Shawn Daignault and Kyle Haas are friends and former colleagues. They’re also going to be direct competitors as long as they coach Liberty and Bethlehem Catholic respectively.

The first chapter of that saga takes place this Friday night when the city rivalry contest between both teams kicks off at 7 p.m. at BASD Stadium.

Both coaches are plenty familiar with each other, as Daignault was Haas’ defensive coordinator last year at Northampton. Their relationship had both of them swapping ideas in the offseason about instilling new cultures at their new schools, but it’s fair to say that there won’t be much dialogue between both of them this week as they prepare to play.

“We’re friends and I really respect the job he’s doing at Liberty,” said Haas of Daignault. “We haven’t really talked much during the season, but I’m proud of what he’s doing over there. The longer he’s there, the better that program is going to become.”

Both programs are enduring their own shares of struggle this season, as the Hurricanes (1-3) have dropped three straight games since winning their season opener. Last week’s 23-22 defeat to Stroudsburg certainly has left a bad taste in the mouth of Liberty players.

“Overall I would say it’s appropriate,” said Daignault of the team’s psyche coming into this week. “No one is happy about losing games, especially ones that we are pretty sure were winnable, but I do think we believe that we can be much better. The team is keeping a focus on daily improvement and we know that if we can continue to improve, better days are ahead.”

Becahi (1-3) is also reeling from a one-point defeat last week, falling to a talented Nazareth team 42-41.

The Hawks led 41-14 in the third quarter, only to see Nazareth score 28 straight points for the miraculous comeback.

It’s a defeat that Haas acknowledged was a tough pill to swallow.

“The kids are obviously disappointed in the loss,” Haas said. “After a loss like that, it was heartbreaking, but I don’t have to worry about them carrying that over to this week. When you’re playing in a city rivalry game, it’s big for everyone.”

Friday’s winner could use the contest as an opportunity to build momentum heading into the second half of the season. Daignault knows his team needs to execute better in all facets if they want to win more games.

The lessons from last week will hopefully resonate moving forward.

“Little things add up to big things,” said Daignault. “This is something we talk a lot about but last week’s game was a stark example of how that can work in a negative way. There were many small things that happened that in and of themselves won’t lose a game for you but when there are lots of them, they add up to have a tremendous effect on the final result and it was too much to overcome. As coaches we need to do a better job teaching the little things so that we can have them add up to positives instead of negatives. The other thing I will say is that it is clear that we have a bunch of guys who are willing to put their bodies on the line on Friday night. Our physical effort has been outstanding. We are continuing to work on the mental aspects of the game and the focus needed to cut down on small mistakes.”

The mental aspect is something Haas is dealing with as well with his new players, as he just wants to see them finish games.

“We have an opportunity to beat some teams down the road and we’re not pushing the panic button,” he said, “but we need to learn how to finish games. I think we’ve gotten better each week and the kids see that, but they have to finish games now.”

Despite what both coaches are going through this season, a contest between Liberty and Bethlehem Catholic always ensures to bring out the best of both sides.

“This is a city rivalry and the records don’t matter in games like this,” Haas said. “Both teams are coming into this confident they can get a win, so we’re really looking forward to playing on Friday.”