Becahi overwhelms Saucon 73-14
Golden Hawks score game’s final 66 points to move on to state quarterfinal contest.
For at least a quarter Saturday night at Bethlehem Area School District Stadium, it looked as though the District 11 4A championship game was going to be a shootout.
Saucon Valley scored on its first possession, grabbed an onside kick and scored again to make it 14-7 and it looked like it was 2015 all over again.
That’s the year on the same field the Panthers stunned Bethlehem Catholic in the District 11 3A semifinals.
But that’s where the similarity to 2015 ended.
The Golden Hawks made it look much more like 2014 and 2017 when they routed Saucon by scores of 49-7 and 42-7.
Becahi scored the game’s final 66 points in a 73-14 mercy-rule win in the District 11 4A finals.
It was the Golden Hawks’ third straight district championship, fifth in six years and 13th overall.
It also capped a big day for Bethlehem with Lehigh beating Lafayette and Freedom whipping Emmaus.
While it was a historic championship win for the Patriots at Nazareth Becahi added to its rich legacy as the area program with the most district titles.
This one was a show of dominance after Saucon Valley took the lead on a Dante Mahaffey touchdown run with 2:28 left in the first quarter.
The Golden Hawks (10-3) racked up 529 yards in total offense — 348 on the ground. They didn’t have to punt.
Zaheer Seabrooks ran for 157 yards on 19 carries and scored three touchdowns while Tavion Banks rushed for 119 yards on 11 carries.
Seven different Becahi players scored touchdowns and the busiest guy of all was senior kicker Anthony DaSilva, who kicked a field goal and 10 extra points.
Snow dive
The BASD Stadium staff cleared the snow from the field throughout Saturday and piled it up along the sidelines and back of the end zones.
Initially, this game was supposed to be played at Nazareth, but was shifted south after Thursday’s snowstorm.
The snow piles didn’t go unnoticed. During the postgame celebration, several Becahi players dove into the snow. One of them was Seabrooks, who has a nickname of Zeus.
“That felt absolutely amazing,” Seabrooks said of his leap into the snow.
The offensive performance was just as amazing.
“It was just us staying motivated and staying on top of things,” Seabrooks said. “That’s the game of football. Sometimes things are going to happen, things are going to get rocky. But you’ve got to keep moving and keep things going. It’s all about staying focused.”
“It was just a matter of everyone staying motivated,” Seabrooks said. “That’s what it’s going to take going forward. We had a little bit of a bumpy road, but now everyone’s a family and everyone is on the same page emotionally, physically … everyone is there.”
Props to the trench gang
Bethlehem Catholic’s offensive line is the key to the attack.
Jerry Lyons, Skylar Sutton, Elias Marte, Dalton Daddona and Matthew Vasquez set the stage for the plethora of playmakers.
“That line is probably the best in the state,” Seabrooks said. “I respect every single last one of them and I’d take a bullet for every last single one. They are a big factor for this football team. I love those guys.”
Lyons appreciated the showed respect to Saucon.
“The score may not show it, but that’s a great team and they really made it tough on us in the beginning,” Lyons said. “They have the firepower to go back and forth with us and they did in the beginning. My hats off to them. We just started realizing it was time to get it into gear.”
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Becahi will play Pottsgrove for the second time in three years in the state quarterfinals, likely Friday night at a location in District 11.