For a while, it looked like Northwestern was just going to completely roll over Salisbury in week two of high school football. The Tigers scored on their first three possessions to take a 21-0 lead but then saw the Falcons toughen up. In the end, Northwestern took the bus ride home with a 28-14 win and a 2-0 start to the season.

Nick Henry was the story of the night for the Tigers as he picked up his second straight 100-plus-yard rushing performance by picking up 162 yards on the ground for Northwestern. The Tigers rushed for 257 yards on the night. They also went to the passing game more than they did in week one with junior quarterback Deven Bollinger throwing 18 times for 126 yards in the game.

On Northwestern’s first drive of the night, Henry rushed for a total of 24 yards and caught one pass for 10 yards. His final carry went for 19 yards into the end zone and Connor de Wit added the extra point to make it 7-0. Bollinger threw touchdown passes to Justin Rodda and Ryan Haas on the next two possessions and the Tigers were suddenly up 21-0 in the first quarter.

“Nick has just been really solid for us here in the early going,” said Northwetern head coach Josh Snyder. “He hasn’t broken a really long one yet, but he’s just consistent and keeps picking up a few yards here and there for us.”

Salisbury (0-2) finally got on track in the second quarter when Tim Buda went over the left side of the line for a two-yard touchdown run to cut the Tigers lead to 21-7. After that, the two teams traded three-and-out drives before Northwestern put together an impressive 85-yard drive but couldn’t get the ball into the end zone.

Salisbury had time for just one play before the end of the half and chose to kneel on the ball to run the clock out.

“That was a really good drive and we did everything right, but their defense stepped up and we couldn’t come away with anything,” said Snyder. “If we could have scored there, we could have pretty well put the game away, but we left the door open because they got the ball to start the second half.”

Northwestern put together another long drive on their second possession of the second half when they marched 65 yards and capped the drive with a seven-yard pass from Bollinger to Tyler Lobach to go up 28-7. The Falcons opened the fourth quarter by completing a 42-yard drive with a 10-yard run by Chad Parton to make it 28-14.

The resurgent ground game has been the storyline for the Northwestern offense this season. In their first two games they’ve had three 100-plus yard performances. Nick Henry has crossed the century mark in both games and Bollinger breached the 100-yard mark in week one. Five different players had three carries or more for Northwestern’s offense as they ran the ball 44 times against Salisbury.

“We knew that the ground game could be this good,” said Henry. “The offensive line has been just pushing guys around and we’ve got some guys who can hit holes and make things happen, so this isn’t a surprise to us.”

The Tigers return home Friday night to host Palisades (2-0) in what could present Northwestern with their toughest competition of the season.