At the end of last week's 29-27 loss to Berwick in the opening round of the PIAA 3A playoffs, there was a real sense that Bethlehem Catholic let one slip away.

The contrast of styles that played out at J. Birney Crum Stadium couldn't have been more relevant, from Berwick's power attack, to Becahi's arsenal of athletic weapons.

But there's always one constant in football that can overcome any type of skill set a team encompasses, and that's mistakes.

And when you're under the microscope of the state tournament, mistakes get magnified.

The Hawks committed seven penalties for 54 yards and a key fourth quarter interception tallied as their only turnover of the night, but eventually became a crucial mistake en route to a difficult loss to the Bulldogs.

Head coach Joe Henrich preached to his team following the loss about the significance of mistakes at this level of play and Becahi (8-5) learned first hand how it can end a team's season.

"It was just too many mistakes and it's really unfortunate because I really thought we could have won that game," said Henrich. "Unfortunately, it's kind of been our story this year. Just too many mistakes in certain situations."

After Berwick (13-0) chewed up the first nine minutes of possession last week following an opening 13-yard TD pass from C.J. Curry to Kyle Trenholm, the Hawks countered with a 20-point second quarter.

Hawks' wideout Freddie Simmons hauled in a 15-yard TD reception from quarterback Julian Spigner with 16 seconds left in the half to give Becahi their first lead and momentum.

But after Simmons brought in the score, he pointed to the Becahi section in the stands, which summoned a 15-yard unsportsmanlike penalty from the officials, to turn a chip shot extra point into a full blown field goal attempt. Kicker Eric Ho missed wide right and Becahi led 20-14 at halftime.

Berwick regained the lead at the start of the fourth, following a 15-yard TD run by Curry at the 10:00 mark to put the Bulldogs ahead 21-20 after the PAT.

Becahi kept plugging away and appeared to be on the march to the red-zone until Ricky Densberger picked off Spigner on an out pattern and ran 28 yards with the return to the Hawks 39.

Jordan Stout, who rushed for 130 yards on the night for Berwick, picked up chunks of yardage all game long and plowed his way through for his first score of the game with a four-yard plunge with 4:38 left in the fourth to score points off the turnover.

The Hawks jumped offside on the ensuing extra point, which made legendary Berwick coach George Curry bring his offense back on the field to feed the monster 240-pound Stout.

Stout had no problem converting the two-point conversion from the ground, as the penalty and play resulted in Becahi trailing by two possessions at 29-20.

"The penalties bit us in the butt, but honestly, the big swing in the game was the interception," Henrich said. "We were driving the ball and I was feeling good about what we were doing offensively. "We had all kinds of time and it turned out to be a bad play. I think that was really the backbreaker when you look at it, but certainly giving them three points doesn't help our cause."

Becahi rallied with a 12-yard TD pass from Spigner (15-of-24, 224 yards, three TD, one interception) to Chris Figler with 58 seconds left in the game.

Berwick would eventually try to run out the clock, but almost surrendered the ball back to the Hawks with one second left, as Curry was called for intentional grounding on fourth down. The play would have resulted in possession for the Hawks around the Berwick 25-yard line.

It would have been one final play to the Hawks season, but it was nullified by a phantom personal foul call on Becahi to offset the penalties and allow Curry to kneel one last time for the win.

Despite the finish, Henrich made sure his underclassmen stored a mental image of the scoreboard behind them, as a lesson and form of motivation toward next year.

"It's an awesome season," Henrich said. "This disappointment will wear off and we'll remember this season fondly. When you go from 1-9 to a state playoff game, it's pretty special and that's a tribute to our seniors. We were only left with only seven seniors and they did everything you asked them to do. They're the greatest seniors I've ever been around and I feel for them that this ride had to come to an end."