School History, an inaugural trophy and a personal goal met.

Even with the horrible weather Friday night, it was a good night for Northwestern Lehigh as it beat Catasauqua 36-2 in the regular season finale for both teams.

In doing so, the 2021 Tigers became the first team in school history to complete a season with a perfect 10-0 record and they also captured the inaugural Colonial-Schuylkill League trophy as the Gold Division champions. Individually, Dalton Clymer reached a personal milestone with his first 100-yard rushing game of his varsity career.

“That was a goal of mine coming into the season (to get a 100-yard rushing game) and I really wanted it this week since it’s the final regular season game,” said Clymer.

The sophomore running back has 540 yards rushing on the season after missing a couple of games with an injury. Justin Holmes also finished the night over the 100-yard mark with 109 yards to go over the 1,000-yard mark in rushing for the season.

With rain and a constant wind that had the flag blowing straight out and rain falling sideways, the first season of Colonial-Schuylkill League football ended with two Colonial League teams doing battle. The weather and penalties hampered both teams early on with the Rough Riders having to punt into the wind twice and Tigers quarterback Justin Holmes throwing a rare interception.

On the second drive of the night for Northwestern though, it took just under two-minutes to get into position for Clymer to rush 12 yards for the first score of the night. The big play was a 23-yard run by Holmes that was made even larger by a Catasauqua penalty to move the Tigers to the Catty 12-yard line.

“Watching the weather all week, we really cut our passing package down to just a few basic plays because it was looking like we wouldn’t be able to throw the ball too much,” said Northwestern coach Josh Snyder. “With the wind tonight it was almost impossible, but we were able to complete a couple here and there to go with the ground game

“With Clymer and Holmes both going over 100 yards, that helped us a lot offensively.”

Catasauqua then misfired on a lateral and Northwestern recovered the ball at the Roughies’ 30-yard line. Four rushes by Holmes covered the 30 yards and Luke Benvin kicked his second extra point of the night to put Northwestern up 14-0.

The Rough Riders would go three-and-out on their next two drives as the Tigers defense continued to shut down the Catty offense. QB Christian Fye finished the night 0-for-5 on passing and they were able to generate just 87 yards rushing in the game.

Meanwhile, Northwestern added two second quarter scoring runs by Holmes to increase the lead to 28-0 at halftime.

In the second half, the Northwestern starters came out and put another touchdown on the board when Clymer went in from a yard out on a five-play drive that started at the Catasauqua 40-yard line.

The only points that Catasauqua would produce on the night were on the next Northwestern Lehigh drive when faced with a fourth-and-14 at their own 3-yard line, the Tigers elected to have Holmes run out of the end zone and give up the safety rather than risk trying to punt into the brisk wind.

“It feels amazing to be a part of this and be the first undefeated team in school history,” said Clymer. “We have a lot of confidence going into districts next week.”

BURIED DEMONS ... Josh Snyder was on the last Tigers team to come into the finale with a 9-0 record back in 1996. That season, Catty stopped them from being undefeated. He got some revenge when the Roughies were 9-0 in 2013 and his Tigers team beat them to keep them from being undefeated.

HOME AGAIN ... The Tigers know that they will play at home in the first round of districts next week and will be the No. 1 seed in the 4A class. It is not certain who their opponent will be, but it is narrowed down to Wilson (6-3) or Bangor (6-4). The Warriors play Saturday against Notre Dame (7-1). With a win, Wilson will claim the No. 4 seed and play at Northwestern, but a loss puts the mathematicians to work to figure out the ranking between Bangor and Wilson.