It was Nov. 16, 2013 and Catasauqua captured its fifth district title with a convincing 54-38 victory over Palisades at Alumni Field. The Rough Riders scored on eight of nine possessions and quarterback Zack Bradley threw five touchdown passes.

That was the last time the Rough Riders were in a district playoff game.

This Saturday, they can relive the moment when they travel to Palisades for a District 11 Class 2A semifinal with a 1 p.m. kickoff.

Catty (2-5) made its initial appearance back into districts when the fifth-seeded Roughies outplayed fourth-seeded Minersville on its home field for a convincing 31-12 victory.

They will need the same amount of firepower to stop the stomping top-seeded Pirates (6-2), who scored on all of their 10 possessions in a 70-6 thumping of Panther Valley in their district quarterfinal. The two teams didn’t meet during the regular season.

Roughies’ head coach Travis Brett will need to stop Palisades senior running back Mason Smeland, who scored three touchdowns in the recent win and went over the 1,000-yard mark for his career. Smeland has 1,106 yards for the season and 17 touchdowns with an 8.1 yards per carry clip. The Pirates are averaging nearly 220 yards rushing per game.

Quarterback Jaden Newton, who threw two touchdown passes against Panther Valley, has 758 passing yards with seven touchdowns and nine interceptions.

Palisades dropped their opener to Northwestern, but they then won three-straight before they suffered a shutout against Notre Dame (27-0). They bounced back to defeat Palmerton (30-20) and then had their traditional finale against Saucon Valley canceled to a COVID-19 outbreak at Saucon.

“They are a solid football team,” said Brett. “They are very physical up front and they beat up Panther Valley, and their back is unbelievable.

“They like to run a spread and can run some I-formation. They also have a lot of speed. Their quarterback is a decent-size kid who can throw the ball. Defensively, they will come after you, and they rush to the ball well.”

Catty quarterback Nasir McLean has completed 42 of 87 attempts for 574 yards with six touchdown passes and five interceptions.

Hunter Reitz is their leading rusher with 378 yards and Anthonie Hunsicker has 301 yards. Andrew Brett has a team-high 18 receptions for 210 yards with two touchdowns.

The Roughies have scored an average of 18.1 points per game while allowing 37.3 and 305 yards per contest.

“It’ll be a challenge, but we’ll be ready.”

PREDICTION: First, I owe Roughie fans an apology believing their team wouldn’t be in the game against Minersville. Their win will be a big boost for the program. However, this will be a daunting task for them against Palisades, who seems to be in full gear. The Pirates physically handled Panther Valley, and their offensive line is fully healthy. Catty rattled Minersville’s freshman phenom thrower, and they now set their sights on stopping a ground game. It should be an entertaining game with some offensive fireworks, Catty gets better toward Turkey Day, but...PALISADES 27-17.