January 8, was a date circled on many wrestling fans calendars for a long time. For Bethlehem Catholic, it's been a patient wait to tonight's massive home match against Nazareth.

The Golden Hawks (5-0, 3-0) and the Blue Eagles (3-0, 3-0) collide in a battle of top ranked teams in the state and nationally recognized in the polls.

It's as good as wrestling may get this year in the Lehigh Valley with the Hawks entering in a recently unfamiliar position as an underdog.

Head coach Jeff Karam has not lost a dual meet match in over three years, losing a 2011 regular season finale at home to Easton to determine the Lehigh Valley Conference crown.

That win streak will be on the line tonight against a Nazareth team that has very few holes in the lineup.

"We're really excited and anxious for a bout like this," said Karam. "It's been quite awhile that we went into a match as an underdog, but we have a lot of confidence, even though we're young. "We have great senior leaders and wrestling is all about momentum, so it's really going to depend on how we go out and perform on Wednesday."

The Hawks are the top ranked 2A team in the state, while Nazareth is the second ranked 3A team in the state, sitting only behind a stacked Franklin Regional squad from out west.

Becahi enters ranked 24th in the country, while Nazareth is up 10 spots with a 14th place ranking.

None of those numbers mean much once the teams go at it on the Hawks mat. What will matter is the coin flip, the matchups and the amount of bonus points given up by both teams that will probably decide who comes away with this year's LVC crown.

"They deserve to be where they're at and they're loaded," said Karam of Nazareth. "When you get into close matches like this, it can really come down to one point. The good thing is that we have flexibility in our lineup, but you can't figure out bonus points."

Anthony Lombardo and Cole Karam will both be back in the lineup for the Hawks after dealing with injuries early on to give Becahi some added reinforcements, but dealing with Nazareth through the meat of their lineup, from 126-152, is the tactical dilemma that Karam faces heading into the match.

"I'd like to see Zeke [Moisey[ wrestle Tyrone Klump at 126, but I don't know if Nazareth wants that," Karam said. "[Freshman] Mikey Labriola (138) is going to need to wrestle like a senior for us, because he's probably going to go against [senior] Chase Zemenak. Bonus points is what you can't figure out before a match, so it's going to be interesting how things work out."

Karam and company just hope that they can fend off a hungry Nazareth team that is looking to dethrone the Hawks from their perch on top of the Lehigh Valley wrestling scene.

"This is what you work for," he said about tonight's match. "It's great that this match is in our gym, which should help us, but we got to wrestle well if we want a chance to beat them."