Basketball season has arrived as the Hawks get ready for the 2022-23 season. The Hawks will be competing in Division 4A and will look to take care of business. Last season, the Hawks finished 17-7 overall and were defeated in the first round of the WPIAL playoffs by the Pine-Richland Rams.

With only one returning starter, senior Ben Guffey, the boys will have a different look this year. Not only because of the new up-and-coming players but with the hiring of head coach Dante Calabria.

Calabria has quite the resume. He played for Blackhawk High School and is in the WPIAL Hall of Fame. He added a national championship in 1993 to his name when he played for the University of North Carolina. He also has over 15 seasons played professionally overseas in Europe.

Coach Calabria brings his knowledge of the game to Bethel to a newer group of players this year. A total of seven seniors on the team graduated in 2021, so the Hawks will rely on some newer faces like junior forward Shawn Davis and junior guard Nick Brown.

“I like our chances this year. I think by the end of the year teams won’t look forward to playing us,” said Davis.

The boys recently won back-to-back games in the South Park Tip-Off tournament. They defeated East Allegheny handedly 69-42 with Ben Guffey leading in scoring dropping 22 points. They easily defeated the South Park Eagles the next day 68-47 with Guffey scoring 22 again.

Overall a good preview of the season for the boys with their first home matchup of the season coming up on Friday. The boys match up against Canon-Mac Big Macs who last season went 12-9 overall and were beaten twice by the Hawks. Tip-off is at 7:30 p.m. on Friday, Dec. 9 at home and it is also Athletic Hall of Fame night. Best of luck to the boys for the season, and let’s go Hawks!