Northampton’s 47-13 Thanksgiving Day victory over Catasauqua couldn’t have been timed more perfectly for the Konkrete Kids than it was in a return to Turkey Day tradition on a beautiful, sunny, stadium-filled morning at the newly dedicated Alumni Field at Catasauqua Middle School.

“I wasn’t sure after we lost the Freedom game, the feeling of it, but all week long with the festivities, it kind of builds up to it, so it was exciting today,” said Northampton coach John Toman. “All week long we were kind of a little, eh, but they were excited this morning and we played really well in the first half.”

Northampton’s record was 12-0 until losing to Freedom in the District XI Class 6A final; Catasauqua also reached districts in Class 2A and finished with a record of 7-4, but as Northampton quarterback Cooper King said, “The Thanksgiving Day game is always special.”

The K-Kids led the Rough Riders, 34-0, by halftime and entered the locker room having just completed a trick play that pushed the score close to mercy rule.

“I just handed off to six, [Tristen] Pinnock, and he threw it back to one of our linemen (Luke Baker) and he made a great throw, and I was just there to catch it in the end zone,” said King, who threw for 180 yards. “All week, we practiced it every day. We knew I was gonna be open, but we knew it was a tough play, so we just had to play it at the right time, and it worked out.”

Northampton running back Caden Henritzy, who rushed for 107 yards, scored the Kids’ first two touchdowns. An interception by Pinnock led to the Kids’ third touchdown early in the second quarter on a pass from King to Jaelen Richardson, and tight end Andrew Sharga made it four TDs at the 4:15 mark.

“We wanted to get a couple more scores and get the mercy rule going so we could get a bunch of younger kids in and give everyone playing time,” said King. “It didn’t work out as fast as we wanted to, but we got everybody in.”

Catty’s first touchdown came on a recovered fumble late in the third quarter by Wyatt Younes who took it 76 yards into the end zone.

“[Caden Henritzy] was holding it out, and I decided to take advantage of it,” Younes said. “The coaches were saying that the whole time, you know, decide to make a great play and give our team some momentum in the second half.”

But Pinnock went 82 yards on a kickoff return with 10 seconds left in the third quarter to widen the Kids’ lead, 40-6, and AJ Slivka intercepted a pass by Catty quarterback Christian Fye to take it 14 yards for the last Northampton touchdown.

Catty running back Elijah Soler scored the Roughs’ second touchdown on a five-yard carry with 29 seconds remaining in the game. Fye, who had 162 passing yards, kicked the extra point.

“In high school football, typically, you’re either done in week 10, or you lose in the playoffs,” Coach Toman said, “so anytime you can end your season with a victory, it’s a good, positive thing.”

King and Pinnock were named players of the game for Northampton, along with Catasauqua’s Younes and Ian Juica.