Northampton’s Cooper King has had his share of big moments this season. The senior quarterback has been among the East Penn Conference’s (EPC) more consistent signal callers throughout the season.

In his team’s recent 35-12 victory at Pleasant Valley, King completed 12 of 17 passes for 178 yards with a pair of touchdown passes.

Yet, the senior leader believes his team can reach another level with their overall 7-0 record.

“At this point, the team is starting to mesh and figure out what roles they play and how they can contribute,” he said. “But we haven’t played our best game yet. We need to keep coming out of the gates strong and finishing strong as well.”

Against Pleasant Valley, Northampton had a 21-12 lead after three quarters, and they sealed the game in the final 12 minutes.

“The game was a little shaky on the offensive end,” added King. “We had a lot of easy mistakes that hurt us going down the stretch, but we made plays in the air that helped get us a decent lead and take some pressure off the defense.

“Our defense played very well as the game went on. They started to contain and get a good feel for Pleasant Valley’s option offense.”

Sophomore running back Caden Henritzy, who has been among the EPC rushing leaders all season, gained 56 yards and scored three touchdowns. He sees his team keeping their focus as a tight-knit unit down the stretch.

“(Head) Coach John Toman kept us playing 48 minutes of football,” said Henritzy. “Our offensive goal against Pleasant Valley was to control the game and score early. We accomplished those things and continue to play as a team.

“We are a family, and we continue to prove that through challenges and adversity, we can be successful as a team. We have to keep getting better. We have shown our success when we play from behind and when we lead by multiple scores. Our coaching staff has kept us working hard to prepare for each game and the playoffs.”

The Kids will look to keep their undefeated season intact when they host Pocono Mountain East (1-4) Friday night. The Cardinals’ game with Dieruff was canceled last week due to a COVID-19 outbreak.

Toman knows his club will need to be vigilant despite their opponents’ record.

“They run a lot of similar concepts to East Stroudsburg South,” he said. “They throw a lot of different defensive looks at you, so we will need to be assignment disciplined. Offensively, they run a spread and the old school short punt formation.

“We haven’t played a full 48 minutes yet.”

PREDICTION: For the season, King has completed 54 of 89 passes for 747 yards with 10 touchdowns and zero interceptions, yes, zero. Henritzy has 467 yards with seven touchdowns. A.J. Slivka has a team-high 24 tackles, and Everett Luisi had 24 stops. PM East’s last game was a 42-8 loss to Pleasant Valley Oct. 1. Northampton is second behind Parkland in the district Class 6A bracket. Kids have a game against Dieruff and then a rival game with Whitehall before Thanksgiving battle with Catasauqua. Friday should be a good night at Al Erdosy Stadium in the Kids’ homecoming as well as an early one with a second-half running clock. Toman said his team hasn’t played a full game, but they just might. Assistant coach Kevin Ronalds will have to ship me a tomato pie from Roseto. K-KIDS, 56-13.