Saucon Valley has been rolling through the Colonial League football schedule with some ease this season and are the only undefeated team in the league and one of just four unbeaten teams in District 11. Freedom, Emmaus and Tamaqua are the only other undefeated teams and Freedom goes to Emmaus this week for a showdown with the Hornets.

The showdown between 7-0 Saucon Valley and Northwestern lost just a little of its sparkle last week when the Tigers fell to Southern Lehigh 45-21. The loss dropped Northwestern to 5-2 and puts them in a position where they need to keep winning to help their postseason rankings. In Class 4A, Bethlehem Catholic and Pottsville are also both 5-2 on the season with the three teams all looking up at Saucon Valley.

“We haven’t been in districts since we were a 2A team and then when they changed everything around, we haven’t been back,” said Tiger head coach Josh Snyder. “Meanwhile, Saucon Valley has played well in 4A and they’re a very tough, physical team and they’ll give us somewhat of a measuring stick to show where we’re at and what we need to do to beat the best teams.”

Senior Ian Csicsek is averaging over 8.5 yards per carry this season and passed the 1,500-yard plateau last week in a 49-14 dismantling of Wilson. In that game, he rushed for over 300 yards and dominated the Warrior with three rushing touchdowns. In their matchup last season, Csicsek was filling in for an injured Zach Petiet and rushed for 155 yards and two touchdowns against the Tigers.

With the emergence of Csicsek and the fact that the Panthers have a freshman quarterback in Dante Mahaffey, Northwestern figures to focus on stopping the run and taking its chances with the Saucon Valley passing game.

“We have enough confidence in our guys that we’ll probably play a lot of man-to-man and load up the box to stop their ground game,” said Snyder. “Everybody knows that they like to run the ball and they’ve got the guy to do it with [Csicsek], so we’ll rely on our guys to handle the passing game when they do decide to throw it.”

Mahaffey has attempted just 63 passes this season for 480 yards, tossing six touchdowns and just one interception.

Meanwhile, the Tigers will look to reestablish their running game, but Snyder was quick to point out that they’ve thrown for well over 500 yards (679 yards to be exact) over the past two weeks. If the ground game isn’t there, they’ll look to throw the ball.

Perhaps it’s a good sign that it was in week eight last season when Nick Henry, then a freshman, ran for over 100 yards to become the first freshman in Northwestern history to break the 100-yard mark in a game. Both Palmerton and Southern Lehigh were able to slow down the running game of the Tigers the past two weeks, with Northwestern rushing for just 95 rushing yards last week as a team.

“In looking at the video from last week, we weren’t that bad running the ball, but we were constantly playing from behind the chains because of penalties,” said Snyder, whose team was penalized for 81 yards last week. “We have to stop making those stupid penalties and play a smarter game so we can really use our ground game more effectively.”

The Tigers have fared well against very good Saucon Valley teams over the past four seasons. In two of those seasons, the Panthers were undefeated when they came into their game with Northwestern and had one loss on the season when they left that game against the Tigers.

“They’re a good team and if you go in there focusing on their record, it makes it a lot tougher,” said Snyder. “We just need to focus on our game plan, eliminate the penalties and be physical. It’s the same stuff that we try to do every week. It’s just a matter of executing and trying to get a gauge on where we’re at as a team.”