Confidence was the theme of what Bethlehem area teams took away from their opening scrimmages of the football preseason over the weekend.

With each of the three teams trotting out rosters full of new faces, Freedom continued their standard of consistency in a scrimmage against CB East, which head coach Jason Roeder hopes translates to success in this week’s season opener at Stroudsburg.

“We had a good day,” said Roeder. “ I think our team speed showed and we had some explosive plays. You never know what you’re going to get with a new group, but the personality of this group isn’t something I’m concerned about. I don’t think they’ll be spooked Friday night.”

Liberty took on Delaware Valley on Saturday and Shawn Daignault thought the day proved this group has potential moving forward as they hit the road this week at Dieruff.

“Overall, I am happy with how we performed,” Daignault said. “Delaware Valley is a great scrimmage for us. They are a well coached, disciplined team with a lot of big strong talent and a few Division-I recruits. I feel good about how our inexperienced group stepped up and competed with them in what ended up being a pretty evenly matched scrimmage. For many of them it was important to line up against an opponent of that caliber for the first time. Hopefully, it helped prepare us for the rigors of the EPC.”

Tyler Ward is experiencing his first year as had coach at Bethlehem Catholic and has certainly heard the chatter from the naysayers about Becahi’s potential this season.

The Hawks battled Northampton in their scrimmage and Ward thinks it gives them a boost heading to their season opener at Pleasant Valley this Friday.

“Our kids have definitely heard all the talk good offseason longer than I have,” said Ward. “I think our seniors are using it more as fuel to the fire, but I just keep stressing the process to them and how if we keep working our goals will come with the work we put in.

“I think what we were able to do against Northampton gave us more confidence and was more beneficial to the younger guys.”