The Northampton football team had played 23 quarters this season without a touchdown pass, but when they finally broke through with 4:30 left in their contest with Pleasant Valley last Thursday, the touchdown produced the game’s winning score as the K-Kids took down the Bears 14-7.

Sophomore QB Luke Stopay hit Evan Kleppinger over the middle to convert a 4th and 5 from the PV 33 and Kleppinger did the rest, spinning and outracing the Bears’ defense to paydirt.

Stopay had seen limited action throughout the season as the Kids’ coaches had worked on developing him into a complimentary passing threat to starter Zion McKinney’s running game. However, McKinney suffered what appeared to be an ankle injury late in the first quarter, handing the reins of the offense to Stopay for the rest of the contest.

Stopay described the play, “It was a great call. We practiced that this week and I’ve seen it on film. Their safety comes down and I have to fit it in the window. Klepp did a good job of taking off after the catch.”

“It felt awesome you know? It just felt surreal to be in the moment, to have all of these people with me, my parents. It was just awesome,” he beamed, recounting his first varsity touchdown pass.

Chase Kessler had another big game on the ground racking up 184 rushing yards, including an 80-yard scamper in the second quarter for the first score of the game. His very next carry went for a 96-yard touchdown, but the play was called back due to a holding penalty.

While the Kids’ scored enough to earn the victory, it was the defense that faced the toughest task coming into the game.

Head coach John Toman praised his defensive coaches for getting the team ready, “We really bottled them up except for the one long run that led to their score. Beyond that they were struggling to get anything. That’s on the defensive staff. It was like preparing for two teams. He runs the shotgun, the wildcat stuff and then the straight option. So it’s tough and it was a short week.”

PV looked like they were going to score the initial touchdown on a sweep midway through the second quarter, but Colby Brearman punched the ball out just before the goal line and Logan Rusnock pounced on the loose pigskin in the end zone.

The Bears also had the ball in Kids’ territory early in the fourth quarter with a chance to score the go-ahead touchdown. Robert Wambold, who led the Kids with 7 tackles, picked off a pass and returned it 15 yards, setting up Northampton’s game winning drive.

The win puts the K-Kids at 4-2 on the season with 4 tough division games left on their regular season schedule: at Easton, home for Freedom, at Nazareth, home for Bethlehem Catholic. A win in any of those games would almost certainly get them into the district playoffs.

Northampton 14,

Pleasant Valley 7

Northampton 0-7-0-7 14

Pleasant Vy. 0-0-0-7 7

Passing: Stopay 8/10, 73 yds, TD, 33 long

Rushing: Kessler 28–184, TD, 80 long; Wambold 4–25; McKinney 1–2; Team 2–(2)

Receiving: Kleppinger 1–33, TD; Strowder 1–12; Brobst 1–11; Ibarra 2–23; McDonald 1–1; Brearman 2–(7)

Defense: Wambold 7 tackles, INT (15 yds); McDonald 6 tackles; Rusnock 5 tackles, TFL; Kleppinger 5 tackles; Brearman 4 tackles, INT; Czarnecki 8 tackles; Garcia 3 tackles, TFL; Williams sack (1 yd)