The Salisbury football team had another tough matchup last Friday with the perennial district contender North Schuylkill visiting the Falcons for the ninth game of the season.

The Spartans, who are the top ranked team in District 11 Class 3A, opened up a 21-point first-quarter lead and sent the game into the mercy rule by halftime while downing the Falcons 35-7.

After opening the scoring with a blocked punt for a touchdown, North Schuylkill made it 14-0 on an 18-yard touchdown pass from Trevor Minalda to Gavin Mentzer.

The Spartans (7-2) then went to their ground game as Joey Flail ran for a pair of touchdowns and teammate Jared Tinari ran for another to get their team a 35-0 lead in the first half.

Salisbury (0-9) got on the board in the fourth quarter when Nick Beck ran for a 2-yard score to break the shutout.

The Spartans ran for 219 yards in the game on 25 carries, averaging over eight yards per carry, while putting up 304 total yards on offense.

The Falcons posted 81 rushing yards on 38 attempts while passing for just 16 yards.

Beck and Jason St. Leger led the team with eight tackles each in the loss, while Jake Gibbons (7) Shawn Donaldson (6) and Josiah Day (5) were also among the top tacklers for Salisbury.

The Falcons have one game left to try to avoid a winless season. They visit Catasauqua Friday night to take on a Rough Rider team that’s been streaky this season.

Catty (5-4) lost its first three games before reeling off five straight wins.

That streak was broken last week in a 20-17 loss to Palisades. The Roughies will be playing for a district playoff berth as they enter the week in fourth place in the District 11 Class 2A rankings and would seal their berth with a win in the season finale.