Nazareth football comes alive in second half

Tom Falzone, who thanked the Nazareth football fans for staying around after a slow start, had to test his trust in the 2020 Blue Eagles.

And on Senior Night, a couple of a seniors showed their coach he could trust them.

Jaiden Cabrera, in particular, stepped up in Nazareth's 27-17 triumph over Northampton on Friday night at Andrew S. Leh Stadium.

Falzone's Blue Eagles improved to 3-0 overall and 2-0 in the Northampton County Division after capturing division and District 11 Class 4A titles a season ago. Northampton, though much improved from Week 1, is now 0-2 and 0-2.

Trailing 10-7 late into the third quarter, Cabrera pulled in an 11-yard screen pass from senior Matt Bugbee on fourth-and-one from the Nazareth 33. The Blue Eagles were in the end zone five plays later when Bugbee found senior Greg Salivonchik from 9 yards out.

Cabrera was also involved in perhaps the biggest play of the evening. Bugbee lateraled to Joe Capobianco, a senior who played an outstanding two-way game, and Capobianco aired it out to a wide open Cabrera for the 71-yard scoring strike with 11:35 remaining.

Nazareth went from down 10-7 to up 20-10 in 2 minutes and 30 seconds of game action.

"I thought Northampton won the first half," Falzone said, "and I'm grateful the fans didn't leave at halftime. We woke up and looked a little bit more like ourselves. We've got a lot to fix but I guess that's a good thing to be 3-0 and still have a lot to work on."

The Blue Eagles put the Konkrete Kids away with a 79-yard scoring drive on their next possession. Bugbee, whopassed for 275 yards, went deep to sophomore Nolan Lobb for a 47-yard gain then sprinted into the end zone from 10 yards out on the next play.

Northampton set the final score with 32 seconds left when Joe Kerbacher passed to Owen Baker for a 6-yard touchdown.

Cabrera caught nine passes in total for 189 yards. Michael Cruz rushed for 112 yards for coach Kyle Haas' K-Kids.

Northampton's ground game was the story of the opening half.

The K-Kids grinded out 167 rushing yards against a Nazareth 'D' that entered allowing 2.8 rush yards in its 2-0 start. The biggest gainer of the first half was Cruz's 63-yard burst through the middle after the Blue Eagles opened a 7-3 advantage.

Kerbacher capped the possession with a 1-yard plunge on third down at the 6:29 mark of the second quarter.

Senior wideout Tyler O'Hagan raced 3 yards around left end to pay off Nazareth's 87-yard TD drive early in the period. Bugbee completed 10 of 12 passes for 123 yards in the first half.

Northampton led 10-7 at intermission.

Nazareth and Northampton continue the Northampton County portion of their schedules on Friday night, Oct. 16.

The Blue Eagles play Freedom at BASD Stadium. The Konkrete Kids welcome Liberty to Al Erdosy Stadium. Both contests are set for 7 p.m. starts.