Seniors Emile Ayache and Cayden Vassa have seen it all in their four years as members of the Bethlehem Catholic football team \u2026 some good, some bad, some ugly.<\/p>\n
They have lost district title games and won one. They have played for four different head coaches.<\/p>\n
Through it all, they have tried to represent the program, their school, their community, and themselves well.<\/p>\n
They will face rival Allentown Central Catholic for the seventh time Thursday at Bethlehem Area School District Stadium in the District 11 4A semifinals.<\/p>\n
Their leadership will be counted on to keep the Golden Hawks steady and determined to move on to the next play during what figures to be another emotional and hard-fought edition of the Lehigh Valley\u2019s \u201cHoly War.\u201d<\/p>\n
While it is not a championship \u2013 and state-ranked Southern Lehigh will likely be waiting in the wings of the winner \u2013 it will have the feel of a make-or-break game.<\/p>\n
Both of these teams have lived in the shadow of Eastern Pennsylvania Conference unbeatens Easton and Parkland and others with better records all season.<\/p>\n
All that matters is competing for 48 minutes and seeing which one is left standing.<\/p>\n
First-year Becahi coach Joe Bernard is happy he has Vassa and Ayache on his side.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe name game captains every week and Emile has been one for every game and I think that speaks for itself,\u201d Bernard said. \u201cCayden is also a tremendous leader and has been named captain several times. These two guys are the ones who have really gotten this program back to where we want to be. Their work-ethic and everything else they bring to the table has fed into the other guys on the team.\u201d<\/p>\n
Ayache, whose father, Sam, is a 1991 Becahi graduate and a member of the 1990 state champion Golden Hawks, has grown up with Becahi football in his DNA. His older brother, Sammy, was a member of the 2023 District 11 championship squad and is now a sophomore at nationally ranked Lehigh. His younger brother Jon Jon is a junior and one of his teammates.<\/p>\n
\u201cI have been here since I was 5 years old, walking the same hallways,\u201d Ayache said. \u201cI have been part of the Little Hawks program from 5 years old on up. So, you know, right now I am just trying to take it all in and keep the season rolling.\u201d<\/p>\n
Ayache, who was chosen as a second-team all-conference offensive tackle and defensive tackle, admits that the team has had its share of adversity, not only this season but in previous years.<\/p>\n
\u201cA lot of stuff happened above us,\u201d he said. \u201cBut that was all stuff that you can\u2019t do anything about. A lot of people would choose to leave and transfer out and find a new school. But we fought through it together as a team and I think it built up our character. It taught us to lead on each other, especially in these high-pressure games. When adversity hits we can hande it because we\u2019ve all been through so much already over the last four years and it feels good to rely on the same the guys that have been here for four years.\u201d<\/p>\n
One of those guys Ayache has relied on has been Vassa.<\/p>\n
\u201cCayden was one of the first kids I talked to when I was a freshman and we quickly became friends and have grown so close together over the last four years through offseason workouts and everything,\u201d Ayache said. \u201cWe have spent so much time together and I think it helps us on the field because you\u2019d rather protect someone you care about instead of someone who\u2019s just another player. Emery Oberholzer and Alex Dominguez have also been around here for a long time. I know them since we were Little Hawks.\u201d<\/p>\n
Vassa, who has his brother, Carter, to throw to in the Becahi offense, said the close-knit nature of the players has allowed them to thrive.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis definitely was a journey here over the last four years and I\u2019ve dealt with an injury this senior year that set me back,\u201d he said. \u201cBut I have a lot of faith and trust in God\u2019s plan and just see what\u2019s in front of me. Me and my brother and the Ayache brothers, we\u2019ve just stuck to the plan. I think I have grown as a person, especially with the environment we have here at Becahi. I just try to stay true to what I believe in and what I saw for us in the future as a football team.\u201d<\/p>\n
He would love to beat ACCHS and would like another another shot against Southern Lehigh after the Spartans grounded the Golden Hawks 28-7 in the district final last year.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe were missing some players and we had a lot of mishaps on offense,\u201d he said. \u201cWe could have brought a lot more to the table, but we just weren\u2019t that team that night. We want like to make it back to the finals, but you have to take it one week at a time. Hopefully, we\u2019ll get there and play whoever is there and this time we want to bring our \u2018A\u2019 game.\u201d<\/p>\n
No. 3 seed Allentown Central Catholic (6-5, 4-3) vs. No. 2 Bethlehem Catholic (7-4, 3-4)<\/p>\n
When\/where: 6:30 p.m. Thursday at Bethlehem Area School District Stadium<\/p>\n
At stake: A berth in next week\u2019s District 11 4A title game against either No. 1 Southern Lehigh (11-0) or No. 4 Blue Mountain (7-4)<\/p>\n
The storylines: This is a renewal of one of the Lehigh Valley\u2019s great football rivalries and a meeting of two of the area\u2019s most successful programs. The Golden Hawks and Vikings are tied for the most district titles of area programs with 14. Since the PIAA went to six classifications in 2016, Becahi or ACCHS has won the District 11 4A title in seven of the nine years. They have met in the postseason five times, with Central winning three of the five. While Becahi leads the all-time series 34-30, the teams have split the last 24 meetings, 12-12, including the Golden Hawks\u2019 28-24 win on Sept. 20. The Vikings rolled into the semifinals with a 52-21 win over Jim Thorpe. The Golden Hawks were tied 14-14 with Pottsville early in the fourth quarter before Antonio Thom\u2019s 78-yard catch and dance down the sideline provided the go-ahead points and Becahi tacked on a late score.<\/p>\n
Players to watch: The 474-yard passing performance by Central\u2019s junior quarterback Patrick Cahill last week vs. Jim Thorpe elevated him to fourth in the league in passing with 1,979 yards and 20 touchdowns. Sophomore Tahir Edmondson has been Cahill\u2019s top target with 34 catches for 568 yards and seven TDs. Deon Johnson leads the Vikings\u2019 ground game with 360 yards and five scores. The Becahi offense is led by Cayden Vassa, who has run for 876 yards and 13 TDs and passed for 793 yards and five TDs. Axel Burkart has also played quarterback and has thrown for 1,277 yards and nine TDs, while Carter Vassa has caught 47 passes for 802 and eight scores.<\/p>\n
Keith Groller\u2019s pick: Becahi 33-21<\/p>\n
Note: Keith Groller\u2019s picks were 8-0 last week and are now 88-23 this season.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Seniors Emile Ayache and Cayden Vassa have seen it all in their four years as members of the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":26187,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[14],"tags":[153,155,154,304,305,726,432],"class_list":{"0":"post-26186","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-bethlehem","8":"tag-bethlehem","9":"tag-bethlehem-headlines","10":"tag-bethlehem-news","11":"tag-high-school-football","12":"tag-high-school-sports","13":"tag-sports","14":"tag-top-stories-tmc"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26186","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=26186"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26186\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/26187"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=26186"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=26186"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=26186"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}