Nazareth Prevails over Bethlehem Catholic in 52-49 Shootout

Tagged under: District 11, Gameday Hub, News, pfn

Davin Ridall | October 18, 2026

BETHLEHEM – One of the more hyped up games coming into this week, a lot of people suggested that this matchup had the potential to be a really great game. If you were to call this game great, that would be underselling it on a number of levels, as what transpired over the next 48 minutes of in-game time was absolute chaos. It ended up with Nazareth emerging victorious over Bethlehem Catholic 52-49, in what might very well be the consensus game of the year thus far.

Both Nazareth and Bethlehem Catholic entered the game with a 6-1 record. Nazareth’s lone loss came in week 1 against Garnet Valley by a score of 63-34. Bethlehem Catholic’s loss came in week 4 against Easton, falling in a slim 20-14 home contest. The Blue Eagles had averaged 41 points per game in their six wins, their highest point total being 49. The Golden Hawks entered the game on a three game win streak, averaging just shy of 50 points per game in those three games.

Needless to say, just by looking at the stats alone, the blueprint was there for this game to be an offensive showdown, even last season when these two schools met, the Blue Eagles got a high scoring 41-33 win. By the time it was all said and done, this game seemed more like arena football than high school football with the amount of offense that was present in the contest.

“The cool thing is that it almost felt like playoff football here, and that’s how we attacked this game,” Nazareth head coach Tom Falzone said about the game’s atmosphere. “It was a cold night like it is in the playoffs, a lot of similarities to it, so we’re just happy that we endured it.”

The fireworks started early as the two sides traded scores not even two minutes into the game. On Bethlehem Catholic’s opening drive, Axel Burkhart fired a pass to Armando Thom that deflected off his hands and into the arms of Matthew Leluga, who returned the interception 28 yards to the end zone.

It didn’t take long for Bethlehem Catholic to respond, on the very next play from scrimmage Justin Martinez took the handoff and bounced to the left side, running away from the entire defense for a 76 yard touchdown. Just a minute and 54 seconds had passed and the game was already tied at 7 a piece.

Nazareth’s offense then took the field for the first time, beginning at Bethlehem Catholic’s 41 yard line thanks to a big return. Their first offensive possession didn’t last long though, after three straight run plays, Nazareth quarterback Cooper Madson connected with Luke DePeitro who was wrapped up immediately by Armando Thom. Just before DePeitro went to the ground, Aiden Rivera delivered an extra hit that knocked the ball free, and Jonathan Ayache ran over and jumped on top of it.

It was one of the seemingly few times in this game that a defense came up with an early stop, however Nazareth’s defense’s did the same right after, forcing a quick three and out and preventing Bethlehem Catholic to capitalize on the early turnover.

Bethlehem Catholic’s defense matched, forcing a three and out of their own, allowing their offense to go right back to work, and this time they were able to get into a rhythm. Taking over at their own 20 yard line, the Golden Hawks drove 80 yards in 7 plays, highlighted by a 66 yard connection between Burkhart and Carter Vassa. Vassa actually had the defense beat on the play, however after catching the ball, he stumbled as he turned to continue running, falling about 12 yards shy of the end zone. That didn’t matter thankfully, just three plays later, Vassa took a handoff into the end zone from 2 yards out, giving the Golden Hawks a 14-7 lead late in the first quarter.

The Blue Eagles answered with a touchdown drive of their own, marching 62 yards in 10 plays and capping it off with a 4 yard run from Will Bacolo, his first of three touchdowns on the night. Nazareth’s drive spanned from the final three minutes of the first quarter into the first two minutes of the second, tying the score up at 14 just 95 seconds into the second quarter.

“The line was doing just enough for us, [Bethlehem Catholic] is a tough defense to go against, but they were giving us creases,” coach Falzone said about their ability to run the football. “Will [Bacolo] runs hard nose and downhill, he was getting beat up a little bit too, but he’s a tough kid, and he battled through all of that.

Following Nazareth’s touchdown that knotted up the score at 14, Bethlehem Catholic started to swing momentum back into their favor. The Golden Hawks’ next possession featured just one play, that being the second of such drives from Bethlehem Catholic in this game alone. On the first play, Burkhart pitched the ball to Carter Vassa on an option play, and Vassa ran down the left sideline essentially untouched for a 62 yard touchdown, snagging the lead right back.

Then on the Blue Hawks next drive, from inside Bethlehem Catholic territory, Madson tried to check the ball down to Bacolo but the ball went off his hands and went right to Ayache off the deflection, his second takeaway of the night. Ayache returned the ball to midfield setting up another golden opportunity for Bethlehem Catholic.

And they wasted no time capitalizing on the great field position, on the first play of the drive, Burkhart once again connected with Vassa down the right sideline for a 49 yard gain, leaving Bethlehem Catholic just a yard shy of the end zone. Burkhart then finished the drive off himself with a quarterback sneak, giving the Golden Hawks a 14 point cushion.

Now finding themselves trailing by two scores, Nazareth was at risk of letting the game get away from them if they were to come up empty on their next possession. They did not let that happen though, as the Blue Hawks answered again with a touchdown of their own, capping off the 9 play 70 yard drive with a 6 yard touchdown from Lance Zuercher, who lined up in the wildcat and ran it in himself, cutting the deficit back down to just 7.

Bethlehem Catholic had another big opportunity in the final seconds of the first half, after a 23 yard connection between Burkhart and Vassa put the Golden Hawks at the 3 yard line with just four ticks left before halftime. Instead of opting for a field goal, Bethlehem Catholic lined up and ran a play, but it was unsuccessful, Burkhart rolled to his right then back to his left to avoid a sack, then threw a ball to the back of the end zone that went over the head of Tyre Lewis as the clock hit triple zeroes.

With a 28-21 lead coming out of halftime, Bethlehem Catholic’s defense came up big to begin the third quarter, halting Nazareth’s opening drive at midfield and forcing a punt. This allowed the Golden Hawks’ offense to go to work once again, and as they had done so many times in the first half, they capitalized once again.

The second play of the drive featured another big time connection between Burkhart and Vassa over the middle just past midfield, but Vassa continued to show off his elusiveness, cutting to the right, then back to the left, and turning what looked like a 30 yard gain into a 61 yard gain. Four plays later, Burkhart found Armando Thom who made a toe tapping catch in the corner of the end zone for the 8 yard touchdown, giving Bethlehem Catholic their 14 point lead back.

Like they did in the first half when they were down by two scores, Nazareth knew they couldn’t let the game slip away from them, and just like in the first half, they answered again. After taking an 9 yard sack on first down that pinned the Blue Eagles’ offense back at their own 11 yard line, Madson connected with Matthew Leluga for an 89 yard catch and run touchdown to cut the deficit in half once again.

“We just kept saying that we need one stop, we need one stop,” coach Falzone said about what the message was to his defense. “We had them against the ropes many times, and we gave it up, we gave it up on so many of those scores.”

It took a while for Nazareth to come up with a momentum shifting defensive play, but on the next possession the finally got one. Burkhart once again looked to hit Vassa for another huge gain, but with Vassa locked in a one on one battle with Luke Depeitro, somehow Depeitro went up in the air and came down with the football after a jaw dropping one handed interception.

Six plays and 84 yards later, Nazareth finally evened the score back up with a 4 yard run from Bacolo, his second touchdown of the night that tied up the game at 35 heading into the fourth quarter.

The scoring continued in the fourth quarter from both sides, but it was Bethlehem Catholic that struck first. The Golden Hawks opened the fourth quarter with the longest drive of the game in terms of plays, marching 78 yards in 12 plays, and finishing the possession with a 9 yard touchdown run from Justin Martinez his second of the night, putting the Golden Hawks back ahead 42-35.

Nazareth answered back once again just three minutes later, this time with a bit of trickery. On a third and 5 play from the Golden Hawks’ 13 yard line, Madson handed the ball off to Depeitro to then threw it to a wide open Lance Zuercher, evening the score again at the 6 minute mark of the fourth quarter.

“He’s outstanding, we all know that, he makes plays all the time,” coach Falzone said about Depeitro’s impact and versatility. “That one handed interception was wild, and that one handed catch on the sideline, he’s just all over the field.”

Now with the game back in Bethlehem Catholic’s hands, Tyre Lewis took the ensuing kickoff from his own 5 yard line and made his way up the middle of the field. That was until Cooper Wenrich got to Lewis and punched the ball out of his hands and Jayden Hutchison recovered it, setting the Blue Eagles up at the Golden Hawks’ 29 yard line thanks to Nazareth’s second game changing defensive play of this half.

Then the Blue Eagles capitalized quickly once again, with Bacolo breaking through on a 14 yard touchdown carry, somehow staying on his feet for his third touchdown of the night. And in what seemed like the blink of an eye, Nazareth had secured their first lead since early in the first quarter, grabbing a 49-42 advantage with 5 minutes remaining in regulation.

Trailing by a touchdown in the late stages of the game, Bethlehem Catholic refused to back down. Starting from their own 25 yard line, the Golden Hawks drove all the way down to the 14 yard line of Nazareth, before Burkhart took a two yard sack on third down. This set up a fourth and 6 from Nazareth’s 16 yard line, and with the game potentially on the line, Burkhart hit Vassa one more time on a perfectly placed ball for a 16 yard touchdown, knotting the game up at 49 a piece with 2 minutes remaining.

Nazareth’s offense took the field once more, and in game’s final moments, the Blue Eagles moved into Bethlehem Catholic territory and set up kicker Owen Hall, who was 7 for 7 on extra points in this game, to attempt a 46 yard field goal to possibly win them the game. The kick sailed wide left, keeping the score deadlocked with just 10 seconds left in regulation.

Instead of playing for overtime, the Golden Hawks lined up the offense at their own 20 yard line and tried to drive down field and potentially win the game themselves. Unfortunately for Bethlehem Catholic, disaster struck, before Burkhart could get the throw away, Jackson Medlar got around the left side of the offensive line and hit Burkhart from behind mid wind up, knocking the ball out and Connor Nowroski just barely beat Jonathan Ayache to the football, giving the Blue Eagles one more chance from the 10 yard line with 3 seconds left.

After missing the first kick from 46 yards, the defense gave Owen Hall a second chance and he did not miss, drilling a 27 yard field goal as the clock expired, sealing a 52-49 win for Nazareth in possibly the craziest game of the year.

“They got it done when they had to,” coach Falzone said about the fourth quarter turnovers from the defense. “It ended up being a defensive play that put us in that position to win, and the special teams got it done there.”

Nazareth now sits at 7-1 with the win, this being their seventh consecutive victory after their loss to Garnet Valley to open up the season, and next week the Blue Eagles will be back at home facing Northampton. Bethlehem Catholic falls to 6-2 after the crushing defeat, ending their three game win streak, but they will try to bounce back this week at home against Bethlehem Liberty.