What will Northampton’s offense and defense look like this fall?

Expect to see a dash of the old offense with the familiarity of Southern Lehigh’s offense and defense.

New head coach and former Southern Lehigh mentor John Toman has stocked his staff with some of his former coaches, some familiar faces in the Lehigh Valley, and some retained from head coach’s Kyle Haas’ unit.

Toman, who was on the staff of Allentown Central Catholic last season, was named the Konkrete Kids’ head coach in late February. He has a successful 14-year run at Southern Lehigh, where he posted an overall 108-54 record. Toman was an assistant at Northampton for two years before he accepted the Southern Lehigh position.

He inherited a program that has qualified for the District 11 playoffs in 2018 and 2019, but they went 1-4 in the COVID-shortened season last year that saw the Kids in a Northampton County division. The Kids also had their annual Thanksgiving Day clash with Catasauqua canceled.

Toman’s offense will be handled by Mike Grudineer, who began calling the plays for Toman at Southern Lehigh in 2017, He joined Toman’s staff in 2011.

Curtis Reigel, who joined the Southern Lehigh staff in 2013, will be Toman’s defensive coordinator. The two worked together at Central Catholic last season.

Offensively, Joe Cassidy, a Southern Lehigh 2008 grad, will coach both sides of the line. Bob Kohler, a Kids’ coach last year, will work with the tight ends. Toman will work with the running backs, and Andy Polony, whose two sons were quarterbacks at Whitehall, will guide that unit at Northampton.

Ex-Catasauqua head coach Phil Dorn will work with the wide receivers, and Zack Winters, the Kids’ head freshman coach last year, and Chad Henritzy, another freshman coach last season, round out the staff.

Defensively, former Palisades’ head coach Kevin Ronalds, who was an assistant at Central Bucks East last year, will work with the linebackers. Larry Moussa will work the line, and Adam Lagath will run the secondary. Rob Holes, who was in the Kids’ freshman staff last year, will also work with the defense. Reigel also will work with the linebackers.

“We have a good staff” stressed Toman. “Our coordinators are experienced, and Curtis (Riegel) can bounce things off a guy like Ronalds. Lary (Moussa) is a high-energy guy. We have a good, solid defensive staff.”

Toman noted the team is currently working in the weight room with split squads due to COVID protocol.

They began spring ball workouts May 16 and the seven-on-seven drill camp was June 9. The Kids were joined by Central Bucks West, Lehighton, Notre Dame, and Parkland to round out the field.

So far, the reception to the new head coach has been a positive one.

“At the booster club turnout, we had 60 kids,” said Toman. “That’s a good number. A lot of them are sophomores to seniors, and they have been working hard.

“We’ll run some of the stuff I did at Southern Lehigh. We’re confident about the season.”