Northwestern opened the season with a number of young players replacing graduating seniors and nobody was quite sure what to expect. While there have been some rough spots, the Tigers have seen some of the young players develop well in their first full varsity season as starters, leaving things in good shape moving forward.

One challenge greets the Tigers this week as they travel to Catasauqua to play the Rough Riders in the final game of the regular season and look to improve their record to an even .500 on the season. The Tigers also still have a very good chance to get into the Eastern Conference Playoffs.

While Northwestern (4-5) could still make the Eastern Conference field with a loss, the Roughies (2-7) still have an outside shot at making the District 11 Class 2A playoffs with a win Friday night. They also have their annual Thanksgiving game with Northampton left on the schedule.

“We can’t take anything for granted, because they’re going to come into this game looking to win, especially for their seniors,” said Northwestern head coach Josh Snyder. “It’s their last [Colonial League] home game and they want to go out with a win, so they’ll be ready to play.”

Catasauqua is averaging just over 300 yards per game on offense, with most of it coming in the air. On the ground, Northwestern has to focus on stopping lead running back KJ Reiss, who averages just under five yards per carry and has six rushing touchdowns.

The passing game is the better part of the Rough Rider offense, with quarterback Andrew Brett throwing for over 1,500 yards on the season. One of the keys to the passing game is that Brett doesn’t focus on any one receiver. Instead, he spreads the ball around, with three different receivers having 35 or more catches.

“It makes it tougher when you have two or three guys that he feels comfortable with,” said Snyder. “You have to hold your coverage and it will be important to get some pressure on him and not let him sit back there and look for someone to break open.”

Northwestern’s offense is banged up, to say the least. Phillip Dangello didn’t play at all last week against Northern Lehigh, Caleb Clymer was limited to playing only on defense and Tyler Foster went down with a dislocated shoulder during the game. The rash of injuries caused Northwestern to move lead receiver Trevor Cunningham into the backfield against the Bulldogs. Cunningham did a nice job, with over 100 yards rushing, but it’s likely no coincidence that freshman quarterback Deven Bollinger completed just one pass in the game, with that pass going to Cunningham.

“Cunningham just does whatever we ask him to, but there’s no doubt that with all of the injuries that we’ve had, it’s making us change what we do offensively,” said Snyder. “We’re not sure who is going to be back this week or how much they’ll be able to play.”

Catasauqua defensively can have some trouble stopping the run, so having a healthy Dangello would be a big boost to the Northwestern offense. If not, Cunningham may see even more time in the backfield as the Tigers look to exploit their bigger, more physical offensive line against the Catty defense.

Both teams are coming into the game off of three-game losing skids. For Northwestern, it’s the first time since the end of the 2012 season that they’ve lost three straight and they’ll look to avoid losing their last four games in that season.