Bethlehem Catholic started fast and never looked back in Wednesday night’s 45-22 victory over Northampton in a battle of unbeaten East Penn Conference foes at Pete Schneider Gymnasium.

The Hawks (6-0) won seven straight bouts after Northampton (8-1) started the match with a 10-1 major decision by Cade Moisey over Ryan Zeiner at 170.

Becahi led 20-4 heading into 106, where the bout became unofficially over after Dillon Murphy pinned Joey Tiwold in 3:29 to push Becahi’s lead to 26-4 and sink any momentum the Kids looked to pick up heading into the strength of their lineup.

“Definitely 106 was a huge turning point,” said Hawks head coach Jeff Karam. “I think that’s a toss up match on paper. Dillon Murphy is a dangerous kid and he came through tonight and that was big for us. We were surprised they had [Logan] Ninos down at 113, because Kenny [Herrmann] is pretty tough.”

Herrmann scored a 9-0 major decision over Ninos, securing the fatal takedown at the buzzer for bonus points, while the Hawks run of wins ended when Zach Glenn (120) made quick work of Ethan Szerencits with a fall in 1:10, putting Becahi up 36-4.

Julian Chlebove (126) ended the bleeding for Northampton when he picked up a win by injury default over Cole Handlovic. Chlebove was ahead 7-0 in the third period when Handlovic rolled his ankle and couldn’t continue. That win started a streak of three straight for the Kids, as KJ Fenstermacher (132) won by fall, while Dan Moran (138) earned a 5-1 decision over Jared Papcsy to bring Northampton within 36-19.

Devon Britton gave Northampton their fifth victory of the night at 152 with an impressive 9-4 decision over Luca Frinzi in his first bout of the season.

Had the bout started with Northampton’s lightweights, Wednesday’s affair could have had a different tone. However, starting in the upper weights, quieted the crowd early and kept the momentum on the Hawks side.

“I don’t know if that mattered too much,” said Kids’ head coach Seth Lisa of starting at 170. “When they got that fall at 106, that was pretty tough to come back from. We thought, if we can get that bout, good things can start to happen. We go from maybe getting a win, to getting pinned. That’s hard on the team, but we came back and fought.”

During Becahi’s hot start to the match, Mikey Labriola (182) scored a 24-9 tech fall in 3:28 over Zach Rooks and Jody Crouse followed suit with bonus points at 195 with a pin over Blake Lambert in 3:32. Niko Camacho also registered a fall at heavyweight.

“It was a nice crowd and it definitely brought back how the old times felt here,” said Karam of Northampton’s home side. “I thought the match went the way I expected it to. We thought 220, 106, 145 and 152 were toss-ups coming and we won three out of four of those. Where the match started definitely helped us out and won the flip, so that helped dictate things too.”