Nazareth fooled me.
I figured there would be a wrestling dual meet where the Blue Eagles went after Bethlehem Catholic in an all-flags-flying, all-out challenge using everything at their disposal to try and topple the Golden Hawks.
And I figured that Nazareth would have a pretty good chance at Becahi when that happened – the Blue Eagles had the talent, moxie and most of all the mat genius that is head coach Dave Crowell, to knock off the defending PIAA 3A champions.
And this was supposed to be the column where I speculated that maybe, just maybe, Nazareth actually could get it done.
Talk about being overtaken by events.
I figured Nazareth’s big push would happen in the state final – not the District 11 championship where the Blue Eagles, looking as focused and as intense as possible, posted a glorious 33-24 win to dethrone Becahi and hand the Golden Hawks their first loss to a D-11 team in six years.
To quote our next Secretary of Energy, Rick Perry, “Oops.”
Now, as heading into the PIAA 3A team tournament that opens Thursday in Hershey, the question isn’t “Can Nazareth beat Becahi?” but rather a two-parter: 1) “Can Nazareth beat Becahi again?” and 2) “Will Nazareth have to beat Becahi again to win a state title?”
Answers: 1) yes and 2) maybe not.
Let’s take question No. 2 first.
There’s little doubt the Blue Eagles will make Saturday’s final. The Thursday opener, Owen J. Roberts, is a speed bump for Nazareth. The Friday quarterfinal, against the Hazleton-Cedar Cliff winner, won’t be a whole lot more competitive.
Friday night’s semifinal against (it says here) Canon-McMillan (though the Big Macs will have a tough quarterfinal with Erie Cathedral Prep and must face District 1 champion Council Rock South, coached by Nazareth alum Brad Silimperi, in their opener) is a different story. Assuming Nazareth wrestles as well as it did against Northampton and Becahi in the D-11 tourney looks like a 15-point Blue Eagles semifinal triumph.
So, Nazareth should be in the state final.
Should Bethlehem Catholic?
Maybe.
As with Nazareth, the Thursday opener’s not much of a question – the Golden Hawks will walk through District 6 champion Central Mountain.
But then comes a likely quarterfinal with District 7 champion Kiski Area and that one is problematic for Becahi.
Kiski has state-ranked wrestlers at 106, 126, 132, 138, 145, 170, 195, 220 and 285. Worth noting is the similarity of several of those weights (106, 132, 195, 220) to spots where Nazareth scored key wins over Becahi in the D-11 final. Now, with Golden Hawk seniors Mikey Labriola at 170 and Niko Camacho at 285 and super soph Ryan Anderson at 126, Kiski’s not winning those — but neither did Nazareth. Nor did the Blue Eagles need to.
It doesn’t take a lot of imagination, or a lot of wild upset picks, to see Kiski pulling off a similar score against Becahi. It could happen. It might happen.
It won’t.
Here’s why. Becahi should get enough bonus from its hammers and gritty efforts from its now-battle-tested younger wrestlers to survive whatever damage Kiski can do at its strong spots. Kiski doesn’t have Sammy Sasso and Travis Stefanik as sure-thing decking machines as Nazareth did.
And perhaps most of all, we expect Becahi, hurt by the D-11 loss, to rally in Hershey and want desperately to prove they are still champions. Never discount Golden Hawk pride. Becahi certainly looked sharp in hammering Cumberland Valley 54-12 in the play-in Monday. Afterwards, CV coach Dave Heckard predicted a Becahi-Nazareth state final, and he’s pretty savvy and smart on this stuff.
So, back to question #1: can the Blue Eagles beat the Golden Hawks again? Yes, of course.
Will they?
The coin flip will be enormous. Give Becahi the flip and that advantage and suddenly things look very different.
But you just know Crowell and his staff – the best lineup mavens in Pennsylvania – will have a Plan A (win toss) and Plan B (lose toss) ready. The Golden Hawks don’t have the overwhelming depth they have had in the past and there are, or could be, gaps in the lineup that Nazareth will exploit as they did last week.
The addition of freshman Andrew Cerniglia to the Nazareth lineup at 106 gives the Blue Eagles a third absolute hammer to go with Sasso and Stefanik (arguably four counting Brock Wilson), and it’s a hammer Becahi cannot dodge.
Most of all, though, the D-11 final win has given Nazareth an enormous confidence boost and sense of accomplishment. Analysis on paper can’t adequately factor in the pride with which the Blue Eagles carried themselves afterwards and the feeling that they can take on any foe and win. That kind of feeling is worth far beyond any physical aspects in a match between two pretty even teams.
Becahi will look at Nazareth and hope it can win. Nazareth will look at Becahi and know it can win.
And Nazareth will win – unless it’s Bethlehem Catholic that fools me this time.
Brad Wilson may be reached at bwilson@lehighvalleylive.com. Follow him on Twitter @bradwsports. Find Lehigh Valley high school sports on Facebook.
Our editors found this article on this site using Google and regenerated it for our readers.
