Northwestern came into Friday night's regular season finale without much to gain or lose. The Tigers had already locked up a spot in the District 11 Class AA playoffs and in doing all of the math that goes into power rankings, it appeared that they would be seeded second and guaranteed a home game no matter what happened against Catasauqua.

In a strange game, Northwestern picked up a 39-14 win over the Rough Riders to end their regular season at 8-2."It was kind of a weird game, but we wanted to get some of our unsung seniors, who had worked hard, but don't always get the spotlight into the game," said coach Josh Snyder. "We even got one of our linemen [Brandon Schrader] a touchdown tonight."The Northwestern offense certainly was different, with 10 players running the ball and Harry Hall getting just six carries on the night. Hall did finish as the Tigers' leading rusher with 46 yards. They also used three different quarterbacks, had six different receivers catch passes, and had five different players get into the end zone."Obviously, we have to think about next week and getting our guys a little rest and doing what we can to insure that they're all healthy and ready to go," said Snyder of the game plan.Seniors got plenty of playing time, including Joe Colucci, getting four carries, after having just seven on the season coming into the game. Schrader got his first two carries of the season for ten yards and a touchdown, while Matt Shields also got his first two carries and also gained ten yards."It was kind of fun tonight, because we were pretty relaxed coming in and we put in a new offensive package to mix things up a little," said Joe Colucci, whose brother Anthony Colucci, a freshman, also got into the action with two carries and two catches - all the first of the season for him - and a total of 24 yards.Finishing 8-2 after a lackluster performance in week one, where Northwestern fell to Notre Dame of Green Pond 31-19 was a nice way to bounce back for the Tigers, who now get a chance to defend their District 11 championship. The Crusaders will be the top seed in districts, meaning that if both Notre Dame and Northwestern were to win next week, they would play for the district title the following week."We want that rematch," said Colucci. "We didn't play well in that first game, but we know we can beat them and we will win if we get the chance to face them again. We all really hope that it happens."BRANDON'S BIG ADVENTURE... Senior night was big for kicker Brandon Miller, who not only hit a 36-yard field goal, but also connected with Tyler Foster on a pass to complete a two-point conversion after a bad snap. Perhaps the most impressive kick was on a kick-off from the 25 after Northwestern was assessed a 15-yard penalty. Miller booted the kick-off half-way into the end zone for a touchback.DEFENSE ... Tyler Foster and Teagen Golden had big nights defensively. Foster came into the game as the team's leading tackler with 38 tackles and added to his lead. Golden was constantly around the ball, assisting on tackles and blowing up the Catasauqua offense.