Bethlehem Catholic blitzes Bears
Pleasant Valley head coach Dave Pacchioni was frank when discussing his team's 54-21 loss to Bethlehem Catholic Friday night.
"Devastated. I'm devastated," Pacchioni said. "I know the kids are devastated, because I felt we had an opportunity to win this game tonight."Maybe it didn't show that on the score board. We established our running game, which was very successful tonight, but we just shot ourselves in the foot."Following last week's 43-13 loss to Easton, the Bears (0-2) struggled with another Eastern Pennsylvania Conference team flush with playmakers both on the perimeter and in the backfield.The Golden Hawks (1-1) rolled up 399 yards on the ground, including 176 from Antwon Keenan, who scored five rushing touchdowns in the victory.Keenan wasn't the only star on this night, as quarterback Julian Spigner completed 13 of his 18 passes for 187 yards and a touchdown, which came at the end of the first half to give Bethlehem Catholic a 40-14 lead. Spigner also carried the ball 10 times for 84 yards and a score."Their quarterback (Spigner) did a nice job with his reads," Pacchioni said. "I think he went through his progressions well and he got the ball to his athletes. When you miss tackles on athletes like that in an open field, it's not going to go well for you and you saw it out there on the field. A few missed tackles, and they were off to the races."Pleasant Valley withstood two early Becahi scoring drives and cut the deficit to 13-7 when Mikey Brown hit Mike Mitchell for a 34-yard touchdown at the end of the first quarter.But the hosts wouldn't get any closer, as the Golden Hawks found their groove and outscored the Bears 41-7 over the next to quarters to put the game out of reach.After falling to Liberty 39-34 a week ago, a loss that was due in large part to a 33-14 halftime deficit, Becahi coach Joe Henrich was pleased to see his team come out strong from the outset."I saw that we have some resiliency in us," Henrich said. "The kids played with heart and emotion. We didn't let last week get to us. It was definitely a tough loss to take (against Liberty) but you've got to be able to put it behind you and move on."I'm proud of the way our kids responded today. I thought we played more aggressive; I thought we ran to the football better; we executed well on offense and overall, we made a big improvement, which is important."Pleasant Valley's Brent Beck scored on a four-yard scamper late in the fourth quarter to set the final tally. Austyn Borre led the Bears with 82 yards rushing on 13 carries.QUICK STRIKE ... Bethlehem Catholic's longest scoring drive was its first of the game, which chewed up 2:04. The Golden Hawks scored twice in under 0:15.TOUCHDOWN MAKER ... Five of Antwon Keenan's 10 carries went for touchdowns, the longest of which covered 94 yards. The senior averaged 17.6 yards-per-carry.BIG LEG ... Pleasant Valley's Dean Krcic had two punts that were 50 yards or more, with the longest being 55. The senior also had two punts land inside the 20-yardline. Krcic also had two touchbacks on four kickoffs.CLUTCH ... Bethlehem Catholic cashed in on its red zone opportunities, going 4-for-4 with four touchdowns. The Golden Hawks also converted two of their three fourth downs, while the Bears went 0-for-3 in such situations.