It’s been a long layover for two football teams whose last season didn’t begin, Bethlehem Catholic’s, and end, Whitehall’s, the way they had hoped.

The two faced each other in their 2022 season openers when the Golden Hawks recorded an emphatic 35-7 victory over the Zephyrs on Friday night at Whitehall.

“It feels good after nine months, after a 2-7 season, to come out here, Year Two, and to get these kids to buy in and come out and play like that,” said Becahi head coach Kyle Haas. “I’m not saying we turned a corner, but it’s a step in the right direction. I think we have potential to be good, but it’s a one-week-at-a-time process, and the season’s really long, and we’ve got a lot of big games to play.”

Matt Senneca’s Zephyrs scored their only touchdown midway through the fourth quarter on a 13-yard pass from quarterback Trey Dogmanits to Braden Bashore. Andrew Deutsch kicked the extra point.

“Our defense, they were excellent,” said Coach Haas. “They did a really good job getting prepared for Whitehall. They didn’t give up many first downs in the first three quarters, and if they were gonna beat us, let the quarterback beat us. Let him throw the ball, but (Nigel) Linton is not gonna beat us, and if they were gonna play option football, we were prepared for it.”

Zephyr senior running back Nigel Linton, who was sidelined by injury toward the end of last season, had nine carries and two receptions on Friday night.

Becahi’s first strike came late in the first quarter on a three-yard carry by Rahmel Terry, and Jeremy Fyrer kicked the extra point.

Then, Becahi quarterback Luke Thomas’s pass, intended for Jaiden Ellis-Lahey in the corner of the end zone, fell incomplete, but moments later, Thomas’s second pass to Ellis-Lahey connected for the Hawks’ next touchdown.

Dogmanits’s pass to Linton in the third quarter was dislodged by Becahi’s Antonio Ramos-Dobbins, and fellow Hawk, Troy Miller, recovered the fumble, setting up the Hawks’ next touchdown, a one-yard carry by Solomon Sutton. Thomas kept the ball for the two-point conversion.

“That was nine months of pain, just thinking about these games and how we did last year, so we came out and didn’t stop,” said Thomas. “My O-line is amazing. I love standing behind them. All props go to my O-line. We didn’t think this was gonna be a blow-by game at all, and we did what we had to do. The chemistry we built together, I love everybody on this team, and I’ll do whatever it takes for them.”

Later in the third quarter, Miller’s interception set up another Becahi touchdown when Thomas completed two passes to Ellis-Lahey before Terry’s six-yard run into the end zone.

On the first play of the fourth quarter, Miller took the ball 45 yards to the end zone on his second interception of the night.

“I love the pick-six,” Miller said. “We came out here fighting, and we knew we could do this. We got embarrassed last year, so we wanted to keep going. We’re brothers, and we’re gonna fight for each other the whole year.”

Coach Haas said that Miller, a senior, is a player who worked his way in.

“Good kid. I drive him to school every day because he’s on my way, so we’re pretty tight. Last year, he wasn’t a starter in the beginning, worked real hard in the offseason, had to come back from a shoulder injury, and to have a game like that, I’m really proud of him,” Haas said. “It certainly feels a lot better right now than it did for nine months after last year.”