Northampton has unfinished business
It was the best football season for Northampton High School since a 10-win finish in 2008.
Last fall, the Konkrete Kids went 7-3 in the regular season and stirred excitement in a community that had been largely forgotten about for a decade, at least when it came to football relevancy.
After a season-opening loss to Parkland, Northampton won five straight games and put itself in position to win the EPC North championship.
But a second-half collapse led to a 34-26 loss to Stroudsburg, and the K-Kids lost their regularseason finale against Whitehall and a District 11 6A quarterfinal to Easton, leaving a bitter taste to a season that began with great promise.
A year later, Northampton
enters another Eastern Pennsylvania Conference season with enthusiasm, but also with a sense of unfinished business.
Second-year coach Kyle Haas said that in four of his team’s losses last season, the K-Kids led at halftime in two of them, and were close in one other. Northampton wasn’t quite ready to close games.
“If we’re going to change the culture, the kids have to believe they can win the tight games,” Haas said. “I think it takes time and it takes a little bit of history. Now we can take what happened last year and revert back to it as a teachable moment.”
Northampton returns a lot of skill-position talent, led by junior quarterback Joe Kerbacher, who has the ability to make plays with his arm and feet, and running back Tyrese Brandon, who ran for 1,066 yards and 18 touchdowns last season and also had 25 receptions for 268 yards and four scores.
Josh Gaycheck, Spencer Cole, Nick Caiazzo and Mike Cruz are also potential playmakers.
But it’s up front where the concern remains.
“That’s where we have question marks,” Haas said. “The skill-position kids are all returning, but we don’t have the same experience up front. I think we have identified the five kids who will play on the offensive line and the six kids who will play on the defensive line. Our kids worked extremely hard, and they’ve practiced with physicality and energy. They just need to keep getting better and better.”
Keith Groller can be reached at 610-820-6740 or at kgroller@mcall.com.
“If we’re going to change the culture, the kids have to believe they can win the tight games.” —Kyle Haas, Northampton football coach