Becahi head coach Tyler Ward joked with a friend recently that Bethlehem Catholic may have lost the battle to Central Catholic on Oct. 27 in the regular season finale, but the Hawks have a chance to win the war this Saturday in the District 11 4A championship.

It’s the Holy War: Part II for the second straight season between both Catholic school powers when things kick off Saturday evening at 6:05 p.m. at Whitehall.

The Hawks (6-5) snapped a five-game losing streak last week on the road, topping Blue Mountain 14-0 in the 4A semifinals to advance to the championship for the second straight season. Central (9-2), the top-seed, had little trouble dispatching Bangor during a 35-7 win.

Both teams get to see who wins the real war this weekend.

“Our kids are excited about the opportunity,” said Ward. “They [Central] won the battle, but we want to go out and win the war.

It helps only playing them a couple of weeks ago because everything from the previous game is fresh on the mind. When we look at that game, we want to correct our mistakes and learn from it. Last year, we won first and then Central won the championship. We hope to flip the script.”

Central won the Halloween weekend showdown 24-14 to hand Becahi their fifth straight loss, but going on the road last week and picking up a victory was something Ward and company were happy to grab and shift their momentum.

“From a mindset standpoint it was great to win,” he said. “I thought we played ok. We were a little beat up and hopefully we can get a little bit more healthy this week. I’m sure some of them were even looking ahead last week, but I know everyone is really excited about this game.”

Ward wants to capitalize on what his team did right last time around, and limit the mistakes they made at the same time. The Hawks know they’ll need their best effort of the season if they want to win their first district title since 2018.

“We gave up a few big plays in the pass game and way too many easy access throws last time,” said Ward. “We need to play better in coverage. We did well in the run game and I think we can be in a better position to win. I’m sure Central is thinking the same thing about their adjustments. It’s going to be a chess match, but I think it’s important for us to have success early to feed off that confidence.”