The Northampton boys basketball season came to a close Saturday night at Easton Middle School after a 60-47 quarterfinal loss to Parkland.

That the Kids even qualified for the postseason is a testament to the grit and determination they showed throughout the 2022-2023 campaign.

In the offseason they graduated 8 seniors from the team that went on a magical run to the PIAA quarterfinals. They opened the season going 2-6. Their schedule was brutal with every team in the EPC West qualifying for districts compared to just three teams each from the North and East divisions.

It was 10 days after their final regular season game that the District XI computers confirmed that Northampton edged out Nazareth by .01 power rating point for the final spot in the 6A playoffs.

In some ways, the game was decided in the first quarter. The Kids looked and played nervous, committing 6 turnovers while Parkland was 5 of 6 from three-point range in building a 19-7 lead after one period.

Head Matt Scholl confirmed that assessment, “It’s hard to play from behind against a team like Parkland with the ballhandlers that they have. They moved the ball incredibly well today. This is the third game this year where we fell behind like this against them. I felt we were a little tense coming out. It’s a big stage and it’s impossible to replicate that in practice.”

Through the second and third periods, Northampton had a few small runs, but nothing sustained enough to ever bring the Trojan lead into single digits. Parkland led 33-17 at the half and 47-32 after three quarters.

The Trojans basically shut down their offense in the final period. They took one shot from the field and that was with 7:10 left in the game. Parkland left the ball in the hands of the EPC MVP Nick Coval and he responded by draining 14 of 15 free throws.

For seniors Parker Christman, Tristan Duch, Tyler Kauffman, and Sam Koplin, it was their final game for the K-Kids.

Scholl reflected on this year’s team, “This is great group of guys. They worked their tails off all year. Just an incredible group of people. We’ve got a lot of guys who are going to be very successful. It might not be on the basketball court. I don’t think any of our seniors are going to basketball in college, but they all have 4 point-something GPAs. They’re all going for incredible majors. That’s the most important part. Sports come to an end for everybody. The mark you make off the athletic field is more important. Their parents should be very proud.”