CATASAUQUA — Northern Lehigh’s football program isn’t taking anything for granted.

The Bulldogs took their lumps in a three-win campaign in 2023.

More experienced and battled-tested, the 2024 squad had made the type of strides head coach Joe Tout and the players were looking for this fall.

That progress continued on Friday as Northern Lehigh picked up a 27-3 victory over Catasauqua.

It was another impressive performance for a squad that hopes to be clicking down the stretch.

“We put together a good week of practice. This was a good win,” said Tout. “It’s a good win coming down here. Catty was physical. I think they kind of knew, they’re fighting for their playoff lives right now with seeding, too. And Catty-Northern Lehigh, since the Colonial League started, with our old schedule this would traditionally be Week 9 so it built into a little bit of a rivalry. It’s two close communities.

“But to come here and get a win, we’re happy. This is one of the places, before me with Coach (Jim) Tkach and myself, we’ve been in so many games where you’re in a funk and it’s a close game when you think you have a better team. Any time you come here and get a win, it’s a plus. And now we’ve won two in a row, we want to get to three in a row. We keep taking steps forward. We went from three wins last year, and we doubled it this year. Now we want to get to that seventh win.”

The Bulldogs (6-2) marched 56 yards on their opening drive, with Chris Frame rushing in from 12 yards out to make it 6-0. Frame struck again on a fourth down from Northern Lehigh’s own 49-yard line with a 51-yard score to push the advantage to 13-0 with just under 11 minutes to play in the second quarter.

“We decided to toss it, and really just wanted to get the first down,” said Frame. “But I was able to break it free. There was one person to beat, and that’s all I need. The line did great there.”

With 1:44 left in the second quarter, Northern Lehigh ran a fake punt on fourth and five from its own 42 but got stopped.

The Roughies (3-5) drove inside the Bulldogs’ five-yard line, with the big play a 21-yard connection from quarterback Aiden Reilly to Emmanuel Bolmer, before Jonathan Cordon-Pinto hit a 24-yard field goal with 0:24 left before halftime.

Northern Lehigh seized momentum on the opening kickoff of the second half. Frame took a shorter kick that headed to the sideline and turned it into a 39-yard return to put the Bulldogs’ at the Catty 23-yard line.

Four plays later, Isaac Raber scored from five yards out to push the advantage to 20-3 with 10:35 left in the third quarter.

“We saw that they angled it toward me, so the coaches told us to move up a little bit,” Frame said of the kickoff.

“They got momentum, and Chris grabbed it right back,” Tout said of the kickoff. “We adjusted, and that’s our kickoff return coach, Derek Long.

“Everybody’s doing this now, we call them mortar kicks, where they pop them up, so we adjusted. And you kick it to a kid like Chris, and we’re seeing it every week, he’s doing something big every week, and that was huge. That got the momentum right back to us.”

Northern Lehigh forced a punt on the Roughies next drive and then took the ball from its own nine-yard line and capped the drive with a 10-yard touchdown run from Mason Rothrock to make it 27-3 with 1:36 left in the third quarter.

The Northern Lehigh defense held Catty to just one first down total on its final three drives.

HIGH PRAISE ... Tout lauded Raber and Rothrock for the effort they put in, and was thrilled to see the duo get to score on Friday. “I’m happy for Mason. Another workhorse. Mason’s dad played and was pretty good here at Catty, and I think that’s his first varsity touchdown, so that’s pretty special,” said Tout. “I know his grandfather was here and lives in the community. I’m happy for him because he’s another guy that blocks and blocks and blocks and I think that’s probably pretty special for him. Isaac Raber is a guy that doesn’t get a lot of headlines. He’s a fullback, but we put him in that flanker position because he’s such a good blocker, and he got the double team that sprung Chris on his touchdown.”

STAT LEADERS ... Frame finished with 12 carries for 122 yards and two scores and a 34-yard catch. Grady Newhard had 17 carries for 96 yards. Catty’s Aiden Reilly passed for 148 yards, and surpassed 1,000 yards through the air on the season, while Emmanuel Bolmer caught three passes for 65 yards and Cadeo Estronza had four grabs for 51 yards .

UP NEXT ... Northern Lehigh hosts Salisbury next week, while Catasauqua welcomes Pen Argyl.

No. Lehigh 27, Catty 3

No. Lehigh 6 7 14 0 - 27

Catasauqua 0 3 0 0 - 3

NL - Frame 12 run (conversion failed)

NL - Frame 51 run (Hanna kick)

C - Cordon-Pinto 24 field goal

NL - Raber 5 run (Hanna kick)

NL - Rothrock 10 run (Hanna kick)