Fans who showed up for Northampton and Whitehall’s Cement Bowl rivalry game at Al Erdosy Stadium last Friday were treated to the highest scoring game in the EPC this season as Braden Bashore’s interception of the K-Kids’ 2-point PAT attempt in overtime sealed a 45-44 win for the Zephyrs.

It felt like Northampton was on the cusp of putting the game away several times in the first half, only to have a miscue that Whitehall was able to capitalize on to keep the game close.

The K-Kids went up 10-0 after a pair of sustained drives on their opening possessions. Mikey Coleman picked off a Zephyr pass to give the ball back to Northampton, but the ensuing drive stalled out at the home team’s 42-yard line. The punt snap exchange went awry and an intentional grounding call on the punter gave Whitehall the ball on the Kids’ 11. Dalton Wickel scored from there to make the score 10-7

Northampton responded immediately. A 3-play drive was capped off by a 75-yard TD run by Caden Henritzy, part of a 216-yard day on the ground for the K-Kids’ all-time leading rusher. The play was Henritzy’s career long run, and the rushing total set his new highest single game mark.

Whitehall’s next possession ended with the Kids’ AJ Slivka intercepting an attempted middle screen and taking it 53 yards to paydirt to put Northampton up 23-7.

The Zephyrs on their next play from scrimmage as Trey Dogmanits hit Jack Kocher up the seam for a 73-yard touchdown. A Northampton fumble gave Whitehall another short field resulting in an Andrew Deutsch field goal that made the halftime score 23-17.

In the second half, both teams’ initial drives stalled out, but from there until the end of the game, every possession resulted in a touchdown.

Dogmanits hit brother Trey on a 16-yard pass to give the Zephyrs their first lead 24-23.

Northampton sophomore QB Gavin Taff kept the ball for a 16-yard run after beautiful fake on an end-around to put the Kids back on top 30-24.

Wickel scored his second touchdown of the game to cap off an 11-play, 76-yard drive. 31-30 Whitehall.

A 43-yard completion from Taff to Coleman set up Slivka to score on a QB sneak. Northampton got the 2-point conversion to go up seven, 38-31, with 3 minutes left in the game.

Kocher continued to have a big game as he set the Zephyrs up at the K-Kids’ 33 with a 57-yard kickoff return. On 4th and 2 from the 9-yard line, Dogmanits hit Kaden Weaver with the tying touchdown with 31 seconds left in regulation.

Wickel scored from a yard out in the first overtime possession to put Whitehall up 45-38.

An 8- yard pass from Taff to tight end Sincere Wadlington gave the Kids a chance to win the game with a 2-point conversion, but Bashore undercut the out route to secure the victory.

Winning QB Dogmanits shared his thoughts after the game, “It wasn’t looking too good in the first quarter, but we stepped it up and played probably one of the best second halves of our year.” He also explained the call on the tying touchdown, “We just put that formation in this week. We had faith in Weaver to bring it down, even with a corner coming from the backside. I just put it up and let him make a play.”

Northampton head coach John Toman gave his perspective on the contest, “Clearly we could have won the football game. But I do think playing in the North for 8 straight weeks hurts your conditioning. Last week, the starters were out in the second quarter. Unfortunately, that’s the way it is. We came out of this healthy, which is good, but we have to get in better game shape.”

Whitehall finishes the regular season at 6-4. The game had significant implications for the Zephyrs as they head to districts this week to defend their 5A title. They had already clinched a spot in the tournament, but the win secured a semifinal home game against Pocono Mountain West on Friday.

The Panthers finished 6-4 on the season playing in the North division with crossover games against Parkland and Central. West lost 28-3 to Northampton 3 weeks ago, but lead 3-0 at the half.

Northampton completed their regular season at 8-2 with both losses coming in overtime by one point when they missed potentially winning 2-point conversions. The K-Kids were locked into the third seed in the 6A playoffs regardless of the result against Whitehall.

Northampton will host sixth-seeded Stroudsburg on Friday. The Kids beat the Mounties 31-0 on September 9. In last year’s quarterfinals, Stroudsburg played Northampton tough, losing 14-7 after dropping the regular season meeting 41-4.