Palmerton plays fast and coach Chris Walkowiak likes fast starts.
He got both Friday night against previously unbeaten Catasauqua.
The Blue Bombers scored on their first two possessions, got two first-half stops on fourth down and scored twice on turnovers to build a four-score halftime lead.
They finished with a 42-8 victory at Northampton’s Lou Wolf Field at Al Erdosy Stadium.
“I thought it was an overall team effort,” Walkowiak said. “I was impressed with the whole team. Offense, defense, special teams, I thought we were physical. We made plays. We had another great start.
“We talked about having a great start and we were able to build momentum off of that.”
Matt Machalik ran for 143 yards and one TD and threw for 159 and two scores for Palmerton. Danny Lucykanish ran for a score, threw for a TD and caught a two-point pass. Stephen Jones ran for 109 yards and a TD.
Catasauqua avoided the shutout when Anthonie Hunsicker scored on a 33-yard TD run with 8 minutes, 25 seconds left.
“It was a terrible week of practice,” Rough Riders coach Travis Brett said. “Kids missing. You can’t run a program like that, not being on the same page.”
Palmerton had 286 yards rushing and 159 passing.
James Denicola was in on two sacks for the Blue Bombers defense, which limited the Rough Riders to 215 yards, 96 coming after the mercy rule kicked in.
Don’t blink
Palmerton has made a habit this season of scoring early and often, doing so in its first three wins of 2021. It did it again four plays into Friday’s game, thanks to Machalik’s 51-yard TD pass to Danny Lucykanish.
The Blue Bombers got a fourth-down stop, then drove 54 yards in 11 plays to score again. Lucas Heydt ran in from one yard out before Machalik hit Lucykanish for the two-point pass and a 14-0 lead less than seven minutes in.
Turnover helpers
After stopping Catasauqua on fourth down on its first two defensive series, Palmerton generated turnovers to get 14 more points.
Machalik’s one-handed interception on a tipped pass led to his second TD pass of the first half, a 35-yarder to Harrison Dailey. Machalik escaped three would-be tacklers in the backfield before side-arming a strike to Dailey, who broke a tackle before sprinting the rest of the way.
Ty Sander then forced a fumble and teammate Dan Haskins recovered at the Rough Riders’ 30. Stephen Jones broke through a couple arm tackles on his way to the end on the next play and James Denicola ran for the two-pointer and a 28-0 lead.
“We’ve been doing well [defensively] since the first 15 minutes of the Jim Thorpe game [in Week 2],” Walkowiak said. “To hold an explosive Catty team to eight points is impressive. We got a lot of work to do. There are some things we have improve on. There were some balls that we could have made some plays with our defense and scored.
“But we’ll take it. It’s a win and a good start to the season.”
Back in action
Catasauqua starters Christian Fye and Gabe Toth, who were among those suspended for last week’s game, saw action against Palmerton.
Toth entered on offense when teammate Dylan Kalynych was injured on the Rough Riders’ second play from scrimmage. He also played on defense.
Fye played defense in the first quarter, but didn’t enter at quarterback until the Blue Bombers were up 28-0 with 7 minutes, 17 seconds left in the second quarter. He was 3 of 11 passing for 28 yards and ran for seven yards on seven carries.
Up next
Palmerton (4-1) hosts Schuylkill Haven (2-2) at 7 p.m. Friday. Catasauqua (4-1) plays Mahanoy Area (1-4) at Whitehall, also at 7 Friday.
Catasauqua is expected to play its first home game at renovated Alumni Field on Oct. 15 against Pine Grove.
Morning Call reporter Tom Housenick can be reached at 610-820-6651 or at thousenick@mcall.com
PALMERTON 42, CATASAUQUA 8
Palmerton; 14; 14; 0; 14; 42
Catasauqua; 0 0; 0; 8; 8
ORDER OF SCORING
First quarter
P: Matt Machalik 51 pass to Danny Lucykanish (kick failed), 10:32
P: Lucas Heydt 1 run (Machalik pass to Lucykanish), 5:14
Second quarter
P: Machalik 35 pass to Harrison Dailey (pass failed), 8:32
P: Stephen Jones 30 run (James Denicola run), 7:22
Fourth quarter
P: Lucykanish 11 run (Kameron Behler kick), 10:21
C: Anthonie Hunsicker 33 run (Hunsicker run), 7:56
P: Machalik 34 run (Behler kick), 6:04
TEAM STATISTICS
Stat; Pal; Cat
First downs; 19; 10
Rushes-yards; 31-296; 32-133
Passing yards; 159; 82
Comp-Att-INTs; 10-20-1; 8-20-1
Punts-average; 1-36.0; 3-41.0
Penalties-yards; 3-20; 6-33
Fumbles-lost; 2-0; 3-1
INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS
Rushing: (Palmerton) Matt Machalik 12-143, TD; Stephen Jones 5-109, TD; Lucas Heydt 5-6, TD; Ty Sander 4-16; Danny Lucykanish 4-20, TD; James Denicola 1-2; (Catasauqua) Elijah Soler 15-49; Anthonie Hunsicker 8-90, TD; Aiden Hess 2-(-13); Christian Fye 7-7.
Passing: (Palmerton) Machalik 10-19-1, 159 yards, 2 TDs; Heyde 0-1-0; (Catasauqua) Hess 5-9-1, 54 yards; Fye 3-11-0, 28 yards.
Receiving: (Palmerton) Denicola 2-41; Jones; Lucykanish 3-65, TD; Harrison Dailey 1-35, TD; Sander 2-11; Jones 1-(1); Kendall Robinson 1-8; (Catasauqua) Scheirer 1-1; Ian Juica 1-4; Wyatt Younes 4-47; Hunsicker 2-30.
