Chalk up another state championship for Bethlehem Catholic. The Golden Hawks came away from Hershey with their sixth PIAA wrestling title (four in 2A, two in 3A) over the weekend following a 38-22 victory over Kiski Area Saturday afternoon at the Giant Center in the 3A finals.

Saturday’s achievement also marked the 300th career victory for head coach Jeff Karam, who relished the celebration of winning a state title with this year’s team.

“This is the best,” said Karam. “This is the best because this isn’t the most talented team we’ve ever had here, but these guys have a lot of heart and coming into the season, a lot of people thought we were on the decline. That’s far from happening. This is a young team and our motto is to keep working. I love these kids and they deserve this.”

Kiski gave the Hawks all they could handle in the finals, as they led 18-11 midway through the bout after a 6-2 decision by Danny Starr over Tavion Banks at 195. That’s when things started to turn for the Hawks, as Robert Spezza produced a huge fall at 220 and Jase Crouse limited Isaac Reid, the top ranked heavyweight in the state to a 12-3 major decision.

Nate Lackman (106) then put Becahi ahead 23-22 with a fall over Sammy Starr in 5:15 to suck wind out of Kiski’s sails. The Hawks won the final five bouts of the match to close things out with Kenny Herrmann (126) clinching the title with one match to go following a 16-1 technical fall over Bobby Lawrence.

“I knew if I got bonus we’d have the match wrapped up,” said Herrmann. “I tried not to think about any pressure. I just wanted to wrestle a good match and help get the win for the team.”

The match started at 138 with Ryan Anderson stepping out and dominating Noah Levett with a 10-2 major decision to get Becahi on the front foot. Cole Handlovic (145) followed with a 5-3 overtime victory after trailing 3-0 in the third period to give the Hawks a huge come back victory early.

Kiski followed with a pair of falls at 152 and 160 before Mikey Lewis scored a 14-4 major decision win at 170. Logan Pollick (182) picked up a 3-0 decision at 182 over Joe Kurtz before Starr helped push the lead to 18-11 with his win at 195.

After last year’s state runner-up performance to Nazareth, it’s fair to say that defeat provided some fuel to this year’s gritty group.

“The work that these guys put in is what brought us this title,” said Karam. “We have a bunch of kids that love each other and just go out and work. You look at our lineup and we don’t have many kids that are ranked in the country or state. It’s just a lot of kids working hard.”