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Northampton Gets a Big Win on Senior Night Beats Nazareth 41-28

Tagged under: District 11, Game Photos-Videos, Gameday Hub, News, pfn

| October 18, 2025

Northampton Celebrated Senior Night and a Win Over Nazareth

Coach John Toman and the Northampton Konkrete Kids got that signature win that they had looking for all season and beat the Nazareth Blue Eagles on Senior Night at Al Erdosy Stadium in Northampton. Northampton has had great starts this season, but has not been able to seal the deal, having had the lead and lost to Liberty 41-34 and 49-56 to Whitehall both on last minute touchdowns. That was not the case last night, they built up a 41-21 in the 3rd quarter and held on for the win 41-28. Seniors definitely made big contributions to this victory, Gavin Taff who scored a touchdown on the ground and Zander Rickert added two more, but it was super sophomore Chase Kessler who had a career night scoring three touchdowns 51yds, 11yds, and 20yds on the ground and ran for over 300 yards and went over the 1000yd mark for the season.

Northampton won the toss and elected to receive the opening kick from Owen Hall and Dom Barkanic returned the ball to the 30yd line where they started 1st and 10. It was evident on their first drive that Northampton planed on running the ball against Nazareth, and they did on eight straight plays. They made it to the 44yd line of Nazareth before they were forced to punt on 4th and 7.

Nazareth started on their own 22yd line and came out running the ball as well, and Marquez Wimberly ran for 13yds and 20yds. Then it was Cooper Madson and Luke DiPietro for a 25yd touchdown at 4:38 in the 1st, after the PAT Nazareth led 7-0

Northampton started their next drive on the 47yd line of Nazareth after a nice return by Chase Kessler. He ran on the next four plays, and on 2nd and 12 from the 38yd line Gavin Taff completed a pass to Sincere Wadlington down to the 21yd line. Then the Northampton quarterback on 2nd and 8 from the 19yd line and ran to the 1yd line to end the 1st quarter 7-0 Nazareth. Then senior Zander Rickert punched it in from the 1yd line for the 1st of his 2 touchdowns. Northampton tied the score at 7-7 at 11:56 in the 2nd quarter.

Nazareth was unable to score on their next drive and punted to Northampton and they started on their own 19yd line. And they went right to the ground with Chase Kessler and Gavin Taff sharing the carries, plus Dom Barkanic had a nice 19yd carry. Zander Rickert continued making his contributions to the ground game for 8yds to the 8yd line and Gavin Taff ran it for the score at 3:12 in the 2nd quarter to put Northampton after PAT 14-7.

Noah Kline kicked off for Northampton and Nazareth had good field position after Jayden Quach returned the ball to their own 35yd line where they started 1st and 10. But Northampton’s defense came up big and forced Nazareth to turn the ball over on downs at the Northampton 47yd line with 42.9 seconds left in the half. The Kids were able to get a 1st down, but then ran out the clock to end the half with a 14-7 lead over Nazareth.

Nazareth was set to receive the kickoff to start the second half when Coach Toman and the Kids pulled off a successful onside kick, and recovered the ball on their own 49yd line. Northampton went right to Chase Kessler who ran 51yds for the touchdown on 1st and 10 with only 12 seconds into the second half and jumped out to a 21-7 lead.

So, if it worked once, why not try it again. And that’s what Northampton did, another onside kick and they recovered the ball again this time at the 50 yd line. Except for a pass to Keegan Hackett on 4th and 2 for a first down, that was set up by Gavin Taff, who ran up the middle for 11yds, Northampton stuck with the ground game and went right back to pounding the ball and ran over 5 minutes off the clock on a drive that resulted in Zander Rickert getting his second touchdown of the game from 1yd out, that was set up by Chase Kessler 28yd run. Northampton led 28-7 at 5;29 in the 3rd quarter.

There’s a reason Nazareth was 7-1 coming into the game and that is they can put points on the board and in a hurry. It only took 2 plays for the Blue Eagles to score, first Marquez Wimberly ran from their own 35yd line all the to the 1yd line of Northampton, where he punched it in to make 28-14

Northampton started with good field position at the 37yd line after a Dom Barkanic return. And on 1st and 10 Nazareth recovered a fumble by Chase Kessler at the Nazareth 25 yd line, after Marquez Wimberly punched the ball out. A 70 yd pass and a 5yd run by Lance Zuercher and Nazareth is right back in this game only down by a touchdown.

Both teams were unable to put a scoring drive together on their next possessions, and after Northampton took over on downs at their own 45yd line, yah you guessed it, they went what has worked for them all night and that is run the ball. The 3rd quarter ended on this drive with the score 28-21. And eight plays later Chase Kessler got his 2nd touchdown of the game at 8:42 in the 4th quarter to put Northampton up 34-21 after a missed PAT.

Nazareth unable to convert on 4th down after and turned the ball over to Northampton, who ran the ball to the 20yd line of Nazareth and Chase Kessler got his third touchdown of the game at 3:41 in the 4th quarter. After the PAT they led 41-21′

Nazareth added one more touchdown from Marquez Wimberly on a long 55yd run and after a PAT the score was 41-28 with 2:02 left in the game.

That would end up being the final score as Northampton was able to get a 1st down, extend the drive and run out the clock to pick up the victory to go 4-5 on the season. Some might call this an upset, but I think Northampton is finally playing at the level they are capable of and could make some noise in the playoffs. They face Bethlehem Catholic next week at BASD Stadium and will try to close out the EPC regular season with a win.

Nazareth drops to 7-2 on the season and will try to get back on track next against a tough Easton Red Rover team at home next Friday night.

John Fox and I caught up with Chase Kessler after the game.

And here is what Coach Toman had to say to John Fox and myself after the game

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