It was not the result anyone expected, except for maybe the Saucon Valley faithful, but Bethlehem Catholic’s 14-6 defeat to the Panthers Saturday afternoon in the semifinals of the District 11 3A playoffs was a stunning outcome for all observers.

With the sun out all afternoon, it appeared the Hawks had a dark cloud over them for the roughly 2 1/2 hour affair at BASD Stadium.

Whether it was lack of execution, inability to step up to the moment, not being tested throughout the season or discipline issues, it all came to a head on Becahi’s home turf, ending their bid for a third straight district championship, falling to an inferior opponent talent-wise, but losing to a more driven team.

“I feel like we didn’t anticipate, as a team, that kind of game, for what it was,” said Hawks head coach Joe Henrich. “We just never responded. Things didn’t go our way in the first half and we weren’t able to recover from it mentally. It’s always a difficult thing when you coach young kids and I love them, they’re great kids and we had a great year, but it’s a devastating end to the season.”

Prior to the game, a betting man would have leveraged his mortgage on the prospect of Becahi’s offense scoring more than six points on the afternoon, but the unthinkable became a reality, as the Panthers held the Hawks to 12 first downs and 233 total yards.

The only drive of the game where Becahi’s offense generated some momentum came in the second quarter, when Julian Spigner found Nate Stewart down the sideline for a 41-yard grab.

The difficulty of Stewart’s catch epitomized the day for the Hawk offense, as that wasn’t easy, as he pulled it in with one hand.

Antwon Keenan, who sat out the first two series of the game for “internal reasons”, then grinded his way for an 11-yard score with 1:03 left in the half to pull the game within 7-6. But the momentum seized, as the Hawks attempt to tie the game with the PAT was squandered with a bad snap, keeping Saucon in front.

Things went from bad to worse, as Zach Thatcher returned the ensuing kickoff 60 yards deep into BC territory. Thatcher would then throw a nine-yard score to Alstan Wolfe, who caught the ball on his knees with just seconds before the half expired to build the lead to 14-6.

“Sometimes when things aren’t on your side, it just snowballs,” Henrich said. “Our kid had that ball in his hands, it bounces off of him and they catch it for a touchdown. That’s a difficult thing to deal with. You know, we score that touchdown and then give up a big kickoff return. If you look back at us the last three weeks, we’ve been good on kickoff. It’s just how things went for us.”

Spigner struggled all afternoon, as he finished 7-of-19 for 112 yards, but the struggles stemmed all across the board, as the Hawks end their season with a bad taste in their mouths.

“It’s a devastating loss to all those kids,” Henrich said. “I know how hard they work and I feel for them. It’s a tough way to end the year.”