Week 9 Game Preview: Nazareth Blue Eagles Fly to Northampton’s Al Erdosy Stadium to Take On the Konkrete Kids

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Dan DiEdwardo | October 16, 2025

Nazareth Blue Eagles Fly to Northampton to Take on the Konkrete Kids

Nazareth is flying high right now at 7-1 and on a 3-game winning streak. And Northampton 3-5 wants to clip their wings and get a win, something they have not done since September 26th against Pocono Mt West 54-0. The Blue Eagles beat Bethlehem Catholic 41-33 their last time out, while the Konkrete Kids lost 35-14 to a surging 5-3 Freedom Patriots. With only 2 games left before the playoffs, both teams are eager for a win Friday night.

Nazareth’s success this season is largely due to their quarterback and it being the Blue Eagles we are talking about, you probably think I am talking about Peyton Falzone. And for the 1st three and a half games you would be right, but then it happened he went down with a season ending injury. Then insert Cooper Madson and everything keeps gliding right along for the Blue Eagles. Infact in his first game against Freedom he connected with Luke DiPietro for a 76yd touchdown pass. And throw in a dose of Marquez Wimberly who has 1161yds on 127 carries for 9.14yds per carry and scoring 19 TDs and Nazareth has not skipped a beat. Madson a sophomore has played well above expectations, as has fellow sophomore receiver Luke DePietro who even completed a pass to junior Matthew Leluga for a touchdown in Nazareth’s last game. Except for a 42-6 loss to Parkland who is ranked #5 in 6a in the latest PFN state rankings, Nazareth has been able to weather the storm, loosing Peyton Falzone to injury. That’s not to say it has been a cake walk for Nazareth, having given up 42 points to Liberty and 33 points to Bethlehem Catholic. The Blue Eagles defense will be tested by Northampton’s offense, who has averaged 34.25 points per game.

Nothampton can put points on the board, 48 against East Stroudsburg South, 49 against Whitehall and 54 against Pocono Mt West. The Kids scored 27 points against Parkland who held Nazareth to only 6 points, their lowest output of the season. Northampton has senior Gavin Taff at quarterback, who has a good arm and spreads the ball around to seniors Cameron Hersch, Noah Kline, Joey High or junior Jeremiah Stroder. Taff is not afraid to put it on the ground, but he has a lot of help in that department, mostly from sophomore Chase Kessler and Zander Rickert. Northampton’s problem this year has not been moving the ball down the field and scoring, it has been keeping the other team off the board. Especially late in the game via the big play, losing to Liberty with only 13.4 seconds left in the game when Gabe Geen ran in from 22yards out and Whitehall on a Tanner Dogmanits 25yd pass to his brother Talon Dogmanits with only 13.5 seconds left in the game. That’s 27 seconds Northampton’s defense would like to have back, not being able to close out games, due to defense or penalties and sometimes just bad luck, the kids season hinges on getting a couple of wins to end the season and gain some momentum going into the playoffs.

Both Coach Falzone and Coach Toman have done a great job this season. Coach Falzone’s job was to keep the Blue Eagles on their flight pattern for the season even with the loss of Peyton Falzone and replacing him with sophomore Cooper Madson on course for a shot at District 11 title and a run at states. Coach Toman on the other hand was different and difficult task as well, and that has been, that even though their season has not gone as planned. He has his team ready to play every week no matter who the opponent is and ready to compete for a win. Can Northampton control the 4th quarter and prevent the big play will be key if Northampton is going to pull off an upset against Nazareth. And that would not surprise me, because they have the talent to, but until they prove it to me, I can’t pick them against a team that is averaging 42 points per game.

I think Nazareth comes out on top over Northampton 35 -24

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