Senior running back Ian Csicsek had somewhat of a coming-out party against Northwestern last season when he filled in for Zach Petiet and torched the Tigers for 155 yards and two touchdowns. That type of performance has become the norm for Csicsek, who rushed for just over 300 yards last week, and has surpassed the 1,500-yard milestone this season by averaging over 8.5 yards per carry.

Csicsek and a stingy defense are just two of the reasons why Saucon Valley has been able to roll through the Colonial League schedule with some ease this season, and it’s 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 District 11 teams, and Freedom goes to Emmaus this week for a showdown with the Hornets.

The showdown between Saucon Valley (7-0) and Northwestern (5-2) lost some of its sparkle last week when the Tigers lost to Southern Lehigh 45-21. The loss leaves Northwestern in a position where it needs to keep winning to help its postseason rankings. In 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 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.”

The Tigers would like nothing more than to at least slow down Csicsek’s roll, and they’ll likely stuff the box in an attempt to do just that. Snyder hopes that if he can slow down Csicsek, the Panthers will look to throw the ball more than they like, which could force freshman quarterback Dante Mahaffey to make a bad throw or two.

“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.

If Saucon Valley can control the Northwestern ground game, as has happened in the past two games, Snyder will likely unleash Deven Bollinger and look to him to throw the ball more than he has in the past. Coming into last week, the Tigers averaged about 16 passes per game, but Bollinger threw a season-high 32 passes last week in the loss to Southern Lehigh. Keep in mind that while they like to run, the Tigers have thrown for just under 700 yards — 679 to be exact — in the past two games on just 48 passes.

Snyder hopes to avoid the miscues that put the team in the position where they had to open up the passing game against the Spartans.

“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,” noticed 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.”

If you’re looking for some sort of precedence for Northwestern to down Saucon Valley, you can look over the past four seasons and in two of those seasons, the Panthers were undefeated when they came into their game with Northwestern and left having suffered their first loss of the season.

“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.”