Niko Castillo takes a handoff left during Schuylkill Haven's 62-14 rout of Catasauqua in Saturday's District 11 Class AA quarterfinal at Rotary Field (Photo by Leroy Boyer).

SCHUYLKILL HAVEN — It didn’t take long for Schuylkill Haven’s power running game to overwhelm Catasauqua on Saturday night.

Colton Reber scored a pair of touchdowns on the Hurricanes’ first four plays, setting the tone for a 62-14 rout of the Rough Riders in a District 11 Class AA quarterfinal at Rotary Field.

The junior running back finished with 307 yards rushing and scored six total touchdowns as the top-seeded Hurricanes (11-0) advanced to next Saturday’s Class AA semifinal against Northern Lehigh at 6 p.m. at Rotary Field.

Northern Lehigh edged Palisades 29-28 in overtime, scoring the game-winning points on a trick two-point conversion.

“They’re used to seeing spread offenses. They’re not use to seeing power run games like ours,” Schuylkill Haven coach Mike Farr said of Catasauqua. “They gave us some looks that we liked.

“In the second quarter we started working on getting the ball downfield. We started working on some things. We saw (Blake) Rossi had some mismatches, so we just took advantage of what they were giving us.”

Reber raced 46 yards on the game’s third play to open the scoring. After a quick three-and-out by eighth-seeded Catasauqua (4-7), Reber broke loose for a 58-yard TD run on the next play.

Reber’s two TD runs and a pair of two-point conversion runs gave Schuylkill Haven a 16-0 lead just 2:38 into the contest.

“It’s great,” Reber said about the long touchdown runs. “I’m pretty quick. I run like a deer. I take off … I’m just gone.”

Reber added a 22-yard TD run and another two-point conversion run on Haven’s fourth possession to make it 24-0 after one frame. He added a 52-yard TD run and an 11-yard touchdown reception in the final 45 seconds of the first half to give the Hurricanes a 52-6 halftime advantage.

Reber then scored on a 33-yard run on Haven’s third play of the third quarter for his sixth touchdown. His 307 yards rushing and six TDs upped his season totals to 2,268 yards and 40 total touchdowns.

“It was a great night for me and the team,” Reber said. “We came out here, did what we had to do and got the W.”

Farr used the second quarter to work on his team’s passing game and senior quarterback Max Heim tossed three touchdown passes.

He connected with Blake Rossi on throws of 18 and 26 yards and hit Reber for an 11-yard swing pass for another score with 11 seconds left in the first half.

Heim finished 6-for-12 for 130 yards, becoming the first Schuylkill Haven quarterback to go over 1,000 yards passing in 20 years — Mookie Miller was the last one to do it in 2005.

“It was great. Our line blocked perfectly and Heim put a ball on me perfectly every time,” said Rossi, who finished with three catches for 77 yards. “We just have to keep executing to the best of our ability.”

Schuylkill Haven compiled 18 first downs, 375 yards rushing and 505 total yards in the first half. The Hurricanes finished with 485 yards rushing and 615 total yards. In addition to Reber’s big night, Niko Castillo rushed for 109 yards on just five carries.

Haven’s final points came on a 20-yard field goal by Grayson Fessler after the Hurricanes’ JV offense put together a nice seven-play drive that reached the 3-yard line.

Catasauqua head coach Joe Henrich, in his second year at the helm of the Rough Riders after previously coaching at Bethlehem Catholic, said his squad doesn’t see a power running game like Schuylkill Haven’s very often.

The Rough Riders scored on a 36-yard halfback pass from Manny Bolmer to Omar Pacheco Jr. in the second quarter and on a 6-yard run by Tray Dunn in the final minutes of the game.

“Coach (Farr) has been here for a long time. They have a system, they have a program, a standard,” Henrich said of Schuylkill Haven. “They have an expectation of what they do.

“They’re obviously committed to the weight room all year round, linemen and skilled guys. It’s the combination of those things and being able to play with confidence because they’ve been playing together. It’s what you call a program.

“It’s really tough to stop when you have size,” he continued. “When you’re big and strong, then you have kids who are big and strong and have speed … we don’t see that very often. You have to be able to match that up front and we’re not there yet.”

Game Summary

Schuylkill Haven 62, Catasauqua 14

Catty (4-7)                 0          6          0          8  —    14

Haven (11-0)              24        28        7          3  —    62

SH — C. Reber 46 run (C. Reber run)

SH — C. Reber 58 run (C. Reber run)

SH — C. Reber 22 run (C. Reber run)

SH — Rossi 18 pass Heim (Goad run)

Cat — Pacheco 36 pass from Bolmer (kick failed)

SH — Rossi 26 pass from Heim (attempt failed)

SH — C. Reber 52 run (Fessler kick)

SH — C. Reber 11 pass from Heim (Fessler kick)

SH — C. Reber 33 run (Fessler kick)

SH — FG Fessler 20

Cat — Dunn 6 run (Bolmer pass from Estronza)

Team Statistics

                                    Cat               SH

First Downs                10                 22

Rushes-Yards              32-204          30-485

Passes                          9-18-1          6-12-0

Passing Yards             78                 130

Total Yards                 282               615

Fumbles/Lost              2-0                0-0

Penalties                      5-45              8-65

Individual Statistics

RUSHING: Catasauqua — Estronza 15-92, Dunn 15-66, Bolmer 2-46. Schuylkill Haven — C. Reber 18-307, Castillo 5-109, Goad 3-52, Yoder 3-14, Gerber 1-3

PASSING: Catasauqua —- Estronza 8-17-1, 42; Bolmer 1-1-0, 36. Schuylkill Haven —- Heim 6-12-0, 130.

RECEIVING: Catasauqua — Pacheco 2-48, Bolmer 5-21, Dunn 1-7, Lafond 1-2. Schuylkill Haven — Rossi 3-77, Castillo 1-29, Balulis 1-13, C. Reber 1-11.

INTERCEPTIONS: Schuylkill Haven — Goad