CATASAUQUA - Northwetsern finished off its first Colonial League championship season since 1995 with a 43-7 over Catasauqua Friday night at Alumni Field.

The Tigers (9-1) took advantage of four Rough Rider turnovers to win a share of this year's title along with Southern Lehigh and Saucon Valley. They received their medals on the same field as the 1995 team.

"It's not just for our football team, but for our school and our community," said Snyder. "It's 19 years coming. We won one in 1995 when me and [assistant] coach [Dave] Kershner were players on this same field. It just feels awesome."

The Tigers started rebuilding two years ago, in Snyder's first season. That team went 3-7 with only a few seniors on the field. Many of this year's seniors were sophomore starters on that team, while some freshman saw time that year as well.

With that year of varsity experience and an increasing amount of talent, Northwestern went 7-3 last year, including a season-ending win over previously undefeated Catasauqua. Still left out of districts last year, Northwestern earned an Eastern Conference berth and won two games for the title.

"My speach before the game was about the journey we've been on with this group," said Snyder. "My first year in 2012 we wanted to build something. We knew that this group of seniors was something special. We knew if the team would buy into what we're doing and we stuck with the plan, we would be successful."

That plan resulted in this year's Colonial League title. The only blemish on the Tigers record was a midseason loss to Southern Lehigh. And that loss might have kept hte team grounded just a bit.

Northwestern ran the table after that loss, including jumping out to an early lead last Friday night against the Rough Riders (3-7).

Harry Hall stripped Catty's Shaheed Alvin on the game's first play from scrimmage. He ripped out the ball and took it 29 yards for a touchdown less than 30 seconds into the game.

The Tigers offsense got on the field not long after and marched 45 yards in nine plays, capped by Taylor Breininger's 25-yard touchdown catch that made it 14-0 with 6:11 left in the first quarter.

After the Roughie's second straight three-and-out, a 48-yard punt return by Breininger set up Hall's 5-yard touchdown run for a 21-0 first-quarter lead.

Catty answered with a 14-play scoring drive. Cristian Burker found Ricky Houser for a 5-yard touchdown early in the third quarter.

A successful onside kick kept the ball away from the Tigers until Breininger got it back with an interception with 6:10 left in the first half, over nine minutes since Northwestern's last offensive play.

"Our offense is to the point where when we get on the field we expect to score," said Tiger quarterback Frank Dangello. "It doesn't matter if we've been off the field for 30 seconds or 10 minutes."

Three plays after Breininger's interception, Cam Richardson ran for a 10-yard touchdown to finish a three-play, 51-yard drive.

Two plays into the Roughies' next possession, Breininger intercepted another pass and took it 25 yards for a touchdown and a 36-7 lead after George Haddad's extra-point run with 4:35 left in the first half.

The Tigers got the mercy-rule clock running by scoring on a 58-yard drive to open the second half. Dangello hit Richardson for the one-yard touchdown.

As the seconds ticked away to zero, the culmination of that three-year journey seemed nearly complete.

"It's awesome," said Richardson, a third-year starter. "You can't teach experience, which we definitely got as sophomores and juniors. It's great for us and shows all of our hard work and dedication.

Breininger, another three-year starter, said it's not just about the skill players or even the seniors. It took 11 guys playing together to bring home the title.

"It's a great team effort," he said. "We're playing great as a team. When you stick together like we do, great things happen."