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Notre Dame Green Pond overwhelms an out-manned Catasauqua squad.

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

| September 21, 2024

Offensive tenacity along with a steadfast defensive effort leads the Crusaders to a convincing win Friday night.

CATASAUQUA- The Notre Dame Green Pond Crusaders are starting to click on all cylinders, and that does not bode well for the rest of the teams in the Colonial/Schuyllkill League as we are reaching the midway point of the regular season. Case in point Friday night at Alumni Field as the visiting Crusaders marched out with a 63-7 thrashing of the Roughriders of Catasauqua. Both teams came into the contest sporting 3-1 records on a spectacular night for football in the Lehigh Valley.

Catasauqua was without the services of quarterback Aiden Reilly relied on Jordan Bradshaw to take Reilly’s spot and though he had some moments in the game it was evident from the start it was going to be a long night for the home team, as came up short on three occasions going for it on fourth down and giving the Crusaders excellent field position that they took advantage of scoring the first five times they had the ball in the first twenty-four minutes.

The Notre Dame defense stepped up on the Roughriders first drive forcing a fourth-and-four, punter Cadeo Estronza ran a fake punt inside his own 20, to come up a half-yard short of the sticks giving the Crusaders great field position. It only took five plays for Green Pond to find the end zone with a one yard C.J. Diaz score. Mark Talpas added the point-after for a 7-0 with 8:10 left in the opening quarter.

Nino Morici, then picked off a Bradshaw pass and returned it to the Catty 16. quarterback Matt Bodnar threw his first of three touchdowns on the night to Carmine Diaz just three plays later for a 14-0 lead with 6:56 just a minute fourteen later.

On the next Roughies drive they did manage to get a couple of first downs, only to be forced to turn back the ball to the potent CRusader offense. Bodnar lofted a perfect pass down the middle to Diaz for a 39yard score and a 21-0 lead with just thirty-one seconds left in the first quarter.

Catasauqua tried their second fake punt in the first half but this time a 7 yard loss ensued and Notre Dame had the ball near the 30. This time it took six plays to score as Jonathan Striba cashed in from five yards out and a 28-0 lead at the 9:31 mark of the second quarter.

The Crusader defense forced another three-and-out. This time it only took the offense three plays to score as Bodnar connected with Alex Clark for a 26 yard score making it 35-0 as both teams headed for the locker room. Bodnar passed for 241 yards and 3 touchdowns on 18 of 23 passing. eight different receivers caught passes for Notre Dame who out-gained Catasauqua 359-163 and had 21 first downs to just 10 for the home team.

Two more touchdowns for Notre Dame in the third quarter pushed the lead to 49-0 as Christian Rivituso dashed in from five yards out and Drew Boyd had a nifty 59 yard interception return for a touchdown.

“We game plan well for each opponent and our practices are competitive.” Bodnar said after the game. “It’s great to the results when it turns out like this.” He concluded.

Backup quarterback Tommy Murphy and running back Jason Frederick also score touchdowns in the fourth quarter and the Roughriders avoided the shutout with a 14 yard Bradshaw score with 6:15 left in the contest.

Notre Dame Green Pond (4-1) will host (4-1) Northern Lehigh Bulldogs next Friday. The Bulddogs took down Palmerton Friday 51-14. While Catasauqua (3-2) will visit 4-1 Saucon Valley, the Panthers mercy-ruled Wilson Area Friday 55-7.

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