Two days after his current team suffered a 17-14 defeat to his former team, Bethlehem Catholic head football coach Kyle Haas felt a sigh of relief. The much-hyped battle lived up to his billing as Northampton edged Bethlehem Catholic, 17-14, in the season opener for both teams last week at Northampton’s Al Erdosy Stadium.

“I’m just glad it’s over,” said Haas, who is a teacher at Beca. “It was a tough situation, and I wasn’t looking forward to it. I put in a lot of time and effort over there. I left Northampton not because of football, but I had to put food on the table.”

The Golden Hawks watched a 14-10 lead slip from their fingers late in the game, but Haas looked at the bigger picture.

“I don’t know about us,” he stated. “Northampton played a pretty flawless game. They didn’t try to do too much, and our defense did a good job.

“Our Achilles’ heel was converting on third down.”

Haas didn’t feel comfortable about the whole situation. He also saw some obvious deficiencies.

“It was a weird game,” he added. “It had a weird feeling to it. Everything seemed to go Northampton’s way. We struggled to get into a rhythm, and we had trouble executing.

“It comes down to how we prepare mentally for a game. We shouldn’t be worrying about what kind of cleats to wear or songs to play. We should be worrying about technique and how to focus properly.

“We didn’t have a good first half, and the situations early in the game didn’t benefit us.”

The Golden Hawks will travel to Whitehall for a Saturday 3 p.m. kickoff. The Zephyrs (1-0), the defending District 11 Class 5A champions, throttled Pocono Mountain West, 42-0, last week.

“Whitehall has really improved over the last two years,” reflected Haas. “Their offense revolves around their quarterback (Quinn) Wentling. He’s a dual threat kid who is extremely tough and plays hard.

“We will need to minimize their RPO (run-pass option) and keep Wentling in the pocket. (Bryce) Bayshore and (Tommy) Buskirk are the primary targets. They have two good running backs that are dangerous in the open field.

“Defensively, they are aggressive and their linebackers are very active, downhill players. Their secondary is solid, and special teams will be the key. “

Haas believes his team had a wake-up call, and they will respond.

“Hope it was a learning experience,” noted Haas. “They (Northampton) had more incentives than we did. We have to find our identity on offense. Ninety-five percent of our problem is between the ears. I don’t think the wheels fell off, and I have been here before.

“We’ll be fine. Offensively, we’ll have to get into a rhythm (against Whitehall) early. We expect an extremely competitive game.”