Bethlehem Catholic lost the last two years to Southern Lehigh in the District 11 4A championship game.<\/p>\n
In 2024, the Spartans went on from that win to reach the state semifinals.<\/p>\n
Last year after beating the Golden Hawks, Phil Sams\u2019 team won it all behind fantastic performances by running back Sean Steckert and quarterback Colton Sams, among others.<\/p>\n
This year, once again, Southern Lehigh is one of the strongest teams in the Lehigh Valley and the state.<\/p>\n
But the Spartans are in 5A, opening up a path in 4A.<\/p>\n
The team perhaps best positioned to take advantage of that is Bethlehem Catholic.<\/p>\n
The Golden Hawks are 6-1, with their lone loss being a last-play defeat to Easton. They are coming off one of the most impressive wins of the season, a 49-17 rout of Freedom.<\/p>\n
Senior quarterback Axel Burkart threw for 414 yards and five touchdowns and also ran for one.<\/p>\n
That win gained statewide attention and moved Becahi into the top 10 in Class 4A.<\/p>\n
The Golden Hawks are ranked No. 10 ahead of Saturday night\u2019s showdown with Nazareth, another 6-1 team.<\/p>\n
Several other Lehigh Valley-area teams have maintained their position in the state rankings. Northwestern Lehigh remains No. 1 in 3A, with Notre Dame-Green Pond right behind at No. 2.<\/p>\n
Southern Lehigh remains ranked No. 4 in Class 5A and Parkland holds steady at No. 5 in 6A.<\/p>\n
Palmerton, which was ranked No. 10 in 3A, dropped out of the rankings after losing to Notre Dame-Green Pond 49-6.<\/p>\n
Class 6A<\/p>\n
Rank. Team; District; Record; Previous<\/p>\n
1. Pittsburgh C.C. (7); 7-0; 1<\/p>\n
2. Harrisburg (3); 7-0; 2<\/p>\n
3. State College (6); 7-0; 3<\/p>\n
4. St. Joseph\u2019s Prep (12); 4-1; 4<\/p>\n
5. Parkland (11); 6-1; 5<\/p>\n
6. Bishop McDevitt (3); 6-1; 6<\/p>\n
7. Downingtown East (1); 6-0; 7<\/p>\n
8. Plymouth-Whitemarsh (1); 6-0; 8<\/p>\n
9. Wilson-West Lawn (3); 6-1; 9<\/p>\n
10. Pennridge (1); 7-0; 10<\/p>\n
Teams to watch: Central Bucks West (1) 6-1, Central York (3) 5-2, Manheim Township (3) 6-1, Nazareth (11) 6-1, Roman Catholic (12) 4-2, Spring-Ford (1) 6-1.<\/p>\n
Class 5A<\/p>\n
Rank. Team; District; Record; Previous<\/p>\n
1. Pine-Richland (7); 6-1; 1<\/p>\n
2. Imhotep Charter (12); 6-1; 2<\/p>\n
3. Springfield-Delco (1); 7-0; 3<\/p>\n
4. Southern Lehigh (11); 7-0; 4<\/p>\n
5. Twin Valley (3); 7-0; 5<\/p>\n
6. Penn-Trafford (7); 7-0; 6<\/p>\n
7. Upper St. Clair (7); 7-0; 7<\/p>\n
8. Chester (1); 7-0; 9<\/p>\n
9. Strath Haven (1); 6-1; NR<\/p>\n
10. Exeter Township (3); 6-1; NR<\/p>\n
Teams to watch: Garnet Valley (1) 5-1, Great Valley (1) 7-0, Northern York (3) 6-1, Solanco (3) 6-1, Thomas Jefferson (7) 5-1, West Allegheny (7) 5-2.<\/p>\n
Class 4A<\/p>\n
Rank. Team; District; Record; Previous<\/p>\n
1. Shamokin (4); 7-0; 1<\/p>\n
2. West York (3); 7-0; 2<\/p>\n
3. Bonner-Prendergast (12); 4-3; 3<\/p>\n
4. Pope John Paul II (1); 6-1; 5<\/p>\n
5. South Fayette (7); 6-1; 6<\/p>\n
6. North Pocono (2); 6-1; 4<\/p>\n
7. Montour (7); 5-2; 7<\/p>\n
8. Dallas (2); 7-0; 8<\/p>\n
9. General McLane (10); 7-0; 9<\/p>\n
10. Bethlehem Catholic (11); 6-1; NR<\/p>\n
Teams to watch: Blue Mountain (11) 6-1, Cardinal O\u2019Hara (12) 4-3, Cathedral Prep (10) 5-2, Pottsgrove (1) 6-1, Shikellamy (4) 6-1.<\/p>\n
Class 3A<\/p>\n
Rank. Team; District; Record; Previous<\/p>\n
1. Northwestern Lehigh (11); 7-0; 1<\/p>\n
2. Notre Dame-Green Pond (11); 7-0; 2<\/p>\n
3. Avonworth (7); 6-1; 3<\/p>\n
4. Scranton Prep (2); 6-1; 4<\/p>\n
5. Propel Braddock Hills (7); 5-2; 5<\/p>\n
6. Hopewell (7); 6-1; 6<\/p>\n
7. Mount Carmel (4); 7-0; 7<\/p>\n
8. Hickory (10); 6-1; 8<\/p>\n
9. Elizabeth-Forward (7); 7-0; 9<\/p>\n
10. Archbishop Wood (12); 6-1; NR<\/p>\n
Teams to watch: Athens (4) 6-1, Belle Vernon (7) 6-1, Cambria Heights (6) 7-0, Highlands (7) 6-1, Wyomissing (3) 4-2.<\/p>\n
Class 2A<\/p>\n
Rank. Team; District; Record; Previous<\/p>\n
1. Bishop Canevin (7); 7-0; 1<\/p>\n
2. Southern Columbia (4); 6-1; 2<\/p>\n
3. Seton LaSalle (7); 7-0; 3<\/p>\n
4. Dunmore (2); 7-0; 4<\/p>\n
5. Richland (6); 7-0; 5<\/p>\n
6. Farrell (10); 5-1; 6<\/p>\n
7. Westinghouse (8); 6-0; 7<\/p>\n
8. Bloomsburg (4); 7-0; 9<\/p>\n
9. Ligonier Valley (7); 7-0; NR<\/p>\n
10. Mount Union (6); 7-0; NR<\/p>\n
Teams to watch: Apollo-Ridge (7) 6-1, Bellwood-Antis (6) 5-2, Greenville (10) 6-1, Karns City (9) 6-1, West Catholic (12) 6-1.<\/p>\n
Class A<\/p>\n
Rank. Team; District; Record; Previous<\/p>\n
1. Bishop Guilfoyle (6); 6-1; 1<\/p>\n
2. Clairton (7); 5-2; 2<\/p>\n
3. Washington (7); 6-1; 3<\/p>\n
4. Steelton-Highspire (3); 5-1; 4<\/p>\n
5. Wilmington (10); 6-1; 5<\/p>\n
6. Williams Valley (11); 6-1; 6<\/p>\n
7. Shenango (7); 6-0; 8<\/p>\n
8. Fort Cherry (7); 6-1; 9<\/p>\n
9. Homer-Center (6); 6-1; 10<\/p>\n
10. Montgomery (4); 6-1; NR<\/p>\n
Teams to watch: Cambridge Springs (10) 7-0, Jeannette (7) 6-1, Keystone (9) 6-1, Line Mountain (4) 6-1, Mercyhurst Prep (10) 5-2.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Bethlehem Catholic lost the last two years to Southern Lehigh in the District 11 4A championship game. In…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":306401,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[304,305,28,30,29,726,432],"class_list":["post-306400","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-pennsylvania","tag-high-school-football","tag-high-school-sports","tag-pennsylvania","tag-pennsylvania-headlines","tag-pennsylvania-news","tag-sports","tag-top-stories-tmc"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/306400","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=306400"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/306400\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/306401"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=306400"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=306400"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=306400"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}