Bethlehem Catholic may have a new coach in charge this winter on the hardwood, but the Golden Hawks will still carry high expectations when the season gets underway this weekend.

Becahi is coming off a 28-4 season a year ago, which saw them make a run all the way to the PIAA 4A state semifinals, only falling to Imhotep.

The Hawks won their first EPC title a year ago and enter the year as back-to-back District 11 champions.

With former coach Ray Barbosa skipping over to Allentown’s Executive Charter, new head coach Scott McClary comes in with plenty of experience and expectations.

“The outlook for the team is optimistic,” said McClary. “We lost the player of the year (Ryan Young) and two other senior starters and one that played a lot off the bench, but with Justin Paz and Ryan Young returning, there are decent expectations. Having to learn a new system from a new coach will present some challenges early in the season, along with some really tough games in the beginning. However, practices are off to a great start and everyone is excited to get started. The EPC will be extremely competitive this year.”

Key returners for the Hawks include Justin Paz, sr. point guard; Kyle Young, sr. center; Ryan Santana, jr. guard; Julian Thomas, sr. forward; Bryan Santana, jr. guard and Caden Giordano, sr. forward.

New players in the fold are Jalil Barnes, FR point guard; Zamar Brate, SR forward and TJ Edwards, JR guard.

Paz (East Stroudsburg) and Young (Siena) both have already committed to playing at the next level and will be the anchors for the team this season. The Hawks have also bumped up their nonleague schedule opening up the season this weekend against Baltimore Catholic league power John Carroll, as well as contests against Philadelphia Catholic power Archbishop Wood and a spot in the Lehigh Valley Hoop Group against DC Catholic power St. John’s.

McClary, who coached last season as an assistant at Central Catholic, expects the season to be a grind and knows there will be plenty of top teams to deal with in the EPC.

“Emmaus will be the preseason number-one team in my opinion, but I expect as many as eight to 10 teams in the conference to really push to win it,” he said. “Our goal is to be in that mix, improve every day, and represent Bethlehem Catholic in the very best manner possible.”