Bethlehem Catholic sticks together
Karam, Golden Hawks find success amid an unprecedented season
Jeff Karam turned to his wife, Debbie, and offered a blunt assessment during one of Bethlehem Catholic’s shutdown periods because of COVID-19 concerns.
“I said, ‘We’re not going to make it,’ ” Karam recalled. “We were pretty darn careful, we thought, as I’m sure other teams thought they were.”
Karam was never so happy or relieved to be wrong. Even though Bethlehem Catholic and most other District 11 teams competed far less than every other district west of the Lehigh Valley, the state wrestling season was completed
Nazareth coach Dave Crowell named Coach of the Year. with adjusted individual and team postseason events.
Bethlehem Catholic won the team title at the Class 3A Northeast Regional tournament and finished third in the team standings at the PIAA individual event after seven members earned state medals, including champion Tyler Kasak.
For that, the Golden Hawks are The Morning Call all-area team of the year.
“Just to get through individual states,” Karam said, “with every coach doubting we’re going to make it, is a credit to all wrestling programs, administrators and the PIAA for making it work.
“We got it done. It was unique and
stressful for all of us. I’m really happy that the seniors got a chance to compete.”
Bad news for opponents: Karam loses only four senior starters, two of whom were state medalists (Harvard-bound Evan Gleason and Duke commit Matt Mayer) to graduation.
Bethlehem Catholic will enter the 2021-22 season with a chip on its shoulder after being upset in the PIAA team tournament quarterfinals by eventual state runner-up Central Dauphin.
The Golden Hawks (5-1) were the district representative in the reduced state team tournament when all other District 11 3A teams opted not to participate.
Practicing for 10 days after the individual state tournament brought on the last in a long line of challenges for Karam and the team.
The seven state medalists had to maintain their weight, while those who did not compete since the end of the regular season, district, regional or super regional tournaments had to do so even longer.
Karam said those who were not
competing in the next week of the individual postseason still came to practice a minimum of three days a week.
Junior Dante Frinzi was the only
Golden Hawk who did not wrestle against Central Dauphin. He missed practice time to watch his brother, Luca, compete for Lehigh at the NCAA Division
I Wrestling Championships in St. Louis, and would have wrestled if Bethlehem Catholic advanced.
With all everyone had to endure to complete the 2021 season, Karam’s reflection was on what his team accomplished rather than what could have been.
“This year more so than any other year,” he said, “I felt that connection to the seniors. We saw what happened with the seniors in last year’s spring sports. They missed out. That’s what was in my mind this year with our team. I’m very thankful they had the chance to compete, have a senior year.
“Even at states, we had kids in both sessions. It was hard. It was one heck of a long day. But at the end of the day, what was the alternative? Not wrestling? At least we got to wrestle. Yeah, the west wrestled 40 matches, they got to wrestle. We did whatever we had to do to finish the season.”
Kasak extended Bethlehem Catholic’s streak of at least one state champion for 10 consecutive years, second only to Clearfield (1941-53) in PIAA history.
Karam has coached 18 state champions in his 13 seasons with the Golden Hawks.