The Salisbury football team capitalized on Palmerton’s mistakes to build an early lead then hung on in the fourth quarter for a 31-28 win last Friday night in Palmerton.

The start of the game set the tone for the Falcons to grab an early lead.

Their first touchdown was set up when a deflected pass was intercepted by Jaden Claudio on the Bombers’ 24-yard line. That was the first of six Blue Bomber turnovers in the game.

Two plays later, Derek Trinidad bulled over the goal line from two yards out for a 7-0 lead.

On their second possession, the Bombers fumbled away the ball at their own 43. After three-minute drive stalled, Josh Hudak booted a 38-yard field goal for a 10-0 advantage with 3:40 left in the first quarter.

A three and out gave the ball right back to the Falcons, but they too punted on fourth down.

With 32 ticks left in the quarter, Salisbury’s AJ Moren picked off a pass his fourth pass of the season, leading to a drive down to the Palmerton 1-yard line where a bad snap and a fumble helped cause a defensive stop for the Bombers.

In the second quarter, a Palmerton punt from deep in its own territory set Salisbury up with a first down with 20 yards to pay dirt. A four-play drive was capped off by Jason St. Leger’s three-yard blast for a 17-0 lead.

St. Leger was a tough runner all game long, gaining 251 yards on 13 carries with two rushing touchdowns and one through the air on a 17-yard pass from quarterback, Andrew Lucas.

Palmerton got on the board after a 77-yard drive. The big play was a Jameson Trainer deep sideline 47 yard pass and run to Jacob Walkowiak. Trainer then found Vincent Taglieri in the back of the end zone for a 24 yard score.

“We had a really bad start and we had to fight uphill” said Palmerton head coach Chris Walkowiak. “We were undisciplined and Salisbury came right out ready to go.

“We knew St. Leger was a really good back and their line opened big holes for him.”

The second half began with still another turnover by the Bombers’ offense. Gabriel Gnall scooped up a fumble and returned it to the Palmerton 29-yard line. Three plays later, St. Leger scampered down the sideline with a screen pass for a 24-7 Salisbury lead.

Despite yet another turnover and a failure to score in the third quarter, the home team fought back to make it a close game in the final 12 minutes.

With 8:42 left, Trainer culminated a 70-yard scoring drive with an 18-yard touchdown run to bring his team within 10 points at 24-14.

The stage was set for a possible comeback when the Bomber defense stopped Salisbury on a fourth down at its own 40-yard line. Trainer hooked up with Aiden Ortiz for a 17-yard TD.

Salisbury sealed the win the final two minutes of the game when St. Leger broke free for a 76-yard TD and a 31-21 lead.

Trainer threw a TD pass to Alexander Keiper to cap the scoring with 11 seconds left in the game.