EAST LIVERPOOL If there was any question about Salem possibly having a letdown after last week's emotional victory, it was answered in about the first 10 seconds of the team's game Friday night.

Ben Eisel ran the opening kickoff back for a touchdown - his first of three total scores on the night - Trent Toothman passed for 159 yards and three touchdowns, and Salem defeated East Liverpool 33-14.

With the victory, unofficial projections have the Quakers qualifying for the playoffs for the first time in school history.

"Theres no word to describe it right now," Eisel said. "For the first time in school history, it's unbelievable. "We always wanted to be here, but I don't know if everyone really bought into it and thought it could happen, but it's a fantasy come true right now."

With so much at stake, and facing an opponent with nothing to lose in East Liverpool, Salem knew it needed a fast start. After Eisel's kickoff return, the Quakers followed it up with an onside kick. After recovering, it took them only six plays to reach the end zone as Trent Toothman ran it in from 3-yards out. The score was 13-0 before the Potter offense ever took the field.

"(A fast start) was really important," Toothman said. "We had the onside kick planned after our first score and we wanted to come out and get a lead on them so they had to fight from behind."

"Thats been our M.O. all year long," head coach Mike Kopachy said. "If we could get off to a nice start, make a team that likes to pound the ball, like East Liverpool, one dimensional, and make them do things they don't like to do it goes into our favor."

Once the Potters did take the field, they took advantage. Like Kopachy feared, they were able to pound the ball down the field, eventually scoring on a 1-yard run by Dejon Bradley.

East Liverpool followed it up with an onside kick of their own, and marched down again into Salem's territory, but the Quaker defense was able to hold.

Getting the ball back, Toothman and Eisel connected on a 35-yard touchdown pass, and the Quakers would put some more seperation between them and East Liverpool with a methodical drive that included a converted fake punt attempt. Toothman would punctuate the drive with a 5-yard scoring toss to Zach Penick increasing the lead to 26-7 at halftime.

Toothman in the first half alone accounted for 135 yards passing and three total touchdowns. Eisel caught seven passes in the half for 101 yards and finished with eight grabs for 109 yards and two touchdowns.

"We know if we gave them any chance they would try to run down our throats and pound it on us," Eisel said. "Since we got off to a fast start and really got going it kept them out of the game.

The excitement of the win though was a bit subdued when starting linemen, sophomore Steve Manypenny was taken off the Salem sideline on a stretcher in the second half with an undisclosed injury. In the joy of victory, the coaches and his teammates all had their thoughts towards him.

"Steve is a great kid," Toothman said. "It's real unfortuante, but he'll get through it."

For the first time in the school's history, week 10 doesn't mean the end of Salem's season, but rather the beginning of the second season. It's the culmination of a turn around that the program has undergone.

"Just getting the team to buy into our process and the guys have done that," Kopachy said. "We got great kids and when you got great kids and really special kids like we have, your going to be able to turn things around."

Ben Eisel in his career has seen both ends of the spectrum of Salem football.

"Its a big transformation," Eisel said. "To see it come from where we were my freshman year, all the way up to my senior year, it's unbelievable."

Salem will likely be the fifth seed in Division III, Region 11. Unofficially, at press time the Quakers were fifth, which would see them traveling to Granville or Buckeye Local. Official pairings will be released Sunday afternoon