The word quit was not in any players head this year. After a shutout loss that got away from them last season in week one, the Northampton football team once again found themselves trailing at halftime with no points to the same team, Parkland, as last year. But this time around they fought back and made it close before falling 49-14 last Friday night at Northampton High School’s Al Erdosy Stadium in the 2019 season-opener for both teams.

In last season’s opener at Parkland, the Trojans (1-0 overall) led 13-0 at halftime and then added four more touchdowns in the second half to take the game 41-0. Last weekend, the Kids (0-1) found themselves behind 14-0 heading into the locker rooms, and then 28-0 early in the third quarter. But Northampton fought back, found the end zone twice, and even had a chance to cut the deficit to a one-score game but was stopped on a third-and-one near midfield.

Head coach Kytle Haas liked more of what he saw this year out of his team.

“Last year we went in the locker room and it was like a morgue,” Haas said. “Those kids last year did not believe that they could come back. This year, in the locker room, it was much different. They punched two in right away and then our kids fought back.”

Junior quarterback Joe Kerbacher was a handful to deal with all night for the Parkland defense. He rushed 19 times for 100 yards and had two touchdowns, both of which were unanswered in the third quarter to cut the Kids deficit to 28-14 heading into the fourth quarter. Tyrese Brandon finished with nine carries for 71 yards.

“We’re dealing with some injuries that hurts our depth,” said Haas. “We’re going to get better. That’s one thing that I know with this coaching staff and this team. These kids are bought-in. To have that moment there where we were hanging with them and the momentum was shifting, that was good for us. I’m really, really proud of them. But, we don’t have any morale victories. You win the game or you lose the game.”

After Kerbacher’s second score, the Northampton defense forced a fumble on the ensuing Parkland possession. Looking to claw back even more, the Kids offense was stopped on a third-and-one near midfield. The Trojans took advantage and went on to score 21-straight points in the fourth quarter to close out the game.

“We physically got wore out at the end,” Haas said. “Parkland brings 80 kids. We have 50 guys and we had six or seven injuries. So, we ask a lot of kids to play both ways. When that happens and you play a school like Parkland that’s highly physical, eventually you just wear down.”

Northampton will look to get into the win column in its next game on Friday night at Dieruff at J. Birney Crum Stadium.