Catasauqua head football coach Travis Brett believed he had the perfect game plan for Executive Education in their District 11 Class 2A championship game last weekend.

“We wanted to run the ball and eat up some clock,” said Brett. “We scored on just about every drive we had. Our kids were in the right spots defensively. (Defensive coordinator) Tim Fisher did a good job calling the plays.

“There were running around at the end, and we didn’t get a rush. We had guys back, but their quarterback made a play. We just couldn’t stop them when we had to do it.”

Executive Education (7-3) connected on four touchdown passes, their last one a 64-yarder in the closing seconds to lift them to a 32-29 victory over Catasauqua (7-5) for their first district crown. Darmel completed 13-of-22 attempts for 249 yards with the four touchdowns.

The Rough Riders were seeking their first gold medal since 2013 and their six overall.

“I would rather lose 40-0 than that way,” added Brett. “It stinks. They just got a couple of plays on us. When you look at everything, we thought we had a good day. I was happy with what we were able to do offensively.”

The Roughies also were hurt by a 94-yard kickoff return by Jymieh Roman, who also was a recipient of one of the touchdown passes.

“We had been kicking short,” said Brett.

Antonie Hunsicker ran for a game-high 177 yards and scored two touchdowns, and quarterback Christian Fye threw for only 27 yards, but he ran for 21 and scored a rushing touchdown. Hunsicker needs 90 yards to pass 1,000, and Fye is close to 1,000 yards passing for the season.

Brett also noted that Ezra Garcia will not play in the annual Thanksgiving Day game against Northampton due to a broken elbow.

He saw Northampton (11-1) when they played Parkland in their District 11 Class 6A semifinal and was impressed. The teams will meet in Catasauqua for their 99th meeting.

“Their offensive and defensive lines are enormous,” said Brett. “They must average about 280 while we have 150-pound guards.

“We will look to run the ball and so will they. They also have guys on the outside defensively. We will definitely be challenged.”