There wasn’t much to separate Bethlehem Catholic and Liberty on Friday night.
While the Hurricanes appeared to be the better team for most of the night anyway, an officiating error and a missed extra point helped distinguish the two Bethlehem rivals as Liberty prevailed 35-20 in a Week 9 showdown at BASD Stadium.
The missed extra point for Bethlehem Catholic came in the first quarter to give Liberty an early advantage, but it wasn’t until the officials lost track of the downs in the fourth quarter that the momentum pushed toward the Hurricanes in a much more important way.
The Golden Hawks began the fourth quarter with a new set of downs before Isiah Lebron ran the ball twice for nine yards to set up 3rd-and-1. An unsportsmanlike conduct foul at the end of the play should have made it 3rd-and-16, but the officials marked it as 4th-and-16.
“They said it was a dead ball, so it was a loss of down, and it was fourth down,” Bethlehem Catholic coach Joe Bernard said. “That’s what they explained to me. That’s what I was told.”
A downfield facemask penalty in the final minute of the first half negated a strip sack by Great Chifirst that would’ve set the Golden Hawks up in Liberty territory, which led to the first-year coach’s frustrations boiling over on the sideline. His players had to push him off the field but not before the officials tacked on 15 more yards on Bernard for unsportsmanlike conduct.
That escalation forced Bernard to respond to the fourth quarter controversy a bit more mildly, but he and the coaching staff still fought unsuccessfully to have the fourth down changed.
“Some of the stuff that went on was very frustrating. I can tell you that right now,” Bernard said. “But at the end of the day, when you play a good football team, we can’t make the mistakes that we made. We went from having 3rd-and-1 to either tie the game or whatever, to taking a dumb 15-yard penalty. That kind of stuff kills you.
“We’ve had too many mistakes, and there’s no excuse.”
A grand total of 13 penalties for 132 yards are parts of the mistakes that Becahi’s leader alluded to, and he was right that good teams, like Liberty, will make you pay.
After an Axel Burkart incompletion on the controversial 4th-and-16, Antonio Fontanez connected with senior wide receiver Jake Pukszyn for a 59-yard touchdown on the very next play to further flip the momentum in Liberty’s favor.
“I had no clue it was fourth down. I honestly thought it was second down, to be honest,” Pukszyn said. “But right when he called the play, I trusted my quarterback, I knew the line was going to block up front, so it was just a real team act, and I ended up being able to get the touchdown.”
Fontanez and the offensive staff were sitting on that play, and the prolific passer couldn’t have been happier with the timing of it.
“We knew it all game, but we were just trying to pull it out of the playbook, and we did it at the perfect time,” Fontanez said.
The experienced signal-called also used his legs effectively by running for three touchdowns on the night, including a 35-yard score with 1:13 remaining to extend his team’s advantage and lock up a victory. His 84 rushing yards and trifecta of touchdowns both set new career-highs for the Allentown Central Catholic transfer who continues to emerge as one of the best quarterbacks in the area.
“It always goes into game planning, QB runs, but we didn’t really use it [so far this year],” Fontanez said. “It felt great to do it today.”
The Hurricanes responded to a dominant opening drive by Bethlehem Catholic, who set the tone on the game’s opening possession by marching 65 yards on 12 plays and killing more than half of the first quarter clock. The only issue was star wide receiver Carter Vassa joined his brother, Cayden, on the injury report with a lower-body injury that sidelined him for the rest of the game.
Liberty took advantage of the shorthanded Golden Hawks defense with back-to-back touchdown drives to move ahead 14-6. Senior running back Gabe Green plunged into the end zone from a yard out for the first score while Fontanez escaped pressure and scrambled for a 15-yard touchdown to spark his big night on the ground.
Even without two of its star players, Becahi responded with an Antonio Salomoni 5-yard touchdown run to cut the deficit to 14-13 going into halftime after Burkart and Rodney Brodie connected for a 20-yard gain on 4th-and-5.
Pukszyn was impressed with the two Golden Hawks who were thrust into a larger role.
“I definitely want to shout out Rodney Brodie. He was a physical corner, and he did a great job on both sides of the ball,” Pukszyn said. “Their quarterback, Axel Burkart, did an amazing job. They were just a physical team who was willing to fight the whole game. It was just a great game to play in.”
Another great rivalry and another great atmosphere awaits Pukszyn and the Hurricanes as a Freedom vs. Liberty showdown highlights rivalry week in the Lehigh Valley in the final week of the regular season.
Fontanez is looking forward to the opportunity to end a six-game losing streak to the Patriots that extends back to 2018 when Freedom won a District 11 quarterfinal matchup just a week after losing 29-10 in the final game of the regular season.
“The preparation starts tomorrow morning … Coach [Shawn Daignault] is going to watch a lot of film tonight. I’m going to watch a lot of film tonight,” Fontanez said. “Go into this, have a good game plan, and do what we do.”
Up next
Liberty (6-3) will prepare for another Bethlehem rivalry as Freedom (5-4) will join the Hurricanes at BASD Stadium on Saturday afternoon for a 1 p.m. kickoff.
Bethlehem Catholic (5-4) wraps up the regular season with a Friday night showdown back at BASD Stadium against Northampton (4-5) at 7 p.m.
Derek Bast is a freelance writer who can be found on Twitter/X at @derek_bast. He can be reached by email at derekbast11@gmail.com.
LIBERTY 35, BETHLEHEM CATHOLIC 20
Becahi: 6; 7; 7; 0 — 20
Liberty: 7; 7; 7; 14 — 35
ORDER OF SCORING
First quarter
BC: Axel Burkart 9 run (Aaron Geiger kick blocked); 5:59
L: Gabe Green 1 run (Christian Hackett kick); 2:28
Second quarter
L: Antonio Fontanez 15 run (Hackett kick); 9:31
BC: Antonio Salomoni 5 run (Geiger kick); 5:39
Third quarter
BC: Burkart 8 run (Geiger kick); 4:37
L: Fontanez 13 run (Hackett kick); 2:27
Fourth quarter
L: Jake Pukszyn 59 pass from Fontanez (Hackett kick); 11:03
L: Fontanez 35 run (Hackett kick); 1:13
TEAM STATISTICS
BC; L
First downs; 18; 19
Rushes-yards; 33-137; 29-160
Passing yards; 152; 192
Comp-Att-INTs; 12-25-1; 10-18-1
Punts; 4-29; 3-34.7
Fumbles-lost; 1-0; 0-0
Penalties-yards; 13-132; 6-50
INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS
Rushing: (BC) Antonio Salomoni 23-109, TD; Isiah Lebron 3-19; Axel Burkart 7-9, 2 TDs; (L) Antonio Fontanez 11-84, 3 TDs; Gabe Green 15-63, TD; Adriaan Deleon 3-13.
Passing: (BC) Burkart 12-25-1, 152 yards; (L) Fontanez 10-18-1, 192 yards, TD.
Receiving: (BC) Rodney Brodie 5-71; Mason Thomas 4-57; Carter Vassa 2-16; Armando Thom 1-8; (L) Jake Pukszyn 3-109, TD; Zyaire Davis 2-51; Jaxon Barlok 3-27; Deleon 1-3; Green 1-2.
Becahi interceptions: Tyre Lewis.
Liberty interceptions: William Reese.
Originally Published: October 17, 2025 at 11:50 PM EDT