Becahi blanks Easton
Jared Richardson didn’t expect it. No one at Bethlehem Area School District Stadium did.
“I thought it was going to be a shootout to be quite honest,” said Richardson, the Bethlehem Catholic High junior quarterback.
Instead, Richardson’s 13-yard touchdown run with 7:56 left in the second quarter and Anthony Barczynski’s extra-point kick were the only scores of the game as the Golden Hawks continued their mastery over Easton with an improbable 7-0 Eastern Pennsylvania
Conference Northampton County Division win.
Becahi (3-1, 2-1 EPC) beat the Red Rovers for the fifth straight time. The Golden Hawks haven’t lost to Easton since a 49-35 defeat Sept. 14, 2013.
This one was perhaps the most satisfying in the series for the Golden Hawks, who were considered to be in rebuilding mode at the start of the season. It also may have been the most frustrating for an Easton team (1-2, 1-2) that was expected to be among the area’s elite.
The Red Rovers were held scoreless for the final 35 minutes of a 21-10 loss to Freedom a week earlier and had the drought extended by a bend-but-don’tbreak Becahi defense.
Nahjee Adams ran for 125 yards on 30 carries, but the rest of the Easton offense managed just 110 yards and couldn’t finish drives.
Becahi had similar struggles with the exception of a short drive in the second quarter set up by a Rahmel Terry interception.
Starting at the Rovers 45, a roughing the passer penalty set things in motion for the Golden Hawks, and Richardson carried three straight times for 30 yards, including the final 13 for the score.
“It was a great hole and my line did a good job of blocking,” Richardson said. “I read the play. I read their end and he went with the running back and I just took off.”
Richardson was surprised by howthe rest of the game played out.
“Our offense can click, but today they kind of stopped us,” he said. “Wehave an amazing defense. I am speechless over the way they played. It was crazy.”
Bethlehem Catholic coach Joe Henrich hasn’t enjoyed a shutout victory by his program since a 48-0 rout of Northampton in the second game of the 2017 season.
“You don’t expect a game like this, but these were two good defenses,” Henrich
said. “Weknewwe’dhave a tough time against them. They’re good, they’re physical and they put a lot of people in the box. Their No. 8 [Tamir Jackson] is a tough kid to block. Wehad more trouble than we anticipated, but in the end, our defense shined.”
Andrew Sharga and Ethan Shelton combined for 15 tackles. Terry and Christian Shelton had five apiece. Easton was just 3 for 13 on third-down conversions and 0 for 5 on fourth downs.
“You can’t win a football game without scoring any points,” Red Rovers coach Jeff Braido said. “I thought our defense was outstanding the entire game. But we can’t just rely on our defense. We haven’ t scored a point in six quarters and you can’t win games that way.”
Braido was disappointed in a passing game that produced just nine completions and 55 yards.
“[Quarterback] Cole Transue is not making very good decisions at times and we had kids who dropped some balls right in their hands,” Braido said. “You’ve got to be able to make plays and you should be able to rely on a quarterback who has been the starter for a season and a half. We’re just not all on the same page. We’re driving, driving and driving, but not putting points on the board.”
Easton ran 64 plays to Becahi’s 48 and tried to wear down the Golden Hawks. However, it was the Red Rovers who broke down onoffense whenit mattered most.
The Red Rovers’ best scoring chance in the first half came just before halftime. They had a firstand-goal at the Becahi 3.
After Transue spiked the ball to stop the clock, Adams was
stuffed for a 3-yard loss. After an incompletion, Transue passed to Adams on a screen but he was stopped after a short gain.
“I wanted to score seven points,” Braido said of his decision to go for a TD rather than a field goal. “I have all the confidence in the world in Jaxon [Heinemeyer, the team’s kicker]. I wanted to score a touchdown and get a swing of momentum before the half. We took a chance and tried to score and couldn’t do it.”
Easton missed a field goal on its first possession of the second half after driving to the Becahi 18 and had another possession extend to the Golden Hawks 23 before an Ethan Shelton sack on fourth down ended it.
“We just found a way to dig in and dig deep,” Henrich said. “It’s a group that’s really jelling. They’re just relentless and love playing defense.”
Becahi plays Freedom in another 3 p.m. Saturday matinee next weekend while Easton travels to Northampton on Friday night.