It’ll be a measuring stick
Northampton will use Parkland to gauge the progress being made
There are easier ways to start a season.
But since he doesn’t make the schedule, Northampton coach Kyle Haas plans to use his team’s opening-night game against Parkland as a measuring stick.
A victory over the Trojans would be great, of course. It was also be a shocker to the local football world.
No matter what happens on the scoreboard, Haas is looking for certain characteristics and traits to emerge for his team.
“For our program right now, what’s important is that we go out and compete for four quarters against a team like Parkland,” Haas said. “That’s the measuring stick.
“We’ve talked to the kids all offseason and all week about going out and playing mistakefree, physical football and don’t give up. No matter how bad it looks, I want them to keep playing.”
Haas is entering his second year with the Konkrete Kids and strides were made in 2018. The team shook off a 41-0 loss to Parkland on opening night and won its next five games to create excitement within the community.
A lot of that enthusiasm dimmed after Northampton lost its EPC North showdown to Stroudsburg 34-26 and suffered late losses to Whitehall and Easton. However, with an 8-4 mark, the K-Kids had their best record in a decade and are hoping to build on it this season.
“When you’re in a program that hasn’t had a lot of success, you don’t really feel as though you’ve turned a corner until you beat somebody you’re not supposed to beat,” Haas said. “Really good football teams and programs play with an unbelievable amount of confidence and believe they’re going to win. Parkland kids believe they’re going to win every game and sometimes that’s what separates winning from losing.”
Haas and his staff have worked hard to instill that belief. It’s not an easy task considering Northampton hasn’t won a league title since earning a three-way Mountain Valley Conference crown in 1997, shared with Nazareth and Lehighton. The program’s last outright title was a Lehigh Valley League championship in 1974.
In addition, Northampton is 0-35 against the EPC South, including 0-3 last year, since the EPC began in 2014.
“For us, last year was great, but whether or not our kids are going to accept the challenge Friday night to compete against a team like Parkland remains to be seen,” Haas said. “It has been a work in progress for us. If you have a little bit of adversity, which way are you going to go? That’s what we want to see from our kids as a staff.”
Haas said he was pleased with the offense in Northampton’s scrimmage against Central Catholic, but not so much with the defense.
“Central Catholic ran the ball consistently on us,” he said. “Tackling was an issue for us. Sometimes kids don’t understand that you can’t make every play on defense and you just have to play your assignment. If you’re not where you’re supposed to be, it’s funny how often the ball finds the place where the kid is out of position.
“We had kids who were trying to make plays but weren’t where they were supposed to be.”
Unless that issue is solved, it could be a long night against a Parkland team that runs the ball well. Haas saw a tape of the Trojans’ scrimmage against Wilson West Lawn and was impressed.
“They are better than last year,” he said. “They’re even bigger than they were last year.”
Making the challenge even greater is that Northampton will be without several starters.
Andrew Sharga, who was supposed to start at tight end, will miss four weeks with an injury.
Captain and all-league player Nick Caizzo is week-to-week with a hamstring injury and Josh Gaycheck is expected to miss several weeks with another injury.
“We’re missing three quality kids,” Haas said. “We’re just hopeful of having everyone back when we get into the meat of our EPC North schedule, which to us is going against Pocono Mountain West, East Stroudsburg South, Stroudsburg, Allen and Pocono Mountain East in weeks 5 through 9.
“We want these kids to get healthy and fully recover. Until they get back, we’re not going to make any excuses. It’s got to be the next man up and we’re going to put the best 11 we have out on the field.”