Bethlehem Catholic took round one of the series against Nazareth, but the rivalry will certainly see a round two this weekend at the District 11 wrestling championships.

The Hawks outlasted Nazareth in last week’s EPC Championship 30-24 and both teams are surely on a collision course to meet again this Saturday at 5:30 p.m. in the District 11 3A championship at Freedom.

Both teams have to post victories in their respective quarterfinal and semifinal matches this week, but those are nothing more than a formality, as the two kinds of Lehigh Valley wrestling only have themselves to truly compete against.

“I think it’s special because we both want the same end goals year after year,” said Hawks’ head coach Jeff Karam on the rivalry and facing Nazareth for a second time in a matter of seven days. “They are always well prepared for us and wrestle six hard minutes.”

Becahi (9-0) won eight of the 13 bouts in last week’s league final, but gave up pins at 189, 215 and heavyweight to keep Nazareth within striking distance.

Meanwhile, Nazareth (12-1) only gave up bonus points in three of their eight losses. With round two coming up, both coaches will look to make some changes on Saturday to grab the coveted district title.

“A big key to winning again is building on what we did last Saturday and making the adjustments to widen the gap in matches we won,” Karam said. “We also need to turn around some of the close losses. Every time you compete against a team of that caliber, bonus points are rare to come by. We need to get them where we can and limit Nazareth from doing the same.”

Freedom (17-3) took care of business in the fifth-place match at the EPC Championships, as they handled Emmaus 39-28.

The Pates come into the district tournament as the fourth-seed and will most likely see Easton (13-5) in Thursday’s quarterfinal round, where they hope to reverse a 38-18 defeat from earlier this season.

“We lost to Easton 7-6 in bouts a couple weeks ago, so the goal is to win eight this time because that’s the only realistic way we can beat them,” said head coach Dante Terenzio. “This is an opportunity to show how much we’ve improved since the last time we wrestled them.”

In those seven losses, Easton recorded bonus points in six of them, including five pins. Eliminating those bonus points will be crucial and also a sign of where the team is at the moment.

With Freedom clearly becoming a tough out for most teams, being able to knock off Easton and make a push on Saturday at district duals would be another building step for the program.

“Now that we’ve accomplished our initial goal of becoming a top five dual team in the district, it’s time to crack the top three,” said Terenzio. “Anything less than wins over teams like Easton and Northampton would be a letdown.”

Liberty (10-9) lost to Whitehall in last Saturday’s EPC Championships 39-30 in the ninth place match. The Hurricanes face an uphill climb this Thursday when they take on a heavily-favored Parkland team in the preliminary round of the District 11 3A tournament. Parkland knocked off Liberty 53-12 earlier this season.