Not many people would have penciled in Bethlehem Catholic as the automatic favorite to come away with the state wrestling championship before this season, but the Golden Hawks came back from Hershey over the weekend with another trophy fit for the kings of the mat.

Becahi took down Easton 33-24 in the PIAA 3A championship Saturday afternoon at the Giant Center.

It was the second time in as many weeks Becahi and Easton dueled in a championship setting, as the Hawks won the District 11 championship over the Rovers.

Despite Easton trying a third lineup in as many meetings with the Hawks this season, it wasn’t enough to overcome Becahi’s championship pedigree, as the Hawks notched their 10th state championship with the win Saturday.

“Early in the season I was confident we would be in the hunt for a title,” said head coach Mike Cole, “but, right away it was clear that we needed the team to develop as individuals and to strengthen their team unity. This was evident to the outside world by our performance against Easton the first time. Thankfully we had two months to get done what we needed.”

Losing to Easton in early January might have been the wake-up call needed for the Hawks, but they persevered over the last few weeks fighting off the best punch Easton could give in their showdowns.

The Hawks won seven of 13 bouts against Easton, but flipped a 12-8 deficit after 133 to win four straight with bonus points.

Marco Frinzi (139) and Shane McFillin (145) both won by fall and then Charlie Scanlan (152) picked up an 11-3 major decision over Quentin Hammerstone to go along with Kollin Rath’s forfeit at 160 to push Becahi in front 30-12 with four bouts left.

James Deluise 9-4 decision over Shae Linegar at 215 iced the win and sent the Hawks back home as kings of the state.

“Winning states was obviously a great thing for our program,” said Cole. “I’m very happy for those that achieved this for the first time. And, I’m happy for our community that is passionate and supportive of our team. I’m most proud of our development as wrestlers. They are improving on the individual feedback we give them. Our collective commitment to excellence and improvement across parents, athletes and coaches is inspiring.”

Becahi (16-1) made the trek through the bracket look easier than it did coming into the tournament.

Nobody ever came close to really threatening the Hawks during their four wins in Hershey, as they opened with a 37-18 win over Central Dauphin and then topped a strong Trinity squad 41-24 in the quarterfinals.

A semifinal meeting with Central Mountain was supposed to be harder than it appeared, but ultimately the Hawks won eight of 13 matches and stormed away with a 34-19 win before thumping Easton.

“I believe the message this sends is that Bethlehem Catholic is consistent and we can overachieve,” Cole said. “We will go through cycles like all programs. But, we coach with the expectation for each wrestler to develop and to over achieve for themselves and their team. This year is a great example because these boys needed to overachieve based on the expectations and their performance early in the season and they did.”