Catasauqua pick-six stuns N’western

In one of the stranger games you’re going to see, Catasauqua pulled off a stunning 21-18 Colonial League win with just 34 seconds left to play to snap its six-game losing skid and keep Northwestern from reaching the .500 mark on the season, with the Tigers finishing at 4-6.

Even with the loss, Northwestern will host the championship game for the Eastern Conference Football title next Friday night, most likely against Bangor.

Catasauqua’s Miguel Hernandez picked off a Phil Dangello pass and returned it 80 yards to give the Rough Riders the lead. The play came on a fourth-down attempt as the Tigers looked to lock up the win having Dangello throw from his wildcat position on the play. With Dangello under pressure, the ball floated and hung in the air long enough for Hernandez to step under it and not break stride down the sideline and dive into the end zone for the game-winning play.

“In no area of my right mind should I ever have called a pass play with our defense playing tough and just 30 seconds left,” said Tiger head coach Josh Snyder. “I don’t know if I got greedy or if I just wanted to seal it right there. They were really cheating off the edge and whatever happened is on me; I lost the football game tonight and I told the seniors that I’m sorry and they deserve better.”

Earlier in the game, Northwestern had two touchdowns called back because of penalties in a game filled with questionable calls that went against both teams. Dangello appeared to have gone in for a TD with 7:52 left in the second quarter, but a holding call nullified the touchdown. Less than five-minutes later, Deven Bollinger hit Caleb Clymer for what appeared to be a 28-yard touchdown, but a personal foul penalty took that score off the board.

Catasauqua was called for back-to-back encroachment penalties on a 41-yard field goal attempt by Hunter Miller. The first attempt was good, but was taken off the board by the penalty and the second sailed wide right, but the ball moved five yards closer because of the second penalty. On his third attempt, Miller was dead-on for a 31-yard field goal that cut the Rough Riders lead to 7-3 in the second quarter.

“Some officiating crews let a lot of stuff go and I’m not really going to comment too much on that, but we had two scores taken off the board on very borderline calls. I know that they’re doing their best out there, too, and I wish it wouldn’t affect the outcome of games and I don’t think it did. We did a lot to harm ourselves and I’m glad with how we battled back and hung in there,” said Snyder.

Northwestern took their first lead of the game at 10-7 when Dylan Frantz celebrated his Senior Night with a kickoff return into the end zone to open the third quarter. Catty went back in front when Hernandez hit Derrick Rodriguez on a 23-yard touchdown toss late in the third quarter.

The Tigers took advantage of a Catasauqua miscue on a punt when the snap sailed over punter Devon Troxell’s head and he recovered it, but was tackled in the end zone. Northwestern then marched down the field and Justin Rodda went on a 21-yard jaunt to the pylon in the front of the end zone. After a long deliberation, it was ruled that Rodda had scored on the play to give Northwestern an 18-14 edge. Northwestern’s attempt for a two-point conversion fell incomplete, leaving them with a four-point advantage.

SAVING THE BEST FOR LAST ... Northwestern has been known for having at least one punt or kickoff return for a touchdown in every season since Snyder took over the team. That hadn’t happened this season until Frantz went 80 yards to open the second half.

WILDCATS ALL AROUND ... While the Tigers have utilized the wildcat offense with a lot of success the past few weeks, Catasauqua was forced into using the offensive set because of a knee injury suffered by quarterback Andrew Brett last week against Southern Lehigh. Hernandez took control of the Roughies offense and handled the position well for coach Phil Dorn.

ONE MORE TIME ... While the seniors were celebrated prior to the game, they’ll have one more game on their home turf next Friday against either Bangor or Blue Mountain as they play for the Eastern Football Conference championship. The Tigers won the Eastern Conference 2A championship back in 2013 and lost in last season’s title game to Blue Mountain in a 51-30 game.