Niko Madison was dissecting Kentlake’s defense on Oct. 1.

At least the Tahoma running back was shredding it up in the first half.

In the second half, though, Kentlake made some key adjustments to stop Madison, explained Falcons head coach Ryan Paulson, and it may have just been the difference in the game.

“We just made a couple of adjustments… in the second half,” Paulson said. “He’s one of the best running backs around, in my opinion.”

Those adjustments helped Kentlake fend off upset-minded Tahoma as the Falcons put the Bears away 33-21.

Madison ripped several runs of 13 and 14 yards in the Bears’ second drive after the Falcons drew first blood on a three-yard strike from Caleb Saulo to Austin Pernell with 5:09 left in the first quarter.

Kentlake held Tahoma on the ensuing possession then followed that up with a short scoring drive in which Pernell hauled in a 50 yard catch that set up a short touchdown run by Saulo.

On Tahoma’s next drive a Riley Owens reception to convert on third and 18 set up a Madison two yard touch down run to close the Kentlake lead to 13-7.

But the Falcons turned right around and put together another short scoring drive, finding the end zone in a minute and 22 seconds after getting the ball back.

And Kentlake wasn’t done as Saulo found Pernell again, this time a 42 yard reception with less than a minute left in the first half, setting up a 15 yard scamper for Nuu Vaifale to put another touchdown on the board as the Falcons went up 26-7 with 37.4 seconds left in the half.

Tahoma shifted its ground game to junior running back Beau Riggs who had three big carries in the first drive of the third quarter, including a six yard run for a touchdown to make it 26-14 with 4:06 left in the period.

Kentlake again had an answer as Nuu Vaifale took off from his own 17 yard line and zipped down the sideline to the Tahoma six setting up another touchdown.

The Bears went to the air on their next drive as quarterback Dallin Munk tossed a 9-yard pass to Tim Ota then hurled a 36 yard pass to Jason Smith who took it to the house to narrow the gap again to a 33-21 Kentlake advantage.

Tahoma shut down Kentlake on the next drive and got the ball on the Falcons 30 after a short punt.

Sophomore defensive back Caleb Mathena, however, shut the drive down when he snagged his second interception of the night from Munk, effectively icing the game for Kentlake.

The Falcons headed over to the sidelines to a pumped up student section chanting “Five and oh, five and oh,” and sung the school’s victory song to the crowd.

That emotion, Paulson said, will be one thing he knows he’ll be able to count on heading into a huge match up against crosstown rivals Kentwood, who remain undefeated as well after a 19-7 victory of second-ranked Auburn.

“There’s going to be a lot of energy in the hallways (at Kentlake),” Paulson said. “We’re going to approach (Kentwood) like any other week.”

With this fifth win, Kentlake has one more win than it had last season, something that is not lost on its new coach.

“It’s exciting. These kids work so hard,” Paulson said. “When you have 70 kids in the weight room all summer long…they’ve just outworked everybody.”