Nate Bendekovits always will remember his role in his team’s 50-0 win over East Stroudsburg South this year.

The Northampton senior captain had a memorable game as well as one of his many big nights.

Bendekovits was named the defensive player of the game for his play along the line and also had a productive night on the other side in the Konkrete Kids’ 50-0 convincing shutout.

“That was a really big game for me and my best memory of the season so far,” said Bendekovits. “We were about three or four games into the season and it always is a long ride there. They have some rabid fans and it was a big game for us.”

Being a part of the program for the past three years, Bendekovits has understood the long-range effect of the culture change.

Bendekovits helped set the pace in the Kids’ weight room for the underclassmen.

“It has been a big year of firsts for us,” he said. “I think we all had enough of all of the negatives before this year. Going into the North (Division of the East Penn Conference) was a positive thing for us.

“When (head coach Kyle Haas) started with us in February, we knew we had enough time to get everything in place. There was a new energy and it got a lot better. We spent a lot of time in the weight room and we wanted the younger kids to follow our lead. Northampton always has been known for hard-working kids. We started winning games and our stadium began to fill up.”

It didn’t take Haas long to discover Bendekovits would be an anchor up front.

“Nate (Bendekovits) was a leader for us since day one,” said Haas. “His commitment in the weight room really paid off for him this season. He is one kid you can trust and has made an impact on both sides of the ball for us.

“Nate is an example on how a Northampton football player should conduct himself in our program.”

Bendekovits took a cue from his grandfather John, who set a trend for weight room workouts while he was a head coach at Whitehall and later had a four-year stint in charge of the Kids beginning in the late 1980s through the 1990s.

The younger Bendekovits also plans to follow his grandfather’s advice about the upcoming Thanksgiving Day clash with Catasauqua

“My grandfather always told me to take advantage of the weights,” said Bendekovits. “He also said to embrace the atmosphere, to enjoy the crowd, and to look around at everything going on. It really opened my eyes to how people react to this game.

“I have tons of memories about it and it was a good vibe last year winning at home.”

Bendekovits plans to continue his career next year, but he had not finalized his plans. He will major in secondary education to be a high school history teacher and has aspirations to become a coach.

“I always have dreamed about it,” he said. “I want to teach in a high school and then coach there.”

Being it will be his final game on Thanksgiving, Bendekovits would trade anything for another shot.

“It was good for us seniors to experience a winning record,” he said. “To come back next year would be insane. Who knows what can happen next year with this team. We improved a lot and we are capable of more.

“I think it will be a lot of mixed emotions on Thanksgiving for me. But I will come out of it happy no matter what happens. I know we have become better football players.”

And the Northampton community certainly has been glad Bendekovits has been a big part of it.