This is the week that Northwestern Lehigh attempts to make school history by going undefeated during the regular season. The last time the Tigers came into the season finale with a 9-0 record was in 1996 and the Catasauqua Rough Riders knocked them off in their annual rivalry week game.

The two teams meet again this season with the Tigers at 9-0 and Catty coming in with a 7-2 record. Both teams have guaranteed themselves spots in districts and depending on who does the math, Northwestern likely has locked up the top seed.

Northwestern coach Josh Snyder wants his team to be the first to go undefeated, but he is attempting to keep things as normal as possible at practice this week and not have players focus on things like a perfect record or districts. Instead, he wants them to look simply at winning a football game, just as they’ve done in each of the past nine weeks.

“We actually talked about that [the undefeated season] last week and it comes down to just winning games,” Snyder said. “We always take the approach that you can focus on the things that you can control, like how you play in a game, and don’t worry about the things that you can’t control.”

The Rough Riders come in with a balanced offensive attack, averaging 130 yards per game on the ground and just under 155 yards per game through the air. Senior running back Elijah Soler has rushed for 614 yards this season and can be an occasional pass-catching threat out of the backfield, averaging over 22 yards per catch on the season.

Junior quarterback Christian Fye completes just over half of his pass attempts but has still thrown for 858 yards and five touchdowns. Freshman Aiden Hess gets to throw an occasional pass with 30 attempts on the season for 241 yards.

“They have some young players on offense, and they have the ability to make some plays,” said Snyder. “What’s been impressive about them has been their defensive ability. They really play well defensively and have guys that can fly to the ball and make stops.”

In five of their nine games this season, Catasauqua has held opponents to eight points or less per game. Overall, they’ve allowed just 63 points in their seven wins this season.

The problem for the Roughies is when they face an offense that they can’t contain. In their two losses, they’ve allowed 85 points and without an explosive offense, they’re not able to compete in a shootout.

“We would ideally like to come out and get a couple of early scores like we did last week against Saucon,” Snyder said. “We think that if we can get some quick strikes, it will take them out of their rhythm a little.”

Obviously, the Tiger offense is no stranger to quick starts and putting together impressive offensive performances. Last week against Saucon Valley they were up 35-0 by the time the teams went into halftime, which gave them the opportunity to rest many of their starters in the second half and not risk injuries to any key players.

“We’ve been very fortunate this season as far as injuries,” said Snyder. “It seems like every season we’ve had some injuries along the way that have really hurt us. This season, we lost Devon Toth [a senior lineman] before the season even started. Ben Walters has filled in and has really done a good job for us.”

Snyder credited the play of both the offensive and defensive lines for helping to lead the team this season. Coming into the season, both lines were filled with new faces who had varying degrees of playing experience before this season.

They have turned out to have surpassed any expectations that the coaching staff had for them.

“We knew what we had as far as skill players, but our lines were a bit of a question mark,” Snyder said. “Looking at where we were in the weight room early on, I wouldn’t have thought they would be as good as they have been.

“They’ve really worked hard for us this season and have been a big part of why we’re 9-0.”