Run the ball.

That’s what worked for Schuylkill Haven in their 22-13 victory over the Rough Riders last Friday night.

The Hurricanes’ Aiden Myers ran for 176 of the team’s 255 yards on the ground and scored three touchdowns. Schuylkill Haven won its fourth straight (4-1), while Catasauqua dropped its second straight to even its mark at 3-3.

Roughies’ head coach Travis Brett knew his team had their chances in a game that was close until the end. The Roughies also will be looking to break a streak of slow-starting games when they host Minersville Friday night.

“Yeah, it was close all night,” said Brett. “We had a chance to tie it up with five minutes left, but we missed the extra point. They ran the ball 50 times and had the ball most of the night, at least it seemed like they did.

“We had them in some manageable third downs, but our defense just couldn’t get off the field at times. We missed some big plays downfield, started slow again, and they had a long drive down the field to score.”

Quarterback Aiden Hess completed 13 of 25 attempts for 219 yards and two touchdowns. He is confident his team can rebound this weekend.

“It was a hard game, but I think we had a lot of positives,” he said. “They just pounded the ball and chewed up a lot of clock. I think we’ve learned a lot as a team from this game and will improve from it.

“From here on, we must win, or we will be in trouble.”

Brett had some mixed feelings about the team’s passing game.

“Hess looked all right,” he said. “We had a few drops and missed some guys down field. “But he threw some nice balls.”

The Roughies will welcome Minersville Friday night, and the Battlin’ Miners have a 5-1 overall record. They are coming off a 35-20 victory over Pen Argyl in which they scored 21 second-half points. Running back Luke Stevenosky ran 27 times for 181 yards and scored three touchdowns. Minersville has won two straight.

The third-year head coach also understands the sense of urgency surrounding the team.

“Minersville has a very good running back who can break one at any point.” added Brett. “This is a must win game for us. We really can’t afford to drop any more games the rest of the season if we want to qualify for the district playoffs.”

PREDICTION (Overall record 3-3): Catasauqua is third in the district Class 2 bracket ahead of Palisades (2-4) and Pen Argyl (3-3). The top four teams in the bracket make the postseason, and Catty will travel to Palisades Oct. 27 ... Minersville has won the last to meetings between the teams, winning 38-8 last year and 43-27 in 2021. The Roughies beat the Battlin’ Miners, 31-12, in a district playoff game in 2020 ... Hess is 77 of 127 for 949 yards with 11 touchdowns and three interceptions this season ... Linebacker Chad Beller had 11 tackles against Schuylkill Haven and has 95 tackles, 15 for loss, for the season ... Miles Melendez had 39 and Dylan Pacheco has 32 stops ... Running back Hunter Reitz just had one carry for a yard on offense and has been bothered by shoulder and knee problems, He still leads the team with 281 yards rushing. Jyzaiah Bonilla, who 40 a team-high 40 yards against Schuylkill Haven, is second with 202 yards ... Catty had 54 yards on 14 carries against Schuylkill Haven ... Ian Juica had five catches for 78 yards last week and has 28 receptions for 444 yards for the season ... Stevenosky has 1,287 rushing yards on 127 carries, averaging better than 10 yards per attempt ... This is truly crunchtime for the Roughies, and there will plenty of desperation in the air. Yet, the Roughies will finish the season with Panther Valley (2-4), Palisades, and Salisbury (0-6), so the odds should be in their favor. However, Catty wants to get back to respectability and they face a tall order in stopping Stevenosky ... Over the past few years, the Roughies’ Achilles’ heel defensively has been stopping the run ... Roughies will be desperate here, and they need to score early ... Catty needs to get its running game going and play keep away ... I have been wrong lately about the Roughies, but something still tells me there is plenty of season left ... Roughies will get the proverbial monkey off their back, and coach Snyder can pick me up some beef pasties ... ROUGHIES, 28-26.