In their 42-0 blanking against Bangor, Catasauqua has its lowest offensive point total from its first-team offense.

Yet, head coach Tom Falzone isn't overly concerned. Instead, he was more impressed with their first defensive shutout of the season. It did alleviate some unrest about the defense that is recent weeks has allowed a larger than usual amount of yardage.

Against Bangor, the Roughies allowed 153 yards rushing from a unit that featured running back Phil Voss, regarded as one of the area's best, and one lone pass completion for five yards. The previous week against Saucon Valley, the Roughies allowed 365 yards rushing.

"I definitely didn't expect that to happen," admitted Falzone. "But our defense probably had its best effort of the season. They did an outstanding job in shutting down Voss and the rest of their (Bangor's) running game."

Falzone credited his defensive staff led by coordinator Jim Schaffer along with defensive assistants Brad Bloszinsky, Bob Panny, and Ed Csencsits.

"Those guys were feeling it the week before too," stated Falzone. "They really came through with a great effort and worked on a number of things. But we really went back to basics and fundamentals. We needed to do a better job tackling than we had been in recent weeks."

Offensively, Catty's starters were ready to take the field to start the third quarter, but they didn't see any playing time.

Paryss Marshall took the second-half kickoff and sprinted 77 yards to give the Roughies a 28-0 lead 16 seconds into the third quarter. On Bangor's first possession, Brandon Purrone scooped up a loose ball and rambled to a 45-yard score that sent mercy rule into effect with a 35-0 deficit.

With that, the Roughies' second-and third-team offensive units took over.

Ra'Von Burton finished his night with his lowest game-day rushing total of the season with 92 yards and a pair of scores, and quarterback Zack Bradley completed five of nine passes for 90 yards with a 39-yard touchdown to Marshall.

Although those totals were relatively low for a Catty offense, most teams would welcome both outputs.

"Our guys weren't out there that long," said Falzone. "We struggled a bit and we did get tested by Bangor. But we still managed to make some big plays and we were again efficient on what we did offensively."

Falzone also has been surprised by the various looks on both sides of the ball by most teams through the first six weeks of the season.

"We have been expecting to see things and we're getting totally different looks by teams," he said. "We do watch a lot of film on our opponents from this year and last and we usually have a pretty good idea on what to expect.

"But now have been preparing for a lot of different looks especially on defense. Lately, we also have been getting some different looks on offense as well."

Another different look on offense likely could come from Pen Argyl this Friday night. In their game against Northern Lehigh last week, Pen Argyl quarterback Ryan Hunt uncharacteristically threw for 251 yards, all of them to former quarterback Nick Oyer, who scored four touchdowns in their 35-2 blowout victory.

Pen Argyl also will have running back Michael DePaolo back in the lineup. He had been sideline with a high ankle sprain.

With the potential for a high-powered attack, Falzone knows his team had to be ready for some possible new wrinkles.

"This may be our biggest challenge this year," he said. "Pen Argyl used to always run the Single-Wing, but now they have gone to spread formations. With DePaolo back, they will give us another look.

On defense, they have run a number of different sets, so we have to prepare for all of them."

Catasauqua will enter the game with "a few bumps and bruises," according to Falzone, but they will be without senior Jacob Stopay, who tore a PCL in his knee. He is expected to miss three or four games.

"(Stopay) is a big loss for us on both sides of the ball," Falzone said. "He has been a big part of our offense and also has been a shutdown corner for us. Some of our younger guys will need to step up and they have some big shoes to fill. Stopay has done an outstanding job for us this year."

With Pen Argyl coming to town, the anticipated fanfare behind the game easily could be escalated. Falzone noted a picture of Pen Argyl players celebrating their district title on Catty's field last season that hangs in their locker room. Also, both local cable stations along with a Pennsylvania-wide football outlet will broadcast the game and fuel an already a mercuric revenge factor.

"Our guys have been looking forward to the game," stated Falzone. "We haven't forgotten and we're excited. But we still have to take this one game at a time. We have four weeks left and we can't start thinking about districts yet.

"We'll have a big challenge this week."