Catasauqua entered last Friday night’s game against Palmerton with a district berth literally hanging in the balance.

Both the visiting Blue Bombers and the Roughies began the contest with identical 2-5 records and were perched in the third and fourth spot respectively in the PIAA District 11 Class 2A bracket behind leader and undefeated Schuylkill Haven.

A win for either club possibly could elevate them to the second spot and also further secure their chances of gaining one of the four spots available for the playoffs.

Suffering a lopsided 46-6 defeat from Palmerton, Catasauqua must rely on some extended outside help, face some stiff challenges in the next two weeks, and also beat some high odds in the process.

In their game against Palmerton, the Roughies couldn’t get into a rhythm and fell behind 25-0 at halftime behind the one-two punch of quarterback Garrett Perschy and running back Mike Stasko, who both accounted for the team’s first four scores.

Catty (2-6) did get on the scoreboard early in the third when Andrew Brett connected with Ryan Greene on a six-yard scoring play, but Perschy and Stasko continued to be unstoppable down the stretch.

Perschy finished the game with a nifty five-for six passing for 122 yards with a touchdown and he also rushed for 60 yards and scored three times on the ground. Stasko had a game-high 167 yards rushing and also scored three touchdowns.

For Catty, Brett again had an efficient night as he completed 16 of 19 attempts for 116 yards with a touchdown. Miguel Hernandez caught seven balls for 73 yards and Greene had seven receptions for 28 yards with his score.

But the Roughies couldn’t get their running game going in the backfield, as Brett was the team’s leading rusher with 42 yards. K.J. Reiss, who has been the team’s leading rusher, was held to 36 yards.

For the season, Brett has been among the top quarterbacks in the Lehigh Valley as he has completed 139 of 201 attempts for 1,441 yards with 11 touchdowns and eight interceptions.

Greene, a senior, doesn’t have an answer for his team’s inability to maintain their intensity throughout the game.

“On our first drive, we were moving the ball,” said Greene, who has 39 catches for 412 yards with four touchdowns for the season. “It was such a big game for us and we talked about it all week.

“But we began to put ourselves in bad situations. We get to a point where we seem to stop playing. I really don’t know what happens. When we show up, we play great. For whatever reason, though, we haven’t done it enough.”

Now the Roughies are facing an uphill climb in the final two weeks of the Colonial League season. They will travel to Southern Lehigh Friday night, where the Spartans are still in the hunt for the top spot in Class 5A and the league title.

Catty will end its season at home against Northwestern the following week. If the Roughies get some help with Minersville and Mahanoy Area losing this week, they still would have an outside shot at districts with a win over Northwestern, who is hanging on to a possible playoff spot in the Class 4A spot.

The Roughies still could end their season on a high note in their annual Thanksgiving Day clash with Northampton, which began play this weekend with a 0-8 mark.