Bethlehem will hold its annual Halloween Parade on Sunday afternoon, but Bethlehem Catholic had its own parade on Saturday.
After beating Liberty 42-28 at Bethlehem Area School District Stadium to win the Christmas City title for the first time since 2013, the Golden Hawks team, band and cheerleaders walked back to the school about a mile away.
Some of the players even wore Santa hats to get into the Christmas spirit, but these Santas don’t give out presents on the night of Dec. 24. Instead, they give their fans lots of big-time plays.
Becahi, which beat Freedom 49-17 on Oct. 9, improved to 7-2 on the season, 4-2 league and 2-2 in the Northampton County Division with a game against Northampton left to play Friday night.
Liberty, meanwhile, fell to 2-7, 1-5 in the league and 0-4 in the division with Freedom yet to play on Saturday afternoon.
The Golden Hawks bounced back from a disappointing 52-49 loss to Nazareth on the last play of the game by getting another spectacular offensive performance from the big-play combo of quarterback Axel Burkart and receiver Carter Vassa.
“The good thing after that tough loss was that we had to bounce back and play a rivalry game,”: said Becahi coach Joe Bernard. “We knew Liberty would be up for this game. It’s just a bear if you’re not ready to play. We didn’t play our greatest game, but we didn’t panic.”
Becahi had lost two in a row and six of the last eight against Liberty, and before this year’s win they had lost to Freedom 10 straight times.
But the Golden Hawks have one of the most explosive offenses in District 11 football and overpowered both of their Bethlehem neighbors.
“Winning this title is big for our program, our school, our community, our Becahi family is big,” Bernard said. “I’m really proud and happy for everyone.”
As for special quarterback, who is headed to New Hampshire and has thrown for more than 2,500 yards and 24 touchdowns, Bernard has nothing but praise. The same for Vassa.
“Axel read his reads very well and they gave us some things, and the matchups were there for him and he took advantage,” Bernard said. “Carter is the best player in the Valley hands down. He’s such a great competitor on both sides of the ball. He does everything and he’s a tremendous leader and student-athlete.”
Burkart completed 24 of 32 passes for 469 yards and four touchdowns. Vassa caught 12 passes for 249 yards and caught a TD pass and ran for one as the Golden Hawks scored 42 points or more for the fifth straight game.
More story to come.
Scoring summary
Liberty 0 – 6 – 15 – 7 — 28
Becahi 0 – 21 – 14 – 7 — 42
SECOND QUARTER
B: Armando Thom 16 pass from Axel Burkart (Evan Schultz kick), 9:09
L: Zyaire Davis 87 kickoff return (run failed), 8:57
B: Carter Vassa 3 run (Schultz kick), 6:20
B: Vassa 27 pass from Burkart (Schultz kick), 3:05
THIRD QUARTER
B: Tyre Lewis 47 pass from Burkart (Schultz kick), 8:38
L: Mekkhi McKenzie 1 run (Davis pass from Alsaiah Gross), 6:05
L: Davis 33 pass from Gross (Christian Hackett kick), 5:56
B: Vassa 13 pass from Burkart (Schultz kick), 1:04
FOURTH QUARTER
B: Justin Martinez 12 run (Schultz kick) 4:49
L: Greg Tillman 27 pass from Gross (Hackett kick) 3:23
Individual stats
RUSHING
Liberty (19 for 73): Treyce Whitlow 8-38; Mekkhi McKenzie 5-10; Alsaiah Gross 5-4; Dominic Fontanez 1-21.
Becahi (36 for 145): Justin Martinez 17-111, TD; Axel Burkart 10-8; Carter Vassa 5-18, TD; Antonio Salomoni 4-8.
PASSING
Becahi: Burkart 24-32-0, 469 yards, 4 TDs.
Liberty: Gross 6-13-0, 68 yards; Whitlow 1-1-0, 37 yards; Dominic Fontanez 0-4-0.
RECEIVING
Liberty: Davis 5-95, TD; Greg Tillman 1-27, TD; Whitlow 1-3.
Becahi: Vassa 13-249, 2 TDs; Tyre Lewis 5-98, TD; Armando Thom 2-46, TD; Anderson Gomez 2-32; Antonio Salomoni 1-37; Martinez 1-8.