It was just too much to overcome.

In Palmerton’s 31-28 loss to Salisbury last night, six turnovers and penalties had the home team battling from behind the entire game. Despite a furious fourth-quarter rally, the Bombers just ran out of time.

The start of the game set the tone for the Falcons to grab an early lead.

After Palmerton’s defense forced a Salisbury turnover on downs, a deflected pass was intercepted by the Falcons’ Jaden Claudio that set Salisbury up on the Bomber’s 24-yard line.

Two plays later, Derek Trinidad bulled over the goal line from two-yards out for a 7-0 lead.

On their second possession, the Bombers fumbled away the ball at their own 43. After a three-minute drive stalled, Salisbury’s Joshua Hudak booted a 38-yard field goal for a 10-0 advantage with 3:40 left in the first quarter.

A three and out gave the ball right back to the Falcons, but they too punted on fourth down.

With 32 ticks left in the quarter, Salisbury’s Alexander Moren picked off a pass that led to a drive down to the Palmerton 1-yard line where a bad snap and a fumble helped cause a defensive stop for the Bombers.

In the second quarter, a Palmerton punt from deep in its own territory set Salisbury up with a first down with 20 yards to pay dirt. A four-play drive was capped off by Jason St Leger’s three-yard blast for a 17-0 lead.

St. Leger was a tough runner all game long, gaining 251 yards on 13 carries with two rushing touchdowns and one through the air on a 17-yard pass from quarterback, Andrew Lucas.

Palmerton got on the board after a 77-yard drive. The big play was a Jameson Trainer deep sideline 47-yard pass and run to Jacob Walkowiak. Trainer then found Vincent Taglieri in the back of the end zone for a 24-yard score.

“We had a really bad start and we had to fight uphill” said Palmerton head coach Chris Walkowiak. “We were undisciplined and Salisbury came right out ready to go.”

The second half began with still another turnover by the Bomber offense. Gabriel Gnall scooped up a fumble and returned it to the Palmerton 29-yard line. Three plays later, St. Leger scampered down the sideline with a screen pass for a 24-7 Salisbury lead.

Despite yet another turnover and a failure to score in the third quarter, the home team charged up its fans and fought back to make it a close game in the final 12 minutes.

With 8:42 left, Trainer culminated a 70-yard scoring drive with an 18-yard touchdown run to bring his team within 10 points at 24-14.

The stage was set for a possible comeback when the defense stopped Salisbury on a fourth down at its own 40-yard line. Trainer hooked up with Aiden Ortiz for a 17-yard TD throw and catch.

Down 24-21 with 1:40 left to play, there was still hope and time if the Bombers’ defense could force a Falcon punt. But as fate would have it, St. Leger broke free into the defensive secondary for a 76-yard TD run and a 31-21 lead.

Palmerton showed no quit and with 11 seconds left in the game, Trainer finished a 60-yard drive with a TD pass to Alexander Keiper.

“We had good effort and fought right to the very end, but overall, this was a disappointing performance by us,” said Walkowiak. “We knew St. Leger was a really good back and their line opened big holes for him so give Salisbury credit, but we need to do a better job preparing our team, especially to get off to a good start. You can’t win many football games with six turnovers.”

RIDE THE TRAIN … Quarterback, Jameson Trainer had a solid night for Palmerton. He ran for 105 yards and and a touchdown and passed for 155 yards and three TDs.

LAUNDRY LIST … Penalty flags were flying all game long. There were 13 infractions called for 107 total yards.

THE SHIRT OFF MY BACK … At halftime, three Palmerton football seniors honored their influential high school teachers by giving them each a t-shirt. Kicker Trevor Anthony honored Mrs. Baumgardt. Wide receiver Aiden Ortiz paid tribute to Mr. Peterson and quarterback Jameson Trainer acknowledged Mr. Nenscel.

Salisbury 31, Palmerton 28

Salisbury 10 7 7 7 - 31

Palmerton 0 7 0 21 - 28

S - Trinidad 2 run (Hudak kick)

S - Hudak 38 FG

S - St. Leger 3 run (Hudak kick)

P - Taglieri 24 pass from Trainer (T. Anthony kick)

S - St. Leger 17 pass from Lucas (Hudak kick)

P - Trainer 18 run (T. Anthony kick)

P - Ortiz 17 pass from Trainer (T. Anthony kick)

S - St. Leger 76 run (Hudak kick)

P - Keiper 11 pass from Trainer (Anthony kick)