Gavin Taff had just lofted a perfect pass to Joey High for a 22-yard touchdown to bring the Konkrete Kids even at 14 with the fourth-ranked 6A team in the state of Pennsylvania, Parkland. For over 20 minutes, Northampton went toe-to-toe with the defending District XI champions on their home field.

Then came seven minutes that will live in K-Kids’ football infamy.

On the Trojans’ next play from scrimmage, Finn Coen hit Nassim Adams on a little slant pass and the Adams took it the rest of the way to the house for a 72-yard touchdown to put Parkland back on top.

After a short Kids’ drive and punt, the home team went 76 yards in just under a minute. They were aided by a pair of 15-yard penalties against Northampton. Coen hooked up with Adams again, this time for 21 yards and Parkland took a 28-14 lead into halftime.

After the K-Kids went three-and-out to open the second half, it took the Trojans only 3 plays and 40 seconds to traverse 73 yards to boost their lead to 35-14.

With 9:50 left in the third quarter, it was gut check time for Northampton.

A methodical 16-play, 69-yard, 7-minutes, including a key 4-yard scramble on fourth and three by Taff, paid off when Keegan Hackett bowled over the goal line from a yard out to cut the margin to 35-21.

The Kids’ defense rose up to force a Parkland three-and-out and the Northampton offense delivered their fourth touchdown of the game. Zander Rickert carried it from 9 yards out. The PAT missed, but the lead was down to one score, 35-27.

The Trojans’ next drive was three plays for negative five yards. Coupled with a shanked punt, the K-Kids took over with 8:13 to play and 47 yards from a potential tying touchdown.

Despite the momentum in their favor, the drive stalled out at the Parkland 38 when they were unable to convert a fourth and one.

Called on once again, the Northampton defense forced a third consecutive three-and-out and a Trojan punt with 4:40 left in the game. Unfortunately, the punt return was muffed and Parkland recovered deep in Kids’ territory. They were then able to chew clock and ice the game with a short field goal.

“You’re playing the mystique of Parkland High School, right? On the grass here and you just have to overcome that. You know when you’re trying to beat the number four team in the state, you’ve got to play clean. We didn’t do that. We stopped them the whole second half. We had a chance on the punt, but we muffed the punt. It never feels good to lose a football game, but I’m proud of their fight. They could have folded and they didn’t,” summarized head coach John Toman.

Northampton 0-14-6-7 27

Parkland 7-21-7-3 38

Northampton Rushing: Rickert 15-58 yards TD, Taff 12-47, Chase Kessler 12-33, Joell Small 1-11, Zion McKinney 2-7, Hackett 3-4 TD

Northampton Passing: Taff 17-24-0 146 yards 2TD

Northampton Receiving: High 7-61 yards 2TD, Cameron Hersch 5-42, Dom Barkanic 2-19, Noah Kline 1-12, Rocco Amato 1-9, Gabe Urban 1-3