The Northampton football team went to 2-0 on the season by rolling up 372 rushing yards against old EPC North rival East Stroudsburg South to claim a 48-19 victory in their home opener last Friday.

With a rash of injuries sweeping through the Kids’ running back corps, sophomore Chase Kessler, a week after having 3 carries for 2 yards against Pennsbury, gashed the Cavaliers for 168 yards and three touchdowns.

Kessler spoke about the holes opened up by the Northampton offensive line, “Freaking huge gaps. I mean you could run a whole car through them. That’s how big it was today. Really appreciate them so much.”

Captain Riley Montgomery discussed the O-line’s success, “Today was a big film day. Chase Corrow and I were breaking down patterns and consistencies we saw in film. Coming into the game, we knew we had to step up. And so we came in with that mentality and that was what really drove us.”

“We were leaning on them pretty good in the first half. We thought that we could move them around. We have a big line and we were successful running the ball,” explained head coach John Toman. “So we just stuck with it.”

He also spoke about the emergence of Kessler, “He was eighth (on the RB depth chart during camp), but we have injuries in the tailback spot. I’ve never rotated so many guys in and you really don’t know until a guys starts carrying the ball. We found out tonight. He’s a gamer for sure.”

Based on the first play from scrimmage, it looked like the Kids were going to opt for an aerial assault as Gavin Taff hit Joey High for a 47-yard bomb right after the opening kickoff. However, Taff only racked up 4 attempts for the game, with 3 completions, and didn’t throw once in the final 2 ½ quarters.

The Cavaliers had 4 plays of 38 yards or more to generate enough offense to keep the score closer than it felt in the stadium. The K-Kids piled up 19 fourth quarter points to turn the game into a romp.

The win marked the 150th head coaching win for Toman across his stints at Southern Lehigh and Northampton. The team presented him with a game ball during the postgame celebration.

East Stroudsburg South 7-6-6-0 19

Northampton 13-8-8-19 48

Rushing: Kessler 13-168 yards 3TD, Rickert 17-90 TD, Small 6-39 TD, McKinney 3-32, McDonald 2-28, Brobst 1-13, Hackett 3-12 2TD, Taff 4-9

Passing: Taff 3-4-0, 96 yards

Receiving: High 2-78 yards, Hersch 1-18