It was one of the toughest losses of the Tyler Ward era last Friday night, as Bethlehem Catholic blew a 20-7 fourth quarter lead to succumb on the road to Northampton 21-20. Zeke Spencer rushed for the game-tying, six-yard touchdown with 37 seconds left and the extra point gave Northampton an improbable comeback victory to secure a District 11 postseason berth.

A stunned Becahi sideline was in dismay after giving up two touchdowns in the final 2:43 and an onside kick to spark Northampton’s (5-5) victory and drop the Hawks (4-6) to their fourth straight defeat heading into postseason play.

“I look at it as we’re just not finishing football games right now,” said Becahi head coach Tyler Ward. “We’re struggling to finish in key moments. We got into the red zone a couple different times and we either turn it over, have a penalty or miss a field goal. It’s just little things we’re not finishing at a high level.”

Ward and company hope that a fresh slate with the District 11 postseason this week can breathe new air into the team like it did a year ago when the Hawks made a run to win the 4A bracket.

That starts this Thursday at home where the third-seeded Hawks take on sixth-seeded East Stroudsburg North (4-6).

North has only played three local teams this season, beating Allen and losing to Dieruff and Liberty, with the latter coming in a 39-0 shutout.

The Hawks should be considered heavy favorites to win, but Ward knows there’s plenty of work to do if they want to repeat as district champs.

“Adversity like this is hard and tough and not fun to be apart of,” Ward said, “but as long as you’re learning and growing from those hard moments, there’s going to be good things in the future from this group. Everything we want to do is still right in front of us. We still have a chance to repeat as district champions and still have a chance to get back to the state playoffs. That’s what we want to do and that’s what we have to keep working toward.”