The first game in what should be a good set of Christmas City rivalry games this season, Bethlehem Catholic and Liberty lock horns Saturday night at BASD Stadium. The Golden Hawks have won the last four and would love nothing more than to bury the Hurricanes early in the season. For Liberty, this is a tough test in a real crossroads year. Despite having a lot of experience and a four year starting quarterback, Liberty is clearly running third in the city of Bethlehem.
Last Time: Becahi mollywhopped the Hurricanes, 56-27 in last year’s season opener. Becahi only outgained Liberty 368-359, but returned a kickoff and punt for a touchdown, plus returned a fumble for a TD on the game’s opening drive. Julian Spigner was a crisp 13-21 for 182 yards and 2 TDs and ran for 61 yards and a touchdown. Doug Erney was 14-34 for 193 and a TD for Liberty and ran for 53 yards and 3 touchdowns.
When Bethlehem Catholic Has the Ball: The Golden Hawks have one of the most exciting offenses in eastern Pennsylvania. Quarterback Julian Spigner was an All State selection in 3A last year after throwing for 2,600 yards and 29 TDs. Although Freddie Simmons has graduated, the Hawks do return EJ Fineran (who averaged over 25 yards per catch last year) and Joe Jay Smith, both FBS recruits, and replace Simmons production with Noah Stewart, a refugee from Pius X who caught 82 passes for 1,000 yards last year and was All State in Single-A. They’re going to spread Liberty out and throw it all over the place. Spigner is a run threat, and new tailback Antwon Keenan is a sleeper after missing much of his junior year with a knee injury. They’ll show some read/option ground game, but Becahi is clearly going to challenge Liberty through the air. To combat that, the Hurricanes will need to create pressure with their defensive line. Liberty is huge up front, with Jaohne Duggans, Devon Linderman, Livan Diaz, and Santos Morales all weighing in above 250 pounds. Duggans, a junior, has started since his freshman season and this year looks like his big breakout. Becahi, for all of their skill talent, is going to be green on the offensive line, and if Liberty can get into the backfield and disrupt the passing game, they’ll give themselves a shot.
When Liberty Has the Ball: This is the Doug Erney show. The Liberty season is entering his fourth year as their starter and will be depended on to make Liberty’s offense go. Although Darius Jones, Izaiah Avent, and Elijah Hall are all playing college football now, the Valley is very high on Liberty’s receivers. Darian Street is poised to break out as a junior, and seniors Victor Santiago and Sean West both saw tons of snaps last year. However, Becahi has one of the best secondaries in Pennsylvania. Joe Jay Smith is a big, physical corner who loves contact and has elite ball skills (six interceptions last fall). Fineran and Stewart also will be back there and offer an unmatched combination of size and speed in the secondary. Erney has previously shown a tendency to get trigger happy, and that could spell disaster if he tries to fit the ball in to windows that don’t exist. Liberty has a big offensive line that returns four starters, but will need to break in a new running back after losing 1,000 yard rusher Ryan Lawrence to graduation. If Becahi has a weakness, it’s the defensive front, which was hit hard by graduation. But Liberty will have to attack it will an inexperienced backfield. For Becahi, a guy to watch is junior defensive tackle Niko Camacho. The 6’3 270 pounder wrestled heavyweight for the Golden Hawks last season and is going to have a great match up going against Liberty center and captain Devon Linderman. If he can plug gaps in the run game and create pressure straight up the middle, it’s a great sign for the Brown and Gold faithful.
The Pick: Bethlehem Cathlolic 49-28. Liberty should be better this year, but I’m not sure how much that will be reflected on the scoreboard. The Golden Hawks are a bad match up because they’re built to take away what Liberty does well, and Liberty doesn’t really have the personnel to expose their weaknesses.
