It was a big night in Catasauqua last Friday night, as the Rough Riders officially christened a revamped Alumni Field.

And they did it in a convincing way with a 31-14 victory over Pine Grove.

“It was a good way to open a new field,” said Roughies’ head coach Travis Brett. “We did have a pregame practice on Thursday, and it is a beautiful field. It was nice to get a win after last week.”

The Roughies (6-2) were coming off a 43-27 shootout loss at Minersville last week that dropped them in the district standings after they had won five of their first six games.

Catty did suffer a major blow when junior running back/defensive lineman Anthonie Hunsicker suffered a broken collarbone when he slipped and fell on the new turf Thursday in practice. Brett stated that Hunsicker could return to the team for their Thanksgiving Day battle with Northampton, but his current status looks doubtful.

Hunsicker was a major force on both sides of the ball, and was among the area leaders in tackles for a loss. He has 322 yards rushing on 51 carries with seven touchdowns and had nine receptions for 86 yards.

“It’s shameful,” noted Brett about Hunsicker’s loss. “He was a leader out there, but he is probably done. He’ll be out six weeks, which would take it to the Thanksgiving Day game. He was running the ball really well and hard for us.”

Senior Eli Soler, who has been the Roughies’ leading rusher all season, picked up the slack with 98 yards on 24 carries. Soler had three interceptions, two of them for touchdowns called back due to penalties.

“He had a great game, and I can’t say enough about him,” said Brett about Soler. “He was our Player of the Game and he took advantage of the situation. He played well on both sides of the ball.

Quarterback Christian Fye completed seven of 15 attempts for 140 yards with a pair of touchdowns, one an 80-yarder to Wyatt Younes to open the scoring. Fye also kicked a 30-yard field goal, and raised his passing yards to 728 for the season. Younes also scored on a 91-yard kickoff return to close out the scoring.

Younes and Ian Juica continue to be a great receiving duo for the Roughies. They both have 21 catches for the season. Younes has five touchdowns over 424 yards, while Juica has two scores over 208 yards.

“We had a screen pass out to him (Younes) and he took off for our first touchdown,” said Brett. We wanted to get the ball in his hands, and we told him to trust his speed. He can really move, and he has to use his 4.5 time in the 40.

“Juica has fantastic hands, and he also has speed. We can count on him to catch what is thrown to him.”

The Roughies will host a reeling Schuylkill Haven team (2-5) Friday night, and the Hurricanes will enter Catty with a three-game losing streak. They will end the regular season at Northwestern the following week.

“Northwestern will be a challenge for us,” said Brett. “We should match up well with Schuylkill Haven. They run the ball and are a lot like Mahanoy. They have two good backs, but we have done well against the run all year.”

PREDICTION: The Hurricanes have been led by the back tandem of sophomore Aidan Meyers (729 yards) and junior Chris Goehring (429). Sophomore quarterback Travis Richie has thrown for 187 yards with three touchdowns and five interceptions ... The Roughies have allowed an average of 84.5 yards on the ground per game and 161.3 via the air ... Brett also cited the play of sophomore Jyzaiah Bonilla in the secondary against Pine Grove ... Catty caught a break in the Class 2A district bracket with Executive Education Academy’s loss last week. They are seated as the fourth and final team in the bracket and a win in one of their final two games should assure them of that spot. Palmerton (7-1), Northern Lehigh (5-3), and Minersville (6-2) are ahead of them ... This should be another big night for the Roughies with everything pointing in their favor ... Coach Snyder, it’s tough to find a summer-flavored sausage and peppers sandwich at this time of the year, but I’ll settle for favorites cabbage and noodles or a pierogi casserole from the snack stand ... ROUGH RIDERS, 35-14.