The 2016 Salisbury football team was eager to show what this year’s squad had in store after last year’s Falcons put together a historic season.

It didn’t take long for the Salisbury crowd to get a glimpse of what this year’s group is capable of.

Salisbury (1-0) capitalized on seven Catasauqua turnovers on the Rough Riders’ first seven possessions to take a commanding 31-0 lead into the fourth quarter. The Roughies (0-1) did score three touchdowns over the final five minutes of play, but the Falcons’ 38-24 victory gave them a week one win on their home turf last Friday under the lights.

“It feels good,” said senior running back CJ Wittman. “We got a new team, a new offense, and a whole new look. It feels good to get the job done.”

Already holding a 7-0 lead, Wittman and the Falcons capitalized on Catasauqua’s second turnover that came near the end of the first quarter. Following an interception by Christian Butz on Catty’s Andrew Brett, Wittman scampered 57 yards to pay dirt to give Salisbury an early 14-0 lead.

The ensuing kickoff was fumbled away by Catasauqua. The Falcons’ Eric Frankenfield then burst 29 yards to the end zone to increase the lead to 21-0.

Wittman, who didn’t play much offense last year, handled a large portion of the Falcons’ rushing load with 167 yards on 12 carries. He also scored two touchdowns in Salisbury’s season-opening win.

“I think our offense looked good,” Wittman said. “We have to fix some things for next week, but I’m excited. Just small mental errors and stuff.”

“Even taking into the account the new offense, they are very coachable and they want to learn,” head coach Andy Cerco said. “If they can continue to work hard, handle practice well, and be coachable, we’re going to be in real good shape.”

In his first start as a varsity quarterback, junior Cameron Vaka showed an impressive dual-threat option that wasn’t seen as much a year ago. Salisbury junior linebacker Tom Jones intercepted a pass to open the second half.

A lengthy Falcons drive ended with a 1-yard touchdown run from Vaka, putting the Falcons in front 28-0 with 6:33 remaining in the third quarter. It was Vaka’s second score of the game, the first coming on the opening drive when he connected with Peter Forestieri on a 25-yard touchdown pass.

“It feels pretty good to be out here in front of everybody in the crowd,” Vaka said. “I’m just playing the game of football.

“We knew we were going to be a lot different with more run-based plays than passes. Whenever we get the ball up in the air, we try not to make mistakes.”

And Salisbury didn’t make the mistakes that Catasauqua did. The Falcons scored on six of their 10 drives and did not turn the ball over once.

Vaka, who had large shoes to fill replacing the Falcons’ all-time passing leader, controlled the offense exactly the way that was drawn up by the coaching staff.

“I was tense, [but] that first hit [I took], that first play that we ran to the outside took all of that feeling away,” Vaka said. “That’s our mid-line. That works pretty well, getting everybody drawn inside and running outside.

“I feel comfortable running the ball. I feel that I can take a hit and get right back up. Some hits are tough, but you have to just get up and show no pain. It’s a lot different than a JV game. There’s a different mentality.”

Oliver Stewart nailed a 33-yard field goal to push the lead to 31-0 with 8:21 to play.

Rough Rider running back KJ Reiss punched in a 4-yard touchdown minutes later, but Wittman took the ball 54 yards up the middle of the field two plays later for his second rushing touchdown of the game.

Tyler Mendez scored from two-yards out for Catasauqua on the next possession and a two-point conversion got the Rough Riders to within 38-16. Dylan Mitchell added a 3-yard touchdown run in the final minutes.

After graduating much of last year’s talent, Friday’s victory was a pleasant showing to Cerco.

“What we see is each year our kids are getting better in the little things,” Cerco said. “Like in how they are handling practice. Last year was better than the year before. This year with handling practice, they are better at things like pursuing to the ball. We have guys full-speed sprinting across the field to get to the ball.

“That’s what 90 percent of it is: show up and work hard and good things will happen for you. That’s what they’ve been doing for three years, and now it’s their turn to perform and they’re ready to step into that role.”