Another Record-Setting Night, As Nazareth Stymies Becahi.

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Brian Ptashinski | September 21, 2019

NAZARETH- Last week it was Andrew Harris,who broke the school record for most touchdown passes at Nazareth with 61. The record was held by Travis Stefanik. Friday night it was Nathan Stefanik’s turn to join his brother. Nathan had two picks and now has a school-record nine picks in a single season and career record twelve interception as the Blue Eagles stifled the visiting Golden Hawks of Bethlehem Catholic 27-13 at a packed Andrew Leh Stadium in an Eastern Pennsylvania Conference South showdown.
The defense was the story of the game for the victors as they limited the vaunted Becahi’s offense to just 77 yards on the ground on 36 tallies. They kept Becahi’s dual rushers Malik Thomas and Tavion Banks in check all night, as they came into the contest combining for over 200 yards on the ground.
Things started off on a positive note for Bethlehem Catholic as Malik Thomas opened the scoring with a two yard burst with 7:46 left in the first quarter the PAT was missed leaving the score at 6-0.

Nazareth responded with scores by running back Logan Grom dashing in from 30 yards out.Matt Bugbee connected on the point-after to make it 7-6 The Blue Eagles got on the scoreboard again with a 19 yard pass from Harris to Stefanik with just 27 seconds left in the opening quarter.

Both defenses went on lock-down mode in both the second and third quarters as neither teams scored.

Stefanik set the Blue Eagles up as he picked off a Hawks pass at the Nazareth 44 yard line. A few plays later Harris took it in himself from 11 yards out giving his team a 20-6 lead.

A three-and-out for Bethlehem Catholic on their ensuing drive led to a 14 yard punt setting up Nazareth on Beca’s 33. Tyler Rohn dove in from 2 yards out and a 27-6 lead with 7:54 left in the contest.

Thomas did manage to find the end zone for The Golden Hawks with about five minutes to play cutting the lead to 27-13, but that would be as close as they would get as Harris and the Blue Eagle offense ran out the clock.

Harris added another record to stellar high school career as he overtook Ryan Fry’s for most passing yards. Fry finished with 6,120 yards. Harris threw for 188 yards giving him 6,149 and counting.

“We are 5-0 and that hasn’t happened around here in awhile. We feel good where we are right now. We are trying to stay on a level where we don’t get to high or to low. Our motto is we are 1-0 and we did it again this week.” Nazareth coach Tom Falzone stated after the game.

Place kicker Matt Bugbee also got his name in the record book as he connected on his 92nd PAT in the win.

Nazareth (5-0 overall 4-0 EPC) will be on the road at Parkland (3-2, 2-2) next Friday. The Trojans defeated Bethlehm Liberty 35-7. Bethlehem Catholic (3-2, 2-2) will try to get back on track at BASD Stadiun against winless Whitehall, who lost to Freedom 49-26.

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