Catasauqua Press

A parade of smiling Catty faces passed by the scorer’s table on their way to the postgame handshake as the Roughs’ girls basketball team snapped a 12-game skid with a 40-28 win over Kutztown Area High School.

Head coach Mark Seremula spoke about the relief in picking up the team’s first win since the second game of the year.

“It feels good; I’m so happy for them,” he said. “I think they were putting too much pressure on themselves because we thought we had a couple of winnable games (Salisbury and Saucon Valley). They relaxed and just played today.”

Derek Troxell and Derek George both envision themselves, and the rest of their sophomore class, being a force in the Colonial League in the next two years.

In the meantime, both are learning and working their way as starters through a transition year for the Roughies in which they had one win (1-13) entering play this week. Troxell has been averaging roughly 10 points per game, and George approximately nine per contest. George had 21 and 22 in his last two games, both career highs at the time.

It wasn’t quick and it sure wasn’t easy.

But after over two years of discussions, debates, arguments and compromises, the Colonial League and Schuylkill League came up with a cooperative football scheduling agreement that allows 28 teams to play their 10 regular season games against more opponents from schools of a similar size.

Officials from both leagues announced the agreement last Thursday at a press conference at Blue Mountain Resort. The agreement will take affect in 2020 and schedules for the first two seasons were handed out at the event.

There was plenty at stake on Wednesday night in the Colonial League wrestling landscape. The West Division and a spot in the four-team Colonial League tournament were up for grabs.

But you’d only be able to tell judging by one team’s performance.

Catasauqua (5-3 in Colonial League) picked up a 42-31 win over Northwestern that handed the Rough Riders the West Division crown and a spot in the league tournament that begins with the semifinals next Monday night. Catasauqua will face top-seeded and unbeaten Saucon Valley.

It wasn’t quick and it sure wasn’t easy.

But after over two years of discussions, debates, arguments and compromises, the Colonial League and Schuylkill League came up with a cooperative football scheduling agreement that allows 28 teams to play their 10 regular season games against more opponents from schools of a similar size.

Officials from both leagues announced the agreement Thursday at a press conference at Blue Mountain Resort. The agreement will take affect in 2020 and schedules for the first two seasons were handed out at the event.

Officials from the Colonial and Schuylkill leagues held a press conference Thursday announcing their new cooperative football scheduling model, which will take affect in the 2020 season.

The 12 Colonial League football teams and 16 from the Schuylkill League will form four divisions based on enrollments and PIAA Classifications. While Colonial League president Bryan Geist insisted the move was not a merger, the cooperative in effect creates a new 28-team league.

“It’s not a perfect system, but we’re getting closer,” said Northwestern Lehigh athletic director Jason Zimmerman.

The Catasauqua boys basketball team didn’t have time to dwell on their heartbreaking 54-53 loss to Northwestern Lehigh on Friday night.

They had to be ready to make the trip to Northampton for a 1 p.m. start against a solid, 7-5 Konkrete Kids team looking to make a push for District XI 6A playoff spot.

Whether it was a hangover from the previous night’s disappointment from losing on a three-point buzzer beater, or fatigue from playing their third game in three days, the Roughs struggled early.

DARTS and TRAP

DARTS

Suburban Dart League

Standings

Star of Bethlehem 33 15 .688

St. Paul’s 28 14 .667

Bath Lutheran 27 18 .600

Dryland 25 23 .521

Christ UCC 23 22 .511

Emmanuel 21 24 .467

Ebenezer 22 26 .458

Farmersville 20 25 .444

St. Stephen’s 20 28 .417

Light of Christ 17 28 .378

Salem UCC 16 29 .356

LaVonte Bouie cherishes every moment he performs on the mat for the Roughies or with the Catty marching band.

He once thought the chances would never come again.

Over the past year, the junior, who wrestles at heavyweight, has battled through a series of health problems, ones that nearly ended his high school career.

It began in July 2017 when he began experiencing a series of chest pains and it eventually sidelined him for the football season. However, he was allowed to perform in the marching band.

With the major portion of the deer hunting seasons about over, our annual deer-take survey from local deer processors and a taxidermy shop shows a healthy population of 8-point bucks, a favorable accomplishment since antler restrictions went into effect in Pennsylvania.