Salem was set to tie their preseason matchup against Lithonia with a second chance at the end zone, after a score-neglecting face mask penalty.

Knocking on the door on the 8-yard line, down 13-7, Salem stepped up to the line of scrimmage and the referees whistled the end of the game with 56 seconds left in the third quarter due to darkness.

The Salem football fields suffered a blown contactor, making them unavailable so the game had to be shortened by more than a quarter. That didn't stop the two teams from getting some work in as Salem's coach, John Starr, was both pleased and frustrated at what he saw.

"We've got a lot of work to do," Starr said. "I saw a lot of things that I really like. We just have to spend some more time on the basic fundamentals."

One of the things Starr was disappointed in was his team's ability run the right play, something he feels they will be able to work out before the regular season opener against Heritage on Aug. 26.

The Seminoles also briefly had trouble with Lithonia's option/veer offense, leading to two easy plays in the opening drive. On the Bulldogs' first line of scrimmage, Denzel Veale rushed for two yards, followed by a quarterback keeper, in which Elijah Thomas rushed for 35 yards around the right side into the end zone.
"We have to be a little more consistent with assignments," Starr said. "With a veer/option team you have to take care of assignments first. They were flying to the ball well, but when you do that you kind of overlook some stuff."

Salem forced a field goal on Lithonia's next possession, stopping the Bulldogs on the 11-yard line, setting up the offense for the Salem Seminole's first score.

After the Salem Seminoles' first two drives featured a total of three incomplete passes by quarterback Licash Lackey, they got back on track with a big play on the third possession.

After a loss of 19 yards by Damion Gordon on first down, he scrambled out of the pocket on second-and-29 and found Ahmad Mitchell deep down field. Mitchell pulled in the 41-yard pass, setting up a 13-yard touchdown run by Jahad Coleman. Daniel Whitson connected on the extra point for a 7-6 Salem lead with 5:33 left in the first half.

"We were able to hit some big plays," Starr said. "Ahmad caught a deep ball down field and did a good job recognizing coverage. That's one thing we tried to preach to him on coverage, and he was able to do that."

Gordon had another big pass, for 13 yards on his last drive, finishing with 36 yards on three passes.

Coleman finished with 15 yards and a touchdown on four carries.