Nazareth Area High School senior kicker Owen Hall watched his 46-yard field goal attempt sail to the left with 16 seconds remaining in the fourth quarter of the thrilling battle against Bethlehem Catholic on Saturday night.

But moments later, Hall had his chance at redemption.

Blue Eagles junior Connor Nowroski recovered a fumble after a strip sack by junior Jackson Medlar on the Golden Hawks’ first play of the ensuing drive.

Hall connected on a 27-yard field goal as time expired and top-ranked Nazareth celebrated a memorable back-and-forth 52-49 road win over fourth-ranked Bethlehem Catholic.

“I know everyone around me believes in second chances,” Hall said. “You have to keep your head up, there’s always more time to play. That doesn’t happen without Medlar getting that crucial fumble right there and Connor getting the fumble recovery. It’s not only me. It’s the snapper (Matt Leluga), the blockers, the holder (Parker Kalinoski). It all has to be perfect for me to be able to kick.”

“I was coming from the backside. I just kept driving my legs and I ended up there somehow,” Medlar said of the sack on Bethlehem Catholic’s final play. “His arm was going back and I hit him from behind. I rolled him and then he dropped the ball. Honestly, it was all about the team. The team helped us stop them and that’s how we won. We gave Owen another shot.”

“We just kept battling and fighting all night long,” Nazareth coach Tom Falzone said. “It was a great game. It wasn’t pretty by any means, obviously giving up all we gave up. The defense, we said to them, we just need one play, one stop. The defense ends up making the crucial play of the game right there and giving our special teams a second chance and giving Owen another chance to kick that through. Proud of everyone’s effort here tonight, offense, defense, the whole team. It was a heck of a fight. Very memorable.”

The Golden Hawks tied the game at 49 when senior quarterback Axel Burkart found senior wide receiver Carter Vassa for a 16-yard touchdown pass on a fourth-and-6.

A 9-yard touchdown run by senior Justin Martinez put the Golden Hawks ahead 42-35 with 9:35 remaining in the fourth quarter.

The Blue Eagles then went on a 14-0 run to take the lead. Nazareth tied the score at 42 with 6:00 left in the fourth quarter on a 13-yard jet-sweep pass from junior Luke DePietro to senior Lance Zuercher.

“We’ve been practicing it. Even in my freshman year, I threw a touchdown pass,” DePietro said of the trick play. “Our coaches believe in me. I knew when they called that play, we were going to execute it.”

Nazareth took a 49-42 advantage 55 seconds later by junior Will Bacolo, who spun away from defenders and then crossed the goal line on a 14-yard touchdown run. The drive was set up senior Cooper Wenrich’s forced fumble and junior Jayden Hutchison’s fumble recovery on a Bethlehem Catholic kickoff return.

Following an interception by senior linebacker Jonathan Ayache, Burkart connected with Vassa for a 49-yard pass to the 1-yard line. The Bethlehem Catholic quarterback then scored on a 1-yard run to make it a 28-14 lead for the Golden Hawks with 4:44 left in the second quarter.

The Blue Eagles answered with 56 seconds remaining in the second quarter when Zuercher took a direct snap and ran for a 6-yard touchdown to trim Bethlehem Catholic’s lead to 28-21.

The Golden Hawks got the ball down to the Nazareth 3-yard line at the end of the first half, but elected to for the touchdown instead of attempt a field goal on the final play of the second quarter. The Blue Eagles forced an incompletion by pressuring the quarterback and went into halftime trailing by seven points.

Burkart found Vassa, who made some impressive moves on a 61-yard pass. Bethlehem Catholic then scored on a 8-yard touchdown pass from Burkart to junior Armando Thom with 4:44 left in the third quarter to increase the lead to 35-21.

The Blue Eagles answered 51 seconds later with an 89-yard touchdown pass from junior quarterback Cooper Madson to senior Matt Leluga to trim the Golden Hawks’ lead to seven points.

DePietro came down with a highlight-reel, one-handed interception for Nazareth at the Blue Eagles’ 13-yard line with 3:05 remaining in the third quarter.

It was then a 41-yard catch by DePietro from Madson to get the Blue Eagles down to the Bethlehem Catholic 4-yard line. Bacolo scored on a 4-yard touchdown run with 1:44 left in the third quarter to tie the game 35-35.

Bacolo rushed for 131 yards and three touchdowns on 32 carries for Nazareth.

DePietro hauled in 13 catches for 137 yards and also threw a touchdown pass.

Leluga finished with four receptions for 160 yards and a touchdown. He also returned an interception 32 yards for a score less than two minutes into the first quarter to kick off the wild scoring fest on Saturday night.

Madson completed 23 of 30 passes for 339 yards to go with a touchdown and an interception.

“Those two are studs. They have good receivers. He’s a great quarterback,” Madson said of Bethlehem Catholic’s Burkart and Vassa. “But I think our receivers are the best in the league and I think we proved that tonight. As a group, I think our receivers are the best in the league. Line did a great job. I was able to have time and be able to dish it out to my playmakers and we got the win.”

For the Golden Hawks, Vassa had nine catches for 243 yards and a touchdown. The Bethlehem Catholic standout also rushed for 64 yards and two scores on four carries.

Burkart went 15-for-27 passing for 370 yards to go with two touchdowns and an interception. The senior quarterback also ran for a score.

Martinez rushed for 86 yards and a pair of touchdowns on six carries in the game for the Golden Hawks, who saw their three-game winning streak snapped.

“At the end of the day, the penalties and mistakes caught up with us,” Bethlehem Catholic coach Joe Bernard said. “That’s bit us a couple times this season. You can’t do that against good football team. You just can’t. That’s the shame of it. That’s what I just told the kids. You just took the sixth-ranked 6A team in the state to the wire and we made a lot of self-inflicted wounds. If we can eliminate self-inflicted wounds, we’re a good football team. That’s how I look at it.”

Bethlehem Catholic, which dropped to 6-2 overall and 1-2 in the Eastern Pennsylvania Conference Northampton Division this season, will host Liberty at noon Saturday.

“We’ve got 24 hours to get over it because we have the Christmas City championship on the line next week. They got our attention immediately on Monday. They can feel crappy tonight,” Bernard said. “But at the end of the day, we’ve got to get ready to go on Monday. We got a Christmas City championship to win. That’s where our focus will be on Monday.”

Nazareth won its seventh consecutive game, improving to 7-1 overall and 3-0 in the EPC Northampton Division. The Blue Eagles will host Northampton on Friday night.

“It’s a team effort. That’s the thing,” Falzone said. “Offense, defense made plays, special teams making plays. On the kickoffs, we were making plays. It was awesome. Coaches, great job on keeping these kids locked in and focused and battling this whole time. This was a long one, this was a fun one. But in the end, you enjoy tonight. The kids can enjoy another day, the coaches have to get back on it. It’s time for Northampton. We got get ourselves locked in and ready to go. That’s just the next step. Hopefully, we can figure out what they’re all about.”