Catasauqua head boys’ basketball coach Eric Snyder knew he had the proverbial deck stacked against him.

His eighth-seeded Rough Riders met top-seeded and defending five-time district champion Executive Education in the opening round of the District 11 Class 3A playoffs.

Yet, Catty held its own in the opening minutes. They stormed out to a 7-2 lead and Executive responded with a timeout.

However, the Raptors’ 1-2-2 trapping defense began to rattle the Roughies, and Executive responded with a 18-0 run to take control of the game with a 20-7 advantage.

From there, the Raptors (19-4) built a 38-18 halftime lead, and posted a 76-37 final victory, ending the Roughies’ first district run since 2020. Catty finished with an overall 9-14 record.

“They were taller, longer, and mostly faster than us,” said Snyder. “The boys came out strong, but we couldn’t handle their press. We were in all the right spots, but we didn’t move the ball quick enough.”

Snyder was impressed with is team’s defensive showing against Executive’s 6-9 center Lamine Sanoh, who had the majority of his nine points when the game was out of reach.

“I thought we did a good job on him,” stressed Snyder. “Matt Fotta did a great job bodying up against him. He got most of his points when they got control of the game.

“But he was such a presence in the paint against us. We couldn’t do anything down low because he would just swat our shots away.”

Despite their loss, the Roughies have gained back some lost respect from a 5-61 record over the past few seasons that included a pair of 1-21 and 0-22 seasons.

“I have had other coaches and referees come up to me this year and tell me that I don’t have the look that I used to have before games,” noted Snyder. “They told me that I had the look that we were already defeated before the game started.

“These kids rally work hard and they want to be out there no matter who we are playing. We gained back a lot of respect for ourselves and from our opponents this season.

“We like where we are headed.”

John Pushkar and Aiden Saadioui are players off the bench and are the lone seniors who will graduate from the squad.

Snyder will have all five starters back for the 2024-25 season, led by sophomore Frankie Pujols, who averaged 15.8 points per game and 3.8 assists per game.

Fellow sophomores Reece Lopez (8.4 points per game), and Hamaad Jenkins (7.7 ppg) are back to provide the scoring punch.

Juniors Jeremiah Cofie (6.0 ppg, 7.1 rebounds per game) and Matt Fotta (5.5 ppg, 5.0 rpg) provide a consistent, low-post presence.

Sophomores Manny Bolmer, Caden Weaver, Dylan Lorah, Josiah LaFond, and freshman Aidan Reilly all had their share of minutes this season.

“We easily could have been 12-10 this season,” added Snyder. “There were some things that didn’t go our way in a few games that easily could have swung our way.

“We had to take care of the little things. We also take this experience and build on it for next year.”