Senior Night at Northwestern is more than just honoring the football, band and cheerleading 12th graders.

For Tiger head coach Josh Snyder and his staff, it’s also a time to give his veteran linemen a chance to be recognized — in the end zone.

In what has become a popular tradition, Northwestern likes to reward the guys in the trenches by running the ball down near the goal line.

And on Friday night, the tradition continued as Luke Rennells and Rhys Trotter both scored touchdowns during the Tigers’ 49-12 rout of Catasauqua.

“It was a great night for the seniors,” said Snyder, whose team finished regular season play with a 9-1 record. “We got a couple linemen (scoring touchdowns). They’re due, those guys never get talked about but we got (them) in the end zone.

“It’s sort of become a tradition over the years here with Coach (Dave) Kerschner coaching those linemen, sort of highlighting them a little bit when we can late in the season, so that’s always a favorite of ours.”

Rennells bulled into the end zone from a yard out midway through the second quarter that upped the Tiger lead to 28-6, while Trotter recorded his touchdown on a 2-yard run one play after Lucian Sterling’s 51-yard reception. That extended the margin to 35-6.

“Sometimes us big boys don’t get all the credit like the other guys,” said Rennells. “It was awesome working up to this game, and having a fun Senior Night and getting to celebrate in the end zone with my guys.

“Last week was tough, and it left a little bit of a bad taste in our mouth, but we knew we had to get back and get ready for another game, and go 1-0 this week, and bounce back.”

That bad taste was the loss to Southern Lehigh a week ago that ended Northwestern’s 40-game regular season winning streak.

And while the Tigers did bounce back, it wasn’t an immediate rebound.

Catasauqua took the opening kickoff and marched 62 yards in eight plays to take a 6-0 advantage. Roughies quarterback Aiden Reilly connected with Omar Pacheco on a 43-yard pass to help set up Reilly’s 3-yard TD run.

It wasn’t just the Northwestern defense that struggled early, as the offense failed on their first two possessions.

“I was a little bit concerned about a slight hangover, a sluggish start, and that’s exactly what happened,” said Snyder. “I’m not too happy about that, but after the first few series ... we settled in.

“We exploded in the second quarter, getting back to Tiger football. I thought we kept Catty off balance for the most part, got a little bit going in the run game and then the pass game.”

Northwestern actually took the lead on the last play of the opening quarter on a 27-yard scoring run by Brady Zimmerman, and Zimmerman’s two-point conversion toss to Trey Snyder.

That TD opened the floodgates for the Tigers, who reached the end zone five times in the second frame.

A 33-yard punt return by Zimmerman led to a 9-yard tally by Chase Sukanick that made it 15-6, and Zimmerman registered his second TD of the evening when he caught an 11-yard pass from Snyder in the back of the end zone to up the score to 22-6.

Rennells and Trotter had their shining moments on the next two series, and Sukanick broke free for a 29-yard scoring run with 1:54 left until halftime to blow the game open.

“I’m not really sure, it was definitely a slow start and it was a little disappointing but we bounced back and had good second quarter,” said Rennells. “So that was good to see. We’ll definitely watch film, fix stuff and get back to it next week.”

One of the things the Tigers will see on film was how well the defense and special teams played after Catty’s first series.

The Roughies didn’t cross midfield the rest of the first half, gaining just 35 more yards on 25 plays. Their starting field position after Northwestern scores in that first half was their own 17-yard line.

“Something we pride ourselves on is special teams,” said Coach Snyder. “... I thought we gave them poor position with our kicking. Our kickoff coverage team did a great job tonight, and they have been all year.

“Field position is huge. We don’t care about stats, we care about short drives finishing in the end zone and that’s our offense, defense and special teams all combined.”

Now it’s on to the playoffs, where the Tigers have especially excelled the past few seasons.

“The postseason is a fresh start, and you especially have to go 1-0 every week,” said Rennells. “Two men enter, and one man leaves, so I think we’re going to come out and be prepared and we’re going to get it done.”

THE NUMBERS ... Sukanick ran for 112 yards on just eight carries, while Snyder completed 12-of-15 passes for 167 yards. Zimmerman had six catches for 60 yards.

HE’S BACK ... Key starter Michael Lagowy returned to the field for the Tigers and saw limited action. “It’s nice to have Michael Lagowy back, get him some work here on both sides of the ball as he’s building back up to a full go,” said Coach Snyder.

UP NEXT ... Northwestern will be the top seed in Class 3A and will host either Panther Valley or Salisbury on Thursday.

N’western 49, Catasauqua 12

Catasauqua 6 0 6 0 - 12

Northwestern 8 34 7 0 - 49

C - Reilly 3 run (run failed)

NW - Zimmerman 27 run (Snyder pass from Zimmerman)

NW - Sukanick 9 run (Smith kick)

NW - Zimmerman 11 pass from Snyder (run failed)

NW - Rennells 1 run (Smith kick)

NW - Trotter 2 run (Smith kick)

NW - Sukanick 29 run (Smith kick)

NW - Snyder 3 run (Smith kick)

C - Mosby 56 run (pass failed)