Around District 11 with Pam and Guy: Pates Open Bethlehem City Championship Series by Shutting out Becahi
Tagged under: District 11, Gameday Hub, News, pfn
Guy Smith | October 7, 2025
Five to four to just three football games for Guy & Pam last weekend, plus three races. All three football games were D11 high school, two varsity on Thursday and Friday, and a JV Monday. We were actually able to attend all three on our original schedule this week.
Once again, the JV game was the best of the lot. Both varsity games added to our ugly total of Mercy Rule or shutout games this season. The JV game had the losing team still playing for the win on the final play.
By the way, we are still not 100% sold on Parkland being a top five 6A team in the state. We certainly hope they are, but they are only ranked third in the District 11 Power Rankings, behind undefeated Easton and one-loss Nazareth. Why? Strength of schedule. Parkland is 7-0, but only one team had a winning record when they played the Trojans, and only two teams do after seven weeks. Five of their opponents currently have losing records. The overall record for the teams Parkland has played is 22-27. Their statement win so far is handing Nazareth their lone loss but that was just after Nazareth had lost their star QB and were transitioning to the backup. The final three games for Parkland are against two teams from lower classifications and a 2-5 6A Emmaus. While it’s good to be able to rest the starters and stay healthy with four straight Mercy Rule games, it’s also good to get battle tested in a close game and see those starters have to go hard for the whole 48. Hopefully, Parkland will be ready for the tough games starting next month, when one slipup means an end to the season. We’d love to see them playing in the state final for a third time.
PA Football News Polls. After seven weeks of football, and after last weekend’s games, the following District 11 and related teams were ranked by PA Football News.
6A) Parkland–5 (+/- 0)
6A) Easton–10 (+/- 0)
4A) Southern Lehigh–1 (+/- 0)
4A) Notre Dame–3 (+/- 0)
3A) Northwestern Lehigh–2 (+/- 0)
2A) Schuylkill Haven–3 (+/- 0)
2A) Williams Valley–6 (+/- 0)
2A) Minersville—10 (+/- 0)
1A) Lackawanna Trail (D2 team, but combined with D11 for playoffs)–7(+1)
4A) Bethlehem Catholic—Out
Of the nine teams from District 11 that appear in the rankings, all won except 4A Bethlehem Catholic who were shut out by Freedom and fell from the rankings. D11 still has five teams ranked in the top five in the state.
District 11 Power Rankings (After Seven Games).
1A. 1) Lackawanna Trail (D2). 2) Marion Catholic. 3) Tri-Valley
2A. 1) Schuylkill Haven. 2) Williams Valley. 3) Palisades
3A. 1) Notre Dame of Green Pond. 2) Northwestern Lehigh. 3) North Schuylkill.
4A. 1) Southern Lehigh. 2) Bethlehem Catholic. 3) Allentown Central Catholic
5A. 1) Whitehall. 2) Pocono Mountain East. 3) Pleasant Valley.
6A. 1) Easton. 2) Nazareth. 3) Parkland.
AFCA National College Football Polls. Pennsylvania currently has eight teams ranked in the top 25. Muhlenberg (4-0) makes their first appearance. Losses by Penn State, California, and Slippery Rock dropped all three at least ten spots. Kutztown is the highest ranked Pennsylvania team in college football, fourth in D2 and the only one left in the top five.
FBS. Penn State: Rank–22 (-16)
FCS. Lehigh: Rank–8 (+/- 0)
FCS. Villanova: Rank–17 (+2)
D2. Kutztown: Rank–4 (+/- 0)
D2. California: Rank–16. (-10)
D2. Slippery Rock: Rank–24 (-10)
D3. Carnegie Mellon: Rank–15 (+1)
D3. Muhlenberg: Rank—23 (NEW)
District 11 vs. the State. With the originally scheduled game for Executive Education vs. The Pingry School, NJ cancelled, there were no games for D11 teams playing outside of the district last weekend. The season record for the D11 teams is still 32-14.
Undefeated in District 11. All six unbeaten teams won last week to increase their records to 7-0. Still unblemished: Easton, Northwestern Lehigh, Notre Dame Green Pond, Parkland, Schuylkill Haven, Southern Lehigh. That’s 23 straight for Northwestern Lehigh.
Only four teams are winless. In 2A, Shenandoah Valley has a decent shot as they play 1-6 Mahanoy Area in the final week of the regular season. The other three teams are all in 4A. They have a tough road, as none of the three play each other. Bangor’s three opponents all have at least three wins. East Stroudsburg North has their best shot in the last game of the regular season, as the Timberwolves play their rivalry game vs. 1-6 East Stroudsburg South. For Wilson, it’s likely this week or never as they play 2-5 Pottsville. They play teams with winning records the final two weeks.
THURSDAY, OCTOBER 2. FREEDOM PATRIOTS (6A) @ BETHLEHEM CATHOLIC GOLDEN HAWKS (4A). TURF. The first game of the Bethlehem City Championship Series between these two schools and Liberty. Although Freedom is once again the defending city champion, this looked to be the year they might be unseated. Both Bethlehem Catholic and Liberty were 5-1 heading into last weekend while Freedom as just 3-3. By the end of the weekend Liberty and Becahi had lost and Freedom won, so now just one game separates them in overall record.
Freedom began with an ugly Mercy Rule home loss to Downingtown West, then lost to undefeated state ranked Parkland and Nazareth (currently 13-0 against other opponents), starting 1-3.
Bethlehem Catholic, a 4A school playing in the tough EPC Northampton Division, started 5-1, their only loss to state ranked Easton.
Meanwhile, the Pates got off the schneid with a pair of wins to even their record. Still, at 5-1 Becahi had to be the favorite over a 3-3 Freedom squad.
The Thursday night game appeared to keep the crowd down. Thankfully, Bethlehem Catholic was the home team, meaning we could buy tickets with cash and not have to pay the added fee if Freedom had been home. It also meant Guy could take his little pocket camera bag inside. When Freedom was home, Guy was turned away at the gate with it, the only time in over twenty stadiums so far. For safety. They say.
Both teams were missing key players. Freedom cleaned up some of the excessive penalties they had when we had seen them play twice earlier in the season. They moved the ball well and found the end zone four times, three of them on long drives.
On defense, the Pates gave up yards and the Hawks got close to the end zone a couple of times but came up empty. Becahi had racked up over 500 yards of offense the week before but were held under 200 by the Pates.
In the past two games the Pates have scored 70 while giving up zero. This one ended 28-0. Freedom is now in the driver’s seat for the city championship, but looming at the end of the month is the rivalry game against crosstown rival Liberty. Should be a good one!
FRIDAY, OCTOBER 3. JIM THORPE OLYMPIANS (4A) @ CATASAUQUA ROUGH RIDERS (2A). TURF. Catasauqua High uses the hashtag “gdtbarr” which means “Great Day to be a Rough Rider.” This was not one of those days for the Roughies varsity football team.
Catty started the year decently at 2-1, but since then lost big to Notre Dame and Saucon Valley, giving up over 100 points in the two losses and were 3-3. Meanwhile, we had seen the much larger Jim Thorpe Olympians play earlier in the season, defeating Tamaqua and knew they were a talented football team, better than their 2-4 record.
The start of the game was as bad as any either Guy or Pam ever remembers seeing. Jim Thorpe was ahead 21-0 before Catasauqua ever ran an offensive play! Yes, you read that right. Catty kicked off and JT scored. Then Catty lost the ensuing kickoff and JT scored again. And then it happened again. Unbelievable.
It was already a second half Mercy Rule score of 35-0 while still the first quarter! By halftime, it was 42-0. We checked ScoreStream for other D11 scores. Parkland was also leading 42-0 over Dieruff, as was Tri-Valley over Shenandoah Valley. And then we saw North Schuylkill over Bangor 46-0. You don’t see a big problem here?
Pam is a graduate of Catty High. A long-time Catty tradition is “The Horse” at the beginning of the fourth quarter. A cheerleader announces “Come one, come all.” A bugler plays “Call to the Gate.” And kids, students, and sometimes alumni rush to the track to do the routine with the cheerleaders as the band plays the song. A year ago, Pam couldn’t walk 100 yards without a cane. Two new knees later, we are back to walking, hiking, biking, pickleball, badminton, etc. But once a Rough Rider, always a Rough Rider. That meant the comeback wasn’t complete until she was out there, on the track, doing The Horse with several generations of Roughies. Thus, for the first time in 45 years, since senior year in 1980 and while now qualifying for senior discount, Pam did “The Horse.”
Final was Jim Thorpe 49, Catasauqua 13. It may not have been a winning night for the Roughs, but it sure was for us. Pam comeback complete.
MONDAY, OCTOBER 6. BETHLEHEM CATHOLIC (JV) @ FREEDOM HIGH SCHOOL (JV). TURF. Freedom is one of the seven D11 schools we have seen play their JV games on a different field than their varsity. They are the only one where the different field is turf, not grass.
The turf field at the high school opened the year after Guy retired from teaching there in 2015. It has lights for night games, but oddly, the only bleachers are on the visitor side. Thus, when we make our annual visit for a JV game, we use lawn chairs on the Freedom side.
In five years of going to a JV game almost every Monday in season, this game with a 3:30 kickoff was the earliest Monday start we have been to.
We had seen Bethlehem Catholic at their home alternate JV field, where they destroyed visiting Allentown Central Catholic. This game wouldn’t be near as easy, but the result was still a ‘W’ for the Golden Hawks.
Bethlehem Catholic scored first and second, opening up a 14-0 lead. The Pates defense tightened and didn’t allow any more points. Yet the offense struggled. Going into Q4, it looked like another potential shutout. Then the Pates offense came alive, and they drove down the field for their first TD, went for two, and got it. The defense got them the ball back, and the Pates ‘O’ took the field one last time to try to win the game. They looked solid for a while, moving from their own nine to the Becahi 30. But the drive stalled there as for two consecutive plays a Hawk defender charged into the backfield unblocked and sacked the Pates QB. Still, on the final snap, the Pates had the ball and were playing for the win. Once again, the JV game was the best game we saw last weekend.
Saquon Watch. Saquon Barkley from Whitehall High School rushed for just 30 yards and had just five carries in the Eagles come from ahead loss to the Denver Broncos. Barkley had more receiving yards than rushing. His rushing total is now 7,483, still well short of Jamall Charles in 59th place all-time.
Horizon. Looking at Thursday (North Schuylkill), Friday (Pam’s Pick), Saturday (Lafayette NEW) and Monday (Pocono Mountain West JV.) Of course most weeks changes are made in real time for a never ending list of reasons.
2025 District 11 Varsity or JV Teams Seen at Home or Outside D11. 1) Minersville Battlin’ Miners. 2a) Freedom Patriots (varsity field.) 2b) Freedom Patriots (JV field.) 3) Stroudsburg Mountaineers. 4) Whitehall Zephyrs. 5) Pocono Mountain East Cardinals. 6) Pleasant Valley Bears. 7) Holy Cross Crusaders (D2: Subregion team with D11). 8) Allentown Central Catholic Vikings. 9) Pen Argyl Green Knights. 10) Jim Thorpe Olympians. 11) Saucon Valley Panthers. 12) Bangor Slaters. 13) Pine Grove Cardinals. 14) Wilson Warriors. 15) Schuylkill Haven Hurricanes. 16) Executive Education Raptors. 17a) Bethlehem Catholic Golden Hawks (JV field). 17b) Bethlehem Catholic Golden Hawks (varsity field). 18) Parkland Trojans. 19) Panther Valley Panthers. 20) Southern Lehigh Spartans. 21) Catasauqua Rough Riders.
2025 Pennsylvania College Teams. 1) Keystone College Giants. 2) Kings College Monarchs (JV & Varsity).
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