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Northwestern Lehigh Thumps Catasauqua on Record-Breaking Night. @nwtigerfootball @CattyFootball

Tagged under: District 11, Gameday Hub, News, pfn

| October 30, 2021

On a Rain-Driven Friday Night, Northwestern Lehigh Tigers Post First 10-0 Regular Season in School History.

New Tripoli- The final game of the inaugural season of the Schuylkill/Colonial League Gold Division was played Friday night at Northwestern’s Tiger Stadium on a rain-soaked turf field in front of a sparse crowd, but that was not stopping the 2021 version of the Northwestern Lehigh Tigers from their destiny. Three times in the school’s history did they come in to the last game of the season with an unmblemished record, only to suffer a loss at the hands of the Catasauqua Roughriders, this team vowed not to let that happen and made good on that with a 36-2 shellacking when all was said and done.

Behind quarterback Justin Holmes and the running of Dalton Clymer the Tigers jumped out to a 28-0 lead at half and put the game into “mercy rule” early in the third quarter before resting their starters for much of the second half.

After an early interception thrown by Holmes in the opening quarter, the offense settled down and scored with 3:47 left on a twelve yard Clymer score completing a 58 yard drive and a 7-0 lead, including a 37 yard run by Clymer on the drive.

Northwestern would get a break when a Roughrider attempt at a lateral fell to the turf and the alert Tiger defense pounced on the loose ball at the Catty 30 yard line. Holmes would connect with Cade Christopher for a 17 yard touchdown pass to make the score 14-0 with about a minute left to go in the quarter.

Catasauqua was forced to punt the ball on their next possession, giving the ball to the Tigers at 22. Holmes would then find the end zone from eleven yards out with 5:26 left before half.making the score 20-0.

The stingy Tiger defense again came up with a stop and the Roughriders had to punt the ball back to the potent Northwestern offense at their own 28 and again Holmes completed the drive on anifty 35 yard score, avoiding several would-be tacklers and following his blocks perfectly, he also converted the two-point conversion making the score 28-0, that would hold up as teams entered the locker room.

The Tigers would receive the second half kickoff and take possession at the Catasauqua 40, and of course, they would score again on a Clymerone yard score with 9:37 left in the third quarter making the score 36-0 as again Holmes converted the two-point play.

With the clock running due to the mercy-rule, both teams kept the ball using the running game. After a wind-aided punt, pinned Northwestern inside the ten yard line and losing a few yards on second and third down, instead of punting from their own end zone, Holmes decided to run out the back of the end zone for a safety making the score 36-2 with 3:35 left in the third quarter.

Holmes rushed for over 100 yards in the game giving him over a thousand yards on the season to go along with his 1,141 yards passing. After the game he gave credit to his teammates for a great win.

“We knew in this weather the passing game was not going to work, so we needed the guys up front to open some holes for myself and Dalton(Clymer) holes to run through and they did that. It’s a heck of a night being the first team at Northwestern to go 10-0. Thanks to my coaches and these guys. Now it’s time for the playoffs.” He stated.

We probably won’t know until either Saturday or Sunday who the Northwestern opponent will be in the District XI 4A playoff, but rest assure, the Tigers will be a tough out.

Follow PA Football News on Twitter @PaFootballNews

 
 
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