Northampton head boys’ soccer coach Adam Bastidas knew this year likely wouldn’t be like the previous one.

Last year, the Konkrete Kids more than doubled their wins from the 2016 season, as they recorded 13 wins and a district playoff berth in the process. However, the Kids had a large senior class.

So, this year, Bastidas sees a retooling year, not necessarily rebuilding. It became evident to him in the Kids’ opening two games, a 4-2 loss to Whitehall and a 9-0 shutout to Parkland.

“I wouldn’t say that we are inexperienced,” said Bastidas. “It is more of a lack of experience. There are a lot of things. We had a senior-laden class last year.

“We have juniors and seniors back, but most of them didn’t see a lot of varsity time. Most of their time was on JV. We do have a good bunch of kids and they are very coachable. We will become more experienced as the year goes on. We do mesh fairly well now.”

Bastidas would have liked a more manageable schedule for his team from the start with league and division stalwarts Whitehall and Parkland to begin the season. But he hopes upcoming games with Nazareth and Dieruff can be beneficial.

“It’s tough to open the season with that kind of schedule with the team we have,” he said. “It could easily take a shot at your confidence, but our kids held strong.

“We have Nazareth and Dieruff and both games are very winnable for us. We just have to take one game at a time and we want to gain more confidence.”

Bastidas has been impressed with his younger players, notably freshmen Russell King and Conner Grabfelder who have gained starting spots.

“Both of them have a lot of potential,” said Bastidas. “We like what we saw in the scrimmages and they got to start. Both of them can do a lot of good things out there.

“We have a lot of freshmen and our JV team has a lot of promise.”

Bastidas believes his team can jell and have another productive season. He envisions his program becoming a regular district qualifier.

“For a school like Northampton, every year we should be in playoff contention,” said Bastidas. “We feel like we are headed in that direction. We will learn a lot this year. We have a large group of underclassmen and that should be us in a good situation for the future.

“Hopefully, we can continue to improve.”