Northwestern opened its season suffering a tough loss to Notre Dame.

But since that time, the Tigers have been perfect.

On Friday, Josh Snyder’s club shut out Catasauqua to post their ninth consecutive win. The victory not only gave the team the Colonial League title, but coupled with losses by Pottsville and Bethlehem Catholic, it allowed them to clinch the top seed in their class in the upcoming District 11 playoffs.

Over the weekend, the district announced playoff berths and brackets for the postseason. Besides Northwestern, two other teams from the Times News area — Tamaqua and Lehighton — will also be participating in the D-11 tournament. Jim Thorpe, which just missed out on a district berth, has qualified for the Eastern Conference playoffs.

The Tigers, who have scored at least 28 points in every game and averaged 38.7 per contest, will face one of those area teams in Saturday’s Class 4A quarterfinal round. Lehighton, which clinched the No. 8 seed when Bangor lost to Pen Argyl this past Saturday, will be the Tigers’ opponent.

The Indians, members of the Schuylkill League, went 3-2 in their first five games before suffering five straight losses to end the regular season with a 3-7 mark.

Coincidentally, the two teams will be in the same division of next year’s new conference and will meet in Week 4. The last time the two programs met was in 2007 when Northwestern posted a 46-22 win in the district Class 3A semifinals.

Saturday’s contest is scheduled to start at 7 p.m. at Northwestern. The winner will face the Central Catholic-Saucon Valley winner in the semifinals on Nov. 9. Tamaqua, meanwhile, put together an impressive 8-2 season to earn the second seed in Class 3A.

The Blue Raiders, coached by Sam Bonner, won their first five games before suffering losses to Pottsville and North Schuylkill. Tamaqua rebounded with back-to-back victories and was given a forfeit win to complete the regular season.

Bonner’s club will meet Notre Dame, the No. 3 seed, in the semifinals this Friday. The two teams met in the playoffs a year ago with the Crusaders pulling out a 40-33 victory.

Like Northwestern and Lehighton, both Tamaqua and Notre Dame will be division foes starting next season. The two teams will meet in Week 6.

Friday’s kickoff is scheduled for 7 p.m. at Tamaqua. The winner will advance to the Class 3A final, where they will face either No. 1 North Schuylkill or No. 4 Pine Grove.

Jim Thorpe finished fifth in Class 3A with a rating of .576927. Pine Grove was fourth at .594837.

While the Olympians had to be disappointed not making the district playoffs, Mark Rosenberger’s squad will still be able to play for a title, settling for a spot in the Eastern Conference postseason.

Thorpe, which finished with a 7-3 record, will host Salisbury (6-4) for the 3A crown. The Olympians will host the contest, most likely on Friday night.

The EC 3A title game was almost an all-Times News area matchup, however Northern Lehigh came up just short of the Falcons (.559422) in the ratings. The Bulldogs, who crushed Salisbury by a 42-14 score during the regular season and finished with an identical 6-4 mark, had a rating of .543902.

Northern Lehigh not only missed out on the playoffs, but its win over Palmerton this past Friday also kept the Blue Bombers out of the postseason.

If Palmerton would have defeated its rival, it would have been the No. 4 seed in Class 2A. That berth, however, went to Schuylkill Haven.

DISTRICT 11 FOOTBALL PLAYOFFS

Class 1A

Semifinals

Friday, Nov. 1

No. 4 Shenandoah Valley at No. 1 Williams Valley, 7 p.m.

No. 3 Nativity at No. 2 Tri-Valley, 7 p.m.

Finals

Friday, Nov. 8

Shenandoah Valley-Wlliams Valley winner vs. Nativity-Tri-Valley winner, 7 p.m.

Class 2A

Semifinals

Saturday, Nov. 2

No. 4 Schuylkill Haven vs. No. 1 West Catholic at South Philadelphia Supersite, 6 p.m.

No. 3 Mahanoy Area vs.No. 2 Bishop McDevitt at Northeast Philadelphia Supersite, Noon

Finals

Saturday, Nov. 9

Schuylkill Haven-West Catholic winner vs. Mahanoy Area-Bishop McDevitt winner, TBA

Class 3A

Semifinals

Friday, Nov. 1

No. 4 Pine Grove at No. 1 North Schuylkill, 7 p.m.

No. 3 Notre Dame-GP at No. 2 Tamaqua, 7 p.m.

Finals

Friday, Nov. 8

Pine Grove-North Schuylkill winner vs. Notre Dame-Tamaqua winner, 7 p.m.

Class 4A

Quarterfinals

Friday, Nov. 1

No. 5 Saucon Valley at No. 4 Central Catholic (J. Birney Crum), 7 p.m.

Saturday, Nov. 2

No. 8 Lehighton at No. 1 Northwestern, 7 p.m.

No. 6 Blue Mountain at No. 3 Bethlehem Catholic (BASD Stadium), Noon

No. 7 Wilson at No. 2 Pottsville, 7 p.m.

Semifinals

Saturday, Nov. 9

Lehighton-Northwestern winner vs. Central Catholic-Saucon Valley winner, 7 p.m.

Blue Mountain-Bethlehem Catholic winner vs. Wilson-Pottsville winner, TBA

Finals

Saturday, Nov. 16

Semifinal winners, 7 p.m.

Class 5A

Semifinals

Friday, Nov. 1

No. 4 Wyoming Valley West at No. 1 Southern Lehigh, 7 p.m.

No. 3 Pocono Mountain East at No. 2 East Stroudsburg South, 7 p.m.

Finals

Friday, Nov. 8

Wyoming Valley West-Southern Lehigh winner vs. PM East-ES South winner, 7 p.m.

Class 6A

Quarterfinals

Friday, Nov. 1

No. 8 Pocono Mountain West at No. 1 Nazareth, 7 p.m.

No. 5 Easton at No. 4 Northampton, 7 p.m.

No. 6 Stroudsburg at No. 3 Parkland, 7 p.m.

No. 7 Emmaus at No. 2 Freedom (BASD Stadium), 7 p.m.

Semifinals

Friday, Nov. 8

PM West-Nazareth winner vs. Easton-Northampton winner, TBA

Stroudsburg-Parkland winner vs. Emmaus-Freedom winner, TBA

Finals

Friday, Nov. 15

Semifinal winners, 7 p.m.