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Allentown Central Catholic emerges Victorious from “Holy War” matchup vs Bethlehem Catholic

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

| October 28, 2023

Allentown – On senior night in Allentown, the Vikings of Central Catholic were more than what the Hawks of Becahi could handle.  This long-standing rivalry game has seen numerous back and forth, or down-to-the-wire games over the years and this game looked like it could turn in to one of these early on.  Becahi didn’t waste much time opening the scoring by finding the endzone on their first drive via a 41 yard scamper by senior Fullback Mekhi Lapierre ( 11 rushes, 103 yards, 1 TD)which put the visiting Hawks up early in the first quarter 7-0.

After this early score, the scoreboard remained unchanged well in to the 2nd quarter until the Vikings put together a lengthy offensive drive as senior quarterback Antonio Fontanez ( 24 – 35, 359 yards, 2 TD) picked apart the Golden Hawk defense as he methodically drove his offense down the field.  The drive would stall out and Central Catholic kicker Luke Myers would put the Vikings on the board with a 40 yard field goal which brought the score to 7-3 in favor of Bethlehem Catholic with 4:23 left in the first half.

The Viking defense would come up big on the next series and force a punt by the Becahi offense.  Fontanez would pick up right where he left off on the previous possession and drive his offense right down the field once again.  This time he was able to find  DJ Kelly ( 9 rec, 83 yards, 1 TD) from 8 yards out for a touchdown to put the Vikings ahead 10-7 with just under 30 seconds left in the half.

When play resumed in the 2nd half, the Vikings, with Fontanez at the helm, wasted no time looking for what they hoped to be the dagger to put Becahi away for the night.  On the 3rd play from scrimmage of the 2nd half, Fontanez found a streaking Nasir Mclean (3 rec , 109 yards, 1 TD) down the sideline for a 72 yard score.

Becahi had other ideas however.  Robert Cousar of Golden hawks defense would pick off Fontanez on the Vikings next possession.  Becahi quarterback Cayden Vassa (3-13, 28 yards, 10 rushes, 32 yards, 1 TD) would then lead his Golden Hawk offense down the field with his legs and he would eventually find paydirt himself via a 1 yard touchdown plunge which brought the score to 17-14 in favor of the Vikings.

The Vikings would take the ensuing offensive series and chew up a large chunk of time largely in part to the punishing running effort by rb Nathan Schultz (17 rushes, 43 yards, 1 TD).  The Vikings fed him the ball 7 times on their next drive and would wind up attempting another field goal.  This one however drifted wide right and with just over 10 minutes left in the game, the score was still 17-14 in favor of Central Catholic.  This missed scoring opportunity would not keep the Vikings down for long as on the 2nd play of Becahi’s next drive,  Jareel Calhoun would step in front of a Cayden Vassa pass and get the ball right back for the Central Catholic offense.  The Golden Hawk defense was up for the challenge and forced a turnover on downs after Robert Cousar would break up a 4th and 5 pass intended for Aidan Sorrentino.  The Becahi offense couldn’t get anything going on their next possession and were forced to punt back to the Vikings.  Fontanez would not be denied this posession as he would complete 5 of 6 passes on this drive en route to another Viking touchdown scored by Nathan Schultz who took a run off tackle outside for an 8 yard touchdown. This would put the Vikings up 24-14 with just under 2 minutes remaining in the game.

The Central Catholic defense would force a turnover on downs on Bethlehem Catholic’s next offensive possession and then their offense was able to simply run out the clock and secure a victory for Allentown Central Catholic in this latest rendition of “The Holy War”.

This win moves Central Catholic to 8-2 on the season and Bethlehem Catholic moves to 5-5 with the loss.  Both teams await the release of the District 11 4A playoff bracket this weekend to see who they will be matched up against this upcoming Friday, Nov. 3.

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