First-year Northampton starting quarterback senior Zion McKinney is in the process of gaining his comfortable zone and overall confidence level this season.

After the Konkrete Kids fell behind 14-0, they rallied to defeat Delaware Valley, 28-24, last Friday at Al Erdosy Stadium.

In his process, McKinney ran for a team-high 128 yards with a touchdown.

“Yes, I for sure feel more comfortable after the win,” confirmed McKinney. “I feel as if it was a learning experience for the entire team that it’s never over until there’s 0:00 on the clock.

“The win was huge for us. Every week we’re not only trying to earn respect from everyone, but also to show ourselves we can beat good teams in the (East Penn Conference) South.”

McKinney and his teammates will get their chance to prove themselves in the Northampton Division when they travel to Whitehall Friday night for their annual Cement Bowl matchup.

The Kids will enter the game with a 2-0 mark, while Whitehall suffered a 49-13 defeat to Nazareth and fell to 1-1.

Despite a 14-0 deficit, Kids’ head coach John Toman had a good feeling about his team.

“They jumped out to an early lead courtesy of an interception,” reflected Toman. “We were in a hole 14-0, but I told the team to just keep grinding. You could see early on they weren’t pushing us around and although we were down we were controlling the line of scrimmage.”

He saw McKinney and junior running back Chase Kessler as key to their revival.

“We just kept doing what we do, and battled back into the game,” added Toman. “Zion did some amazing things with his feet, but we need to do more through the air.

“Kessler was Kessler and even when they loaded the box he found space or made someone miss. It was nice to win in the fourth quarter and come back, since we lost so many games last year in the fourth quarter.”

Kessler viewed it as a huge early opportunity for him and his team.

“I saw it that we need to win and us being down like that shows people that we can do anything this year no matter if we are down or up in a game,” offered Kessler. “I feel like I am running good, but I can always improve. The win was big for us because we know we can come back from being down, and that we can do anything we put our mind to.”

He was happy to see McKinney further adjust.

“It was big for Zion to have a game like that,” added Kessler. “It would be fantastic if we all can play great and execute. Even though we had mistakes, we’ll fix them and be ready for next week.”

KIDS’ KUDOS: Whitehall won a wild game, 56-49, last season after Northampton thumped them, 41-10, in 2024. The Kids have won three of the last five meetings ... McKinney was just 1-for-3 passing with 29 yards, and he went 2-for-3 for 29 yards in the opener ... Kessler, who ran for 210 yards in the opener with a touchdown, ran for 114 yards and scored three times ... Robert Wambold added 41 yards on the ground ... Colby Brearman had their lone catch ... Logan Rusnock recorded a team-high 11 tackles, Evan Kleppinger had nine, and Wambold and DJ McDonald each had eight. Brearman had an interception ... Jeremiah Strowder had 38 return yards.

PREDICTION (Season record 2-0): Expect this one to be highly competitive with its share of thrash talk. This also will be Kids’ first game in conference play, and they will want to prove themselves ... Whitehall’s offense has had trouble getting on track, but senior quarterback Tanner Dogmanits threw for 252 with three touchdowns and ran for 90 ... Kids’ players have last year’s loss on their minds, and they will be focused ... Home team has lost the last three with the Kids last taking advantage of home field with a 42-7 win in 2022. Kids have something to prove to themselves and the league ... However, Whitehall popped into my head first for whatever reason when debating what team would win the game. This time around, assistant head coach Kevin Ronalds can pick me up a cheesesteak from Sal’s in Wind Gap...WHITEHALL, 28-25.