Catasauqua’s football team can’t be cited for a lack of hustle during their recently completed season.

However, the Roughies will admit they missed their share of opportunities that mightily contributed to their overall 2-9 record this year. Their latest setback was a 42-25 loss to Northampton on Thanksgiving Day.

The Roughies rebounded after they found themselves in a 21-0 halftime deficit.

“Even though things didn’t go our way, we gave a really good effort and played very hard,” said head coach Phil Dorn, who completed his third season at the helm. “We fell behind 21-0, but we still had opportunities. We just couldn’t put the ball in the end zone.

“We had a number of situations go against us. It has been tough and we have felt like we have been snake bit since the first game of the season.”

Catty opened against Salisbury, and the Roughies were in the game until the end, where they fell short by a 38-24 score and they scored all of their points in the final quarter.

But the Roughies did gain some momentum from the defeat as they rallied to defeat Northern Lehigh, 39-31, to quickly even their season mark at 1-1.

With another winnable game in their grasp against Pen Argyl that hadn’t found its stride yet, the Roughies couldn’t close the gap and dropped a 34-14 decision. It marked the start of a three-game slide until they broke the drought with an impressive 43-26 win over Wilson.

Still, the Roughies couldn’t harbor their momentum and lost a hard-fought game against Notre Dame (42-20). It began the season-ending, five-game losing skid that also saw a reachable district bid fall out of reach.

“I don’t think there was one main factor,” added Dorn of his team’s lack of success. “We just weren’t able to make it happen. I do feel for these kids because they worked very hard.”

“It wasn’t always fun and it was hard,” said quarterback Andrew Brett, who topped the 2,100-yard mark in passing and threw 16 touchdowns and 11 interceptions during his first year at the helm. “So many guys worked really hard in the offseason. I don’t know what it was. We just couldn’t put it all together when we needed to do it.”

Brett, a junior, will be among a number of returnees for the Roughies next season. He will again be teamed with wide receivers Miguel Hernandez (team-high 60 receptions, 801 yards, seven touchdowns) and Corey Raysely (46 catches, 334 yards, one touchdown). Senior Ryan Greene (64-618, six touchdowns) set a new team mark for career catches with 130 catches, breaking the previous mark of 120 set by Paryss Marshall.

The Roughies also will return running backs Derrick Rodriguez, Tyler Melendez, and Wil-Quon Clemons to bolster the backfield.

Dorn reflected on Brett’s 71-percent completion rate as he connected on 209 of 296 attempts.

“Before the year began, I told him (Brett) how much I cared about him and also told him before the Thanksgiving Day game,” said Dorn. “He (Brett) has been with me since I got here. He just goes about his work and he never complains about anything. He is all about hard work and dedication and that speaks volumes about him. He put up some remarkable numbers and earned all of them.”

Dorn also praised the efforts of Raysely and Hernandez as well as the maturation of his offensive line.

“The three of them had 164 catches among them and that is pretty special,” added Dorn. “We have been very fortunate to have them. We just couldn’t find a way to translate those results into more wins.

“Our line has really come along way. We had our shares of injuries and struggles the first two years and we had a couple of sophomores out there on Thanksgiving. We lost Joey Sparacello, probably our best lineman early, but he will be back next year.”

Dorn was extremely pleased with his JV team that finished with an overall 8-0 mark.

Editors note: Look for a story about the JV team in an upcoming issue of The Press

“That was kind of a neat thing,” reflected Dorn on his JVs. “I rode the bus with them on Mondays. We had 15 or 16 kids out there most times. If someone played on a Friday, I tried not to play that player much on a Monday and give the other kids the opportunity.

“We treated it like it was a varsity game. Those kids did a great job.”

Dorn believes his club can turn the corner with a diligent offseason commitment.

“We had 11 seniors and had some good overall depth for the first time in a while,” he said. “I am excited about the JVs coming up. We have to stay dedicated to the offseason workouts and the weight room. We’re ready to get after it.”