With their 51-46 win over Northwestern in their regular season finale at home Tuesday night, Catasauqua’s boys’ basketball team still may have a chance at a district playoff berth. It would accentuate a rather disheartening season.

The Rough Riders (9-13 overall) began Tuesday night as the sixth seed in the PIAA District 11 Class 3A bracket. Depending on the outcomes of games involving Panther Valley, Collegium Charter, and new Hope, the Roughies could snatch the fourth spot.

New Hope (10-9) was in the third spot, but they still hadn’t clinched a spot. Panther Valley (11-9) was fourth and Collegium Charter (9-11) was sixth.

Against Northwestern, Cole Schiffer had a team-high 19 points, Derek Troxell added 14, and Jacob Smith had eight.

“We’re still alive, but we probably would have had a better shot if we had won,” said Roughies’ head coach Eric Snyder. “We may be able to sneak in by percentage points.

“We figure New Hope will get in, but Panther Valley had a tough schedule. We should be able to benefit with wins over Palmerton and Bangor, both of whom have played really well.”

Yet, Snyder did mince his words in a frank evaluation of his season.

“It was about shattered dreams, broken promises, and unfulfilled expectations,” added Snyder. “That led to disappointing and frustrating results.

“Over the last two years, we were counting on big things.”

However, those big things never materialized, notably among the lack of big men in the program. The Roughies lost several big men to a serious of circumstances.

“When we thought about the tall players we lost, it was there and gone,” said Snyder. “We lost a lot of height over the past two years.”

During the summer, Snyder had grandeur visions about his club with a flock of returning juniors. He was confident his club could end their two-year district drought.

“We believed that this would be a .500 club at least,” stated Snyder. “We knew we had a lot of potential, and we played well as a unit in summer leagues.”

Now Snyder call hope his junior class can take the next step in the 2020-21 season. But the Roughies still may have a ticket punched to his year’s tournament.

“We’ll wait and see,” said Snyder. “You never know with the power rankings system. The other teams are playing through the weekend.

“If we don’t make it, we basically have the same crew back next season.”