By mid-October, Northampton head coach Kyle Haas believes he will have a good reading on his team.

The Konkrete Kids have a four-game stretch beginning at Pocono Mountain West Saturday afternoon that certainly will test their mettle.

They will enter this weekend’s play with an overall 3-1 mark and an unblemished 3-0 mark in the East Penn Conference North after a 53-8 throttling of East Stroudsburg North last Friday night.

After Pocono Mountain West, the Kids will play East Stroudsburg South, Stroudsburg, and Allen.

“These are teams that are very good offensively, and they will put points on the board,” said Haas. “We need to tackle better especially against the better teams. These four weeks will either make or break us.”

Against East Stroudsburg North, Haas saw more beneath the surface than the lopsided final score. He did cite the play of Nick Caiazzo, who returned to the lineup and returned an interception for a touchdown.

“The score can be deceiving,” he stressed. “We gave up big plays, but we were able to shut them down in the red zone. We need to get much better on defense if we are going to make our mark in the (EPC) North.

“We have to figure out what’s going on with our defense.”

Offensively, the Kids grinded out 400 yards of total offense, 324 of them on the ground behind Michael Cruz, Tyrese Brandon and Owen Baker.

Cruz led all rushers with 135 yards rushing and a touchdown, Brandon had 74 yards with a pair of touchdowns, and Baker had 71 with a touchdown. Brandon left the game early with a sore shoulder.

“We had some big some big plays on offense, and I was happy with what we did,” said Haas. “(Quarterback) Joe (Kerbacher) threw a nice deep ball to Jared Russell for a score. Michael Cruz had an outstanding game as did Owen Baker.

“Tyrese had a sore shoulder and we didn’t want to take any chances. Nick Caiazzo also had a really good game for us, and he is a complete football player.”

Pocono Mountain West (1-3) is coming off their first victory of the season, a 35-18 win over Allen.

Haas expects the game to be a tussle.

“They are always round the ball and very aggressive,” said Haas. “They can score some points, and we have to play solid on defense.

“We have an extra day to prepare, but we also have to be on the bus before nine.”

The Kids begin this week’s play with a scoring differential of 165-21 over the past three games. Yet, Haas isn’t taking anything for granted and is looking for his team to play a complete game. Haas also cited the following as selected team Players-of-the-Week in respective games: Dieruff – Joe Kerbacher, offense, Zion Raub, defense, and Aidan Reinhard, special teams; Pleasant Valley – Brando, offense, Ethan Schweitzer, defense, and Spencer Cole, special teams; ESN - offense, Dario Walnock, defense, Mike Cruz, special teams, Everett Luisi.

“We believe we are getting there,” he said. “Our offensive line had been making more strides. We have seen a lot of different styles of offenses. We just have to try and simulate on defense the best we can.

“These next four games will tell us what kind of team we are.”

PREDICTION: The Kids get out of their regular routine this week and they are on the road. They will return back Josh Gaycheck to their steady and productive offense, and they are relatively healthy. PMW can score points, but they are 0-2 at home.

Northampton knows this can be a statement game for their upcoming run to sew up an EPC North title. It will be a character test, but the Kids should be able to enjoy some early fall foliage on the way home. NORTHAMPTON 42-21.