Against Jim Thorpe last Friday, Catasauqua was looking to set an early tone and set the stage to bounce back after a 49-26 loss to Saucon Valley

Unfortunately, it worked against them.

Jim Thorpe recovered two pooch kicks in the opening quarter that helped lead to 35 points en route to the Olympians’ 49-13 victory.

It was the third straight for the Rough Riders, who dipped to 3-4 overall. Catty will travel to Northern Lehigh Friday night.

Roughies’ head coach Joe Henrich quickly watched the game slip away from his team.

“This unraveled quickly with two pop kicks that we did not recover,” stated Henrich. “We were down 21-0, and we had yet to get the ball on offense.”

Henrich cited the team’s lack of execution. The Roughies had just 86 total yards against Jim Thorpe, and they had trouble on the line of scrimmage.

“We continued to struggle the move the ball,” added Henrich. “We just kept giving them the ball back.

“We had a pretty poor performance across the board.”

“There were lots of missed assignments, and they just physically outplayed us.”

Freshman Gio Ojeda made his first varsity start after he relieved injured starter Aiden Reilly the previous week. Ojeda completed six of 10 attempts for 17 yards with an interception.

Henrich expects Ojeda to develop over time.

“Gio has a good week of practice, but he struggled a little in the game,” said Henrich. “He is a young guy, and he will grow from it.”

Northern Lehigh has won two of their last three games, their latest was a 42-8 victory over winless Wilson.

“They are a well-coached, experienced team,” noted Henrich of Northern Lehigh. “They will play hard every play.”

ROUGHIE RIDGES: Northern Lehigh won last year’s meeting, 27-3, and the Bulldogs have won three of the last four matchups. Catty won in 2023 by a 48-22 score ... Northern Lehigh also won the 2018 and ’19 games, but Catty won, 38-20, in 2017 ... Joziah Martinez led the Roughies with 61 yards rushing, one a 59-yard touchdown run ... Travis Dunn, who had 14 yards against Jim Thorpe, leads the team with 380 yards on 66 carries with four touchdowns ... Manny Bolmer had a 60-yard kickoff return for a score. It was Bolmer’s second returned kick for a touchdown ... Catty was 0-for-8 on third downs against Jim Thorpe ... Chris Wellington had three tackles and an interception. Wellington has 35 tackles with two sacks for the season ... Northern Lehigh quarterback Garrett Smoyer completed 10 of 13 passes for 174 yards with four touchdowns against Wilson. He has completed 64 of 113 passes for 983 yards with 11 touchdowns and four interceptions for the season ... Grady Newhard ran for 94 yards against Wilson, and he has 453 yards and six touchdowns for the season ... Chris Frame is the leading Bulldogs’ rusher with 481 yards and eight touchdowns, and he also is their leading receiver with 21 catches for 456 yards and four touchdowns ... The Bulldogs have a plus-seven in turnover ratio against opponents.

PREDICTION (season record 3-4): Catty’s last win in Slatington was in 2017. It always has been a tough place to play ... Roughies are running into a team that is starting to peak at the right time for the postseason ... Reilly is questionable, and Ojeda likely will get his second start ... Roughies need to get their running game back into gear behind Dunn ... Biggest issue for Catty lately has been their slow starts and digging themselves into a big hole ... Northern Lehigh is an experienced squad that can move the ball on the ground and in the air ... They also will bring a physical game ... This doesn’t shape up well for the Roughies, who need to straighten things out ... This time, coach Snyder, the cheesesteak from Seward’s is on me ... NORTHERN LEHIGH, 30-15.