Bethlehem Catholic hopes their trend of starting slow in the District 11 postseason doesn’t continue this week when they face Southern Lehigh Thursday night for the Class 4A title.

Kickoff is slated for 6:35 p.m. at Catasauqua’s Alumni Field and head coach Joe Bernard hopes his team is ready from the jump when they take on top-seeded Southern Lehigh (11-1).

The Hawks (8-4) fell behind 24-13 last week against Central Catholic, before staging a second half comeback with 21 straight points to hold off the Vikings 34-31.

Axel Burkart started the second half at quarterback for the Hawks and helped get their comeback going with a 13-yard TD throw to Carter Vassa in the third quarter. Cayden Vassa put Becahi ahead 27-24 with a five-yard rushing score late in the third quarter before Burkart added a 17-yard rushing TD to start the fourth and give the Hawks a 34-24 lead.

“We thought switching Axe to quarterback and putting Cayden at tailback would give us a big boost and it did,” said Hawks’ head coach Joe Bernard. “Up front our guys did a great job in the second half and they really took over the game.

The Hawks overcame four turnovers (three interceptions, one fumble) on the night to come out with the win, as their defense helped the second half turnaround with allowing only two first downs and collecting five sacks.

“We put more pressure on Central than they’ve seen in a while,” said Bernard. “We knew if we kept getting pressure we’d get some sacks and we did.”

The Hawks will need that defensive pressure this week taking on Solehi, who has scored 55 and 56 points respectively in the first two rounds of the postseason.

The Spartans defeated the Hawks 28-7 in last year’s district finals and now they get a shot at redemption.

“Our goal at the beginning of the year was competing for a championship,” said Bernard. “Now, we’re in that position, playing another week.”