A clutch Hail Mary touchdown pass right before the end of the first half served as the spark Tamaqua needed to pull away from Northern Lehigh on Thursday night.

The big-pass play gave the Blue Raiders the lead at intermission, and eventually propelled them to a 23-13 victory.

“The touchdown on the last play of the half was a huge momentum play for us,” said Tamaqua coach Sam Bonner. “To get that score right before the half, and then knowing you’re going to get the ball coming out to start the second half ... that was a confidence booster for our team.

“It was just a great play and throw by Luke Kane, who had another great game for us. Then at the receiving end, it was a great catch by Declan Coleman, going up and getting it.”

Northern Lehigh would find the end zone first to take a 7-0 lead late in the first quarter. A partially blocked Tamaqua punt would setup the Bulldogs with good field position at the Raiders’ 28-yard line. Nine plays later, they would cash in with a three-yard Grady Newhard run.

The early lead would eventually vanish, however, as it would be a while until the Northern Lehigh offense would score again.

Tamaqua would put 14 points on the board in the second quarter to begin to take control.

At the start of the second quarter, the Raiders capped off an impressive seven-play, 69-yard drive with a 20-yard pitch and catch from quarterback Luke Kane to Tyler Koch to cut the NL lead to 7-6.

After a few stalled drives by both teams - and a nice defensive stand from Tamaqua turning Northern Lehigh over on downs at the Raider 33-yard line late in the half - the Raiders marched quickly down the field to take the lead.

Taking over with 1:30 remaining in the quarter, Tamaqua moved goalward on chunk runs from Bradley Whalen and Victor Schlosser. That would then set up the Tamaqua offense with the ball at the NL 39-yard line with three seconds remaining.

Kane dropped back, avoided a few Bulldog pass rushers as he rolled to the right, and let the ball fly. The heave miraculously found big tight end Declan Coleman, who leaped over a Northern Lehigh defender to make the catch in the back of the end zone. A roughing the passer call on the play was enforced on the conversion attempt and Kane took advantage, running it in for two points and a 14-7 Tamaqua lead at the half.

On the opening drive of the third quarter, the Tamaqua offense moved the ball right down the field off a few big rushes from Whalen. But a Raiders fumble at the Bulldogs one-yard line would negate its strong opening drive. But at the same time, it put the NL offense - which struggled to block Tamaqua’s smaller athletic front all night - in a precarious situation of its own.

A few plays later, Whalen shot through the middle of the line of scrimmage from his nose guard position, tackling the NL quarterback before he could hand the ball off, resulting in a safety and a 16-7 lead.

“Not our best effort tonight, but give Tamaqua all the credit,” said Northern Lehigh coach Joe Tout. “They came after us, and we had some things we put in there to try and combat that and we just didn’t execute. But again, credit to Tamaqua for that.

“The score before half for them was obviously a huge momentum swing, and then Whalen was great tonight for them. He ate us up. That kid plays with a lot of heart. Overall, we have some things we need to work on moving forward.”

On Northern Lehigh’s ensuing drive, the Tamaqua defense would force another turnover as a tipped ball on a quick pass would end up in Damon Sell’s hands, and he would return the interception 13 yards for a touchdown to make it a 23-7 Raiders advantage.

“After we got the big play to close the first half, our defense was able to come out in the third quarter and create some more plays that put points on the board for us,” said Bonner.

The Bulldogs did their best to get back in the game right before the end of the third after a nice kick return from Chris Frame would set them up with the ball at the NL 48-yard line. That would lead to a fourth-down touchdown conversion from the four-yard line on a pass from Garrett Smoyer to Bailey Smith.

But that was as close as the Bulldgos would get.

“This is a scrappy and tough team,” said Bonner. “They really stuck to our plan after a rough start to the season. They worked hard to get better every day

“I know we don’t have the biggest kids, but we’re quick and tough. I mean, how many teams do you know where the running back is also their nose guard? Proud of these guys tonight for a great effort.”

WILD MAN WHALEN … Whalen was the player that Bonner was referring to playing running back and nose guard, and he played like a man possessed Thursday night. He rushed for 150 yards on the ground and came up with two sacks, a forced fumble and a fumble recovery.

PRESSURE … The Raiders’ defensive front wreaked havoc, coming through with five sacks and multiple tackles for loss in the game.

THE RECORDS … Tamaqua won its fourth straight to improve to 4-4. Northern Lehigh drops to 3-5.