D-11 Football: Pottsville fights to the end, falls in 4A quarterfinal at Bethlehem Catholic
Pottsville's football looks to the sideline after a play (Photo by Eli Doyle).
BETHLEHEM — Pottsville fought to the final whistle.
The Crimson Tide traded punches with Bethlehem Catholic for four hard quarters Thursday night in a District 11 Class 4A quarterfinal, but the Golden Hawks landed the final blows in a 28-14 win at Bethlehem Area School District Stadium.
“We were physically outmatched tonight and we had a great performance,” Pottsville coach Mike Brennan said. “It was one of our best performances of the year and again we fell short. In a large part, those circumstances were out of our control.
“Max (Clews) went down, we still fought through. We didn’t quit, we didn’t give up. But they had a hard time putting Max Clews on the ground tonight, and I would have liked to see what could have happened if he played the full football game. It felt like we would have won the game. It felt a lot like Southern Lehigh just with different personnel. But I’m proud of these kids, they battled.”
Pottsville came out aggressively and set the tone. The Crimson Tide marched down the field on their opening drive and finished with a 2-yard touchdown run by Max Clews to take a 6-0 lead.
Bethlehem Catholic answered immediately when Cayden Vassa broke loose on a 68-yard option run to grab a 7-6 advantage. Vassa scored again from 20 yards out in the second quarter to push the Hawks ahead 14-6.
The Tide punched right back before the break.
Junior quarterback Andrew Allen hit Shay Strencosky on a 28-yard throwback screen, and Strencosky powered down to the 1-yard line. Clews finished the job on the next play, then Allen faked the kick formation and rolled right off the snap to find Strencosky for the two-point conversion that tied the game at 14 heading into halftime.
Pottsville kept swinging on defense with a big-time, fourth-down stop as Corbin Evans broke up a fourth-and-9 pass at the 21 to stall a Bethlehem Catholic drive.
In a roller-coaster second half, the Tide’s Nick Huda thrilled the visiting sideline with a weaving punt return that covered nearly half the field, only to be called back for a holding penalty, and later iced by the first of two interceptions by Armando Thom for the Golden Eagles.
Bethlehem Catholic finally broke through in the fourth quarter on a deep strike from Vassa to Thom that covered 78 yards. A 1-yard score by Vassa later in the fourth gave the Hawks breathing room and closed the scoring.
