North Schuylkill (3-2) and Saucon Valley (4-1) round out the top five through the first five games of the season.