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Bethlehem Catholic earns hard fought Victory over Allentown Central Catholic

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

| September 21, 2025

Allentown-

In this year’s rendition of “The Holy War” the Golden Eagles of Becahi capitalized on their forced turnover and came out on top of their rival Allentown Central Catholic who were unable to get any points off of their two forced turnovers.

To start of the evening, Becahi won the coin toss and deferred their choice to the 2nd half.  Taking the ball, Central Catholic looked to take an early lead, but that was quickly put on hold as the Golden Hawks Aiden Rivera stepped right in front of a Patrick Cahill pass and took it all the way back for the score to open the scoring on the night with 9:30 remaining in the opening quarter.

Central and Becahi traded punts on the following drives, and then the Vikings of Central Catholic went on a long, time consuming drive and although they were kept out of the end-zone, kicker Bryson Baker nailed a 27 yard field goal to get Central Catholic on the board with just under a minute remaining in the first quarter.

After stopping Vassa on 4th down to get the ball back to their offense, Central Catholic got in the end-zone this possession, thanks to a 52 yard touchdown via a pass and catch from Cahill to Luis Martinez who beat his coverage and was wide open for the reception and stroll in to the end-zone to put the Vikings up 10-7 with 7:16 remaining in the opening half.

On the ensuing Becahi possession, Cayden Vassa marched his offense downfield, and then the other Golden Hawk quarterback,  Axel Burkhart, dropped an absolute dime right in the basket to Carter Vassa for as 27 yard touchdown. This score put Becahi back on top, 14-10.

Central wasted little time responding to the Bethlehem Catholic score as just a few plays was all it took to take the lead right back as Deon Johnson found room around the outside of the Golden Hawk defense and cashed in for 6 on a 25 yard run with just over a minute until halftime.

Receiving the 2nd half kick, Becahi kept the ball exclusively on the ground and pounded out another touchdown.  Cayden Vassa started the drive with a huge 45 yard gain, and the drive was capped off with a 1 yard plunge by Axel Burkhart to put Becahi back on top 21-17.

After forcing a punt by Central Catholic on their next offensive posession, once again Cayden Vassa started off the Golden Hawk possession with a long gain on the ground, this time a 49 yard run which set up Becahi deep inside Viking territory.  Two plays later, Vassa cashed in from a yard out, extending the Bethlehem Catholic lead to 11, 28-17 with 5:30 to play in the 3rd quarter.

The ensuing possession for Central Catholic was a much needed scoring drive in which after a long kick-off return and pass interference penalty, Patrick Cahill was able to squeeze through the Becahi defense from a yard out to cut the Bethlehem Catholic lead to just 4 with 2:36 remaining in the 3rd quarter.

The following drives saw Bethlehem Catholic turn the ball over twice via fumbles, but Central Catholic was unable to capitalize on either.  After stopping Becahi on 4th and  goal at the Central 6 yard line, the Viking offense took the field without any timeouts and 94 yards between them and victory.  Cahill was able to find Jonathan Bechtel for a 40 yard gain, and thanks to a roughing the passer call, the ball was now in Becahi territory.  An incompletion and catch in bounds later, the Vikings rushed to spike the ball to stop the clock, but the clock ran out on their comeback.  The spike on the final play seemed to have come with some time left on the clock, however there was a receiver not set at the snap and also a defensive player very much offside.  The clock was allowed to run out on the game and the Vikings’ attempted comeback.

 

After the game I was able to speak with the Golden Eagles’ Cayden Vassa about his team’s performance.

With the victory, Bethlehem Catholic moves to 4-1 on the season and will host Pocono Mountain East(3-2) who are looking to bounce back after their loss to Stroudsburg this week.  With the loss, Allentown Central Catholic drops to 2-3 on the year and will travel to Emmaus (2-3) next week who are fresh off a defeat at Easton this week.

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