Northampton head coach Coy Stampone believed his team didn’t have an identity issue, and it has been affirmed this season.

The Konkrete Kids have had a banner season, and they have certainly elevated their status among their peers. Northampton began the week with an overall 15-5 record and began the week as the fourth seed in the District 11 Class 6A bracket.

“Other teams are thinking about playing us now,” said Stampone. “We have gained respect the past three years, and we have proved to the league that we are a strong program. We have played in some big games with big crowds. These guys are used to big games.

“But this year, the league is as balanced as it has ever been. We beat Emmaus twice, they (Emmaus) beat Parkland twice. Anyone can win this thing. We also have gained a lot of confidence as a team, and we don’t back down from anyone.”

The Kids suffered a recent 57-51 loss to Parkland that snapped a nine-game winning streak. Stampone doesn’t see the stigma about playing Parkland like some past years. The Kids got out to a 15-0 start and couldn’t hold a first-half lead against Parkland in an EPC semifinal last year.

“We have split with them (Parkland) during the season the last three years,” said Stampone. “They hit some big shots (in the recent game), and they played well. If we could have kept the lead, it might have been a different story. We’re two, well-matched teams.

“There isn’t anything about them that our kids fear. We know we can play with them.”

Senior Issac Harris, who recently broke the 1,000-point career scoring mark, is the team’s leading scorer averaging 20 points per game. Fellow senior Lucas Lekso is averaging 15.6 points per game. Lesko pulled down 7.2 rebounds per contest, while Harris nets 6.2

Even though it appears to be a two-man show, Stampone likely may have the deepest bench in his 10 years at the school. Seniors Isaiah Harris and Cooper King align with sophomore Tristan Pinnock close out the starting five, and seniors Caden Reph, Jackson Fehnel and sophomore Jackson Vajda have rounded out the regular rotation.

“We have two big guys in Issac and Lucas,” he stated. “But we have four or five guys who can be key contributors on any given night. They all have played big roles for us this year.

“That’s been a big key for us this year.”

The Kids closed out their regular season with their senior night Monday against Allen and at Whitehall Tuesday, both wins.

They should be able to surpass the 18–win total, the most by Stampone’s team set in the 2017-18 season (18-10) when they lost in the district final and then in an opening-round state game.

Depending on the outcomes of their games this week, Stampone wasn’t sure of his team’s seeding in the district playoffs.

Instead, he is focused on keeping his team on track.

“It is very confusing and a hard system to figure out,” he said. “We just have to go out and play, and not worry about things like that.”