Becahi Falls 29-27 to Berwick in Playoff

Penalties plagued the Bethlehem Catholic Golden Hawks early in their District 11 semifinal win over Lehighton.

Penalties nearly did the Hawks in last week when they captured the District 11 crown in overtime over Colonial League champion Southern Lehigh.

But on Friday night, facing undefeated District 2 champion Berwick at J. Birney Crum Stadium in Allentown in a first-round PIAA AAA playoff game, the Hawks could not overcome critical penalties and fell 29-27.

Bethlehem Catholic jumped out to its first lead of the game with 16 seconds left in the first half on a 15-yard pass from Julian Spigner to Freddie Simmons.

That should have been cause for celebration, but Simmons got called for celebrating excessively. The unsportsmanlike conduct penalty forced Eric Po to try his extra point from 15 yards further back. The kick went wide left and the halftime score was 20-14.

The missed extra point would haunt the Hawks until the end.

Berwick’s grinding offense chewed up 6 minutes and 30 seconds in 14 plays as it marched 71 yards for a go-ahead touchdown with 10 minutes left to play. The extra point put the Bulldogs up 21-20.

Spigner had the Hawks driving when he threw a critical interception to Berwick’s Ricky Densberger, who ran it back deep into Becahi territory. The Bulldogs’ Jordan Stout ran it in from the Hawks’ 5 with a little more than 4 minutes left.

Then Bethlehem Catholic’s special teams got called for encroachment on the ensuing extra point. With the ball moved to the 1-yard-line, legendary Berwick Coach George Curry decided to try for a 2-point conversion.

The successful attempt made it 29-20, Bulldogs, and suddenly, Bethlehem Catholic didn’t just need a score and 2-point conversion for a tie, but two scores for a win.