With a district title behind them now, Bethlehem Catholic head coach Joe Henrich has to ensure that his team doesn't have a championship hangover when they head to J. Birney Crum Stadium Friday night for a tussle against District 2 champion Berwick in the opening round of the PIAA tournament.

The Bulldogs (12-0) are one of the most storied programs in Pennsylvania football history, winners of six PIAA 3A state championships, 17 Wyoming Valley Conference crowns, 15 undefeated regular seasons and a program that ranks third all-time in PIAA football history for wins.

If you put all that aside, they're also a team that had trouble getting by Abington Heights in last week's District 2 title game, narrowly escaping with a 35-28 victory to claim their 10th district championship.

Henrich may not have been in the area during the Bulldogs legendary dominance in the 90s, but he's seen plenty of them on film to know they're going to be a handful Friday night.

"They are big and strong," said Henrich of what stands out on Berwick. "They have physical kids and offensively they're all over the place. They have the most offensive sets we've seen all year and they use different guys all over. They will definitely be a challenge for us."

Henrich noted the Bulldogs are slightly bigger than his troops in the trenches, which is probably why they run the ball 66 percent of the time.

Their offensive formations seem to be the biggest concern heading into this week, as they run a lot of nontraditional, unbalanced sets that look to overload sides and cause numerical disadvantages for the opposition.

Henrich mentioned that Berwick uses multiple players on offense, which gives them options, as they have five players on the season to carry the ball more than 30 times.

The latest coming with 230-pound fullback Jordan Stout, who rushed 127 yards in last week's win. The Bulldogs started last week's game with eight straight running plays in a single back set to take a 7-0 lead following a one-yard TD by Stout.

That effectively was all they had going for them in the first half, as they trailed 14-7 at halftime. Berwick then returned the second half kickoff 91 yards for a score, which allowed them to put the game back into their running hands.

Stout capped off a 10-play, 67-yard drive, in the third quarter with an eight-yard TD to put Berwick ahead.

All 10 plays were runs, which gives you the sense of how Berwick likes to operate - pound the ball down your throat.

Quarterback CJ Curry has thrown for 1,915 yards and 18 touchdowns through the first 11 games of the season, while only getting picked off three times. He's also rushed for 237 yards and four touchdowns. Dain Kowalski is the leading rusher on the team, compiling 756 yards and 17 touchdowns.

Andrew Force leads their receivers with 28 receptions for 718 yards and seven touchdowns. Curry and Force hooked up for a 24-yard score in last week's win on a 3rd and 20 with 5:44 remaining in the game to essentially give the Bulldogs a 14-point cushion.

"The challenge with them is making sure that you're sound defensively," said Henrich. "Our kids need to identify their sets and make sure that they don't outman us on certain formations."

One area of play that Henrich feels the Hawks (8-4) have an advantage with is their skill players and athleticism, but if Becahi's offense operates the way they did against Southern Lehigh, none of that will matter.

Julian Spigner only completed 7-of-17 passes for 55 yards last week, Freddie Simmons led the team in receiving with three catches for 35 yards. Opposite wideout Chris Figler only caught one ball for seven yards, while Michael McDaniel could only muster 73 yards rushing on 20 carries.

"We have an issue staying on blocks," said Henrich about his offensive line play. "Solehi was quick up front and that caused us some problems. Berwick is different in that respect. We just need to do a better job of blocking if we want to have better success on offense, because we were horrendous in that aspect against Solehi."

With two rich football programs squaring off this weekend, Henrich knows the most important thing his team has to understand is being mentally ready for this phase of the season.

"We'll discuss that last week's win is in the past and that we have to focus on Berwick," he said. "Friday will come very fast and we need to be ready for that."