Mistakes in any football game can be critical. When you’re in a rivalry game, they can be magnified.

Northampton found that out in its annual Cement Bowl game against Whitehall in a 31-19 defeat. The defeat was the first for the Konkrete Kids and left them with a 2-1 mark. They will travel to Bethlehem to meet Liberty Friday night.

“Whitehall played a great game, hats off to them,” said Konkrete Kids’ head coach John Toman. “But we made too many uncharacteristic mistakes to overcome. We had opportunities to be up in the first half and didn’t capitalize.”

Running back Chase Kessler ran for 154 yards on 25 carries with a pair of touchdowns, and quarterback Zion McKinney ran for 103 yards with a score. McKinney completed four of seven passes for 54 yards with an interception.

Toman did go to backup quarterback Luke Stopay for a change of pace. Both teams were tied at the half before Whitehall jumped out to a 21-7 lead.

“Zion ran the ball well, but we struggled to throw the ball,” added Toman. “When we went down two scores, we put Stopay the sophomore to jump start us. Both he and Zion helped get into the end zone quickly and cut the lead to 24-19.

“We will continue to evaluate the position, and do what is best moving forward.

McKinney acknowledged that mistakes were the key, but he saw them as a possible positive.

“I honestly think it was more about us making mistakes than anything,” said McKinney. “I still have confidence in our team, and I see the loss as a learning experience for us.”

Kessler agreed with his teammate.

“I saw the game how a lot of us saw it,” noted Kessler. “We had a lot of mistakes, but every team makes mistakes. We will be better this week and come ready for Liberty. They didn’t really slow us down, but I don’t think we hurt ourselves. We all just have to come back better and stronger.”

“We just need to clean things up,” added Toman.

KIDS’ KRUMBS: Liberty won last year’s matchup, 41-34. The two teams met in 2024 with Liberty again winning, 16-7. Northampton’s last win was in 2020 by a 38-10 score ... Liberty opened the season with losses to District 1 annual strongholds Pennridge (35-0) and Central Bucks East (35-26). They picked up their first victory, a 28-14 win over Stroudsburg ... Kessler has 476 yards rushing on the season with seven touchdowns ... McKinney has run for 255 with three scores in three games. He has completed seven of 13 passes for 109 yards with an interception ... Stopay has completed one of three passes for eight yards ... Colby Brearman had two receptions for nine yards against Whitehall ... D.J. McDonald had seven tackles, Robert Wambold and Maddex Scheetz each had six. McDonald has a team-high 21 tackles for the season, and Wambold has 20 ... Kids’ defense gave up 287 rushing yards and 503 overall ... Liberty quarterback Alsaiah Gross went 10-15 for 181 yards with two touchdowns and an interception last week, and he has completed 38 of 70 for 501 yards. Treyce Whitlow ran for 144 yards and two touchdowns last week, and Zyaire Davis caught five passes for 93 yards. Davis has 14 catches for 140 yards with a touchdown this season.

PREDICTION (Season record 2-1): I had mixed feelings last week when I picked the Kids to win at Whitehall and end the streak of the visiting team winning the Cement Bowl. Kids couldn’t slow down Whitehall quarterback Tanner Dogmanits, who ran for three touchdowns ... Kids now are now at the beginning of the old East Penn Conference “South” team part of their schedule with Parkland, Easton, Freedom, and Nazareth in four of the next five weeks ... This will be another grinder for the Kids, as they will need to slow Liberty’s offense. Liberty’s defense gave up 220 yards passing and 124 yards rushing ... Kessler is the big key for the Kids. Another tough call, but I hope Kids’ assistant head coach Kevin Ronalds will get another cheesesteak from Sal’s in Wind Gap for me ... K-KIDS, 21-19.