CATASAUQUA - Hydration was a big issue for Northern Lehigh in its season opener against Catasauqua.

The Bulldogs lost keys players, at times in critical situations, because of cramping and fell to the Rough Riders 48-22 at Alumni Field in Catasauqua Friday night.

Northern Lehigh was already depleted by injuries coming into the game so the personnel losses during the game hit hard.

“I think we had four guys out coming into the game and one of them would have been the quarterback, that’s no excuse though,” coach Joe Tout said. “We have to do a better job on conditioning and make sure that these guys are ready for this. It might mean picking up the pace at practice or something, but we have to do better at that.”

Freshman quarterback Parker Schaffer threw just six times for 25 yards and was intercepted twice, once by Emmanuel Bolmer, who returned it 20 yards for a touchdown that put Catty up 21-7.

Earlier, Jordan Bradshaw intercepted a pass and on the next play, the Rough Riders capitalized with a 38-yard touchdown strike.

The Bulldogs also gave Catty a break when they jumped offside on a fourth-and-four play to give the Rough Riders a first down. On the next play, Aiden Hess hit Ian Juica for a 39-yard touchdown strike. Hess and Juica hooked up six times for four touchdowns and 147 yards in the game.

“We have some things we need to tighten up and we will work on those this week,” Tout said. “We have some young guys out there, who are still adapting to things, but they are learning and they’re working hard, so they’ll get there.”

Down 14-0, Northern Lehigh got on the board on the first play of the second quarter when Grady Newhard took a handoff and burst through the left side of the line and down the field for a 75-yard touchdown run.

When the Bulldogs would cut into the Catasauqua lead, the Rough Riders would respond with a score of their own, keeping Northern Lehigh at bay. The lead went to 28-7 for Catasauqua with 5:36 left before halftime.

Just before the half ended, Tout dialed up a little gadget play that saw Newhard take the pitch and then handoff inside to Chris Frame, who scampered 32 yards for the touchdown to make it 28-14.

Northern Lehigh opened the third quarter with a nearly six-minute drive that ended with a quarterback sneak followed by a run by Newhard for the conversion that brought Northern Lehigh with 6 at 28-22.

Perhaps the play of the night came on the ensuing kickoff when Chase Moffitt executed a perfect onside kick that went off a Catasauqua defender and bounced right back to Northern Lehigh, but they were unable to recover the ball. From there, Catty went 46 yards in four plays to up the lead to 34-22.

“Yeah, that was one of the plays that we need to make. If we make that play, it’s a completely different situation, but instead, they have the ball and a short field,” Tout said. “You have to hand it to them because they played a good game and took advantage of situations and that’s how you win games.”

SHORT WEEK

... Northern Lehigh doesn’t have much time to figure things out as they come back for a Thursday night game at Northwestern Lehigh. The two teams will play their traditional Thursday night game on Labor Day weekend at Tiger Stadium.