Last Friday night, Catasauqua returned to the site of one of its more memorable games in recent years. In a district playoff game last season, the Roughies had six interceptions in a 31-12 victory at Minersville.

This time around, it was a different outcome.

The Rough Riders committed five turnovers - three fumbles lost and two interceptions - and came out on the short side of a 43-27 score at Minersville.

“We hurt ourselves,” said Catasauqua head coach Travis Brett. “With five turnovers, you can’t win games. I believe we can beat that team nine out of 10 times. We made too many mistakes.”

Brett was pleased with the play of his offense that accumulated 387 yards of total offense, 210 yards on the ground.

Quarterback Christian Fye completed 12 of 27 passes for 177 with a pair of interceptions.

Fye also rushed for 79 yards with a touchdown. Elijah Soler also had 79 yards rushing with a touchdown, and Anthonie Hunsicker had 53 yards rushing with a pair of touchdowns. Hunsicker also caught four passes for 52 yards along with Ian Juica, who had four catches for 51 yards.

Soler leads the team with 411 yards rushing followed by Hunsicker who had 322. Juica has a season-high 19 catches and Wyatt Younes has 17 receptions.

“Offensively, we moved the ball,” added Brett. “When we had a decent drive, we scored. We were able to do basically what we wanted to do on offense against them, and they didn’t make any adjustments.”

Hunsicker knew his team made some costly miscues.

“It was our best performance,” he said. “We were trying to make up for the mistakes we were making.”

It was on defense where the Roughies were exposed, primarily and ironically in the secondary. Brett noted the loss of Jacob Scheirer in the secondary was a major hit.

Minersville quarterback John Adams completed 22 of 28 passes for 384 yards and five touchdowns. However, the Miners (5-2) only had 27 yards rushing.

“We had some secondary screw-ups,” stressed Brett. “We lost Scheirer early with an ankle injury, and we had a young player in there. It wasn’t his fault because we had breakdowns back there. That has been our strongest part of our defense all season.

‘Our front line did a good job in stopping their running game. They also have played well this year.”

Catty (5-2) will finally play on their new field when it is unveiled Friday night against Pine Grove. The field hockey and soccer team already have played on the field, and Brett anticipated having a pregame practice there.

“It will be good and exciting to finally get on the field,” said Brett. “All of us have been waiting for it.

“We match up well with them (Pine Grove). If we can avoid turnovers, we should be in good shape. I think these kids will bounce back and be ready for a big night.”

PREDICTION: The Cardinals will enter Catty with a 1-6 record and have lost three straight, their latest a 50-7 loss to Palmerton. Freshman quarterback Carson Lengle had thrown for 547 yards, but has five interceptions and one touchdown. Sophomore running back Garrett Lehman has 400 yards rushing and senior wide receiver Dalton Geesey had 13 catches for 235 yards. The Cardinals have nine touchdowns in seven games..The Cardinals and Roughies have had some memorable playoff games in the past..Catty is seeded fourth on the heels of Minersville in district Class 2A play. Roughies are playing on a new home field for the first time since 1971 when they began playing at Alumni Field..Catty will be buzzing and the Roughies should respond well and bounce back. The Roughies can’t afford another slip-up. Coach Snyder, you’ll owe me a cheesesteak at Catty Pizza, and I’ll get pierogies and/or fries. ROUGHIES, 42-7.S