If you are going to an end a long losing streak against one of your rivals, you might as well do it in style.
That’s exactly what Bethlehem Catholic did Friday night at Bethlehem Area School District Stadium.
After losing 10 straight games to Freedom, the Golden Hawks put a decade’s worth of misery behind them with a flurry of Axel Burkart passes.
The senior quarterback who is headed for New Hampshire put together one of the best nights in Golden Hawks history as he completed 17 of 19 passes for 414 yards and five touchdowns. He also ran for a score as the Golden Hawks delivered one of the biggest statements of the Eastern Pennsylvania Conference football season with a 49-17 mercy-rule victory over Freedom.
The emphatic victory put Becahi at 6-1 overall, 3-1 in the league and 1-1 in the Northampton County Division.
It also clinched a District 11 4A tournament berth and kept the Golden Hawks firmly entrenched as the No. 1 ranked team in that classification with three games left to play in the regular season.
Freedom, meanwhile, fell to 4-3, 2-2 league and 0-2 in the division.
Scoring summary
Bethlehem Catholic 14 – 21 – 7 – 7 — 49
Freedom 3 – 7 – 0 – 7 — 17
FIRST QUARTER
B: Carter Vassa 40 pass from Axel Burkart (Evan Schultz kick), 9:07
F: Nathan Stannard 33 field goal, 1:01
B: Armando Thom 66 pass from Burkart (Schultz kick), 0:00
SECOND QUARTER
B: Burkart 1 run (Schultz kick), 6:26
F: Lashawn Johnson 2 run (Stannard kick), 5:24
B: Thom 18 pass from Burkart (Schultz kick), 3:49
B: Carter Vassa 34 pass from Burkart (Schultz kick), 0:22
THIRD QUARTER
B: Vassa 1 run (Schultz kick) 3:42
FOURTH QUARTER
B: Tyre Lewis 35 pass from Burkart (Schultz kick), 10:56
F: Jahaire Hughes 1 run (Stannard kick), 0:30