Northampton’s Brody Eisenhart’s love and passion for the game of soccer can be traced back to his early youth, and it has transcended to his current play with the Konkrete Kids.

Heading into this week, the Kids were 14-2 overall, and winners of eight straight after consecutive losses to Freedom (2-1) and Emmaus (3-0). Northampton has recorded 11 shutouts, and they have an incredible margin of 78 goals scored against 10 goals allowed.

So far, Eisenhart, a junior, has 15 goals and 10 assists. Teammate senior Chase Nederostek had 19 goals and seven assists, and senior Sebastian Mello has 12 goals and 17 assists.

However, Eisenhart had a challenging and demoralizing start.

He stated playing at the age of 3-years-old and played for a few years with Tri-Boro. He played as many sports as possible before realizing soccer was his primary sport. Soon after, Eisenhart joined the Lehigh Valley United.

However, it was a slow start.

“After joining Lehigh Valley United, I was learning the game in a better and faster way,” recalled Eisenhart. “But I was never able to keep up with everyone, always laughed at and picked last for games.

“That stuff never left my mind. With coaches like Greg Ramos, Ashley Koziki, and Tyler Maderia, I began to excel in every way possible in soccer and became a better person.

“Because of them, I made an all-region ECNL-RL team and have been a force to watch out for at high school games.”

Since then, it has been a fun ride for him

The Kids won the East Penn Conference (EPC) last year and lost in the district final, and Eisenhart believes they are back on the same track.

“This year, I see something special with this team,” said Eisenhart. “We have this type of bond that’s unbreakable, and we have this team chemistry that I see no other team having.

“This year’s team has put in a lot of work trying to defend our title from last year, and I don’t see us losing our rankings from last year. I think we are as good if not stronger and more determined to win than any other team in the EPC.

“The brotherhood and family the Bastidas family and the coaches have created for us is unlike no other.”

Kids’ head coach Chris Bastidas has watched Eisenhart evolve into a pivotal player on the team.

“Brody has an incredible passion for soccer, and he just loves playing the game,” beamed Bastidas. “He loves it so much that he even coaches soccer while in high school. His passion makes him want to train and get better all the time.

“He was good when I first started coaching him as a sophomore, but he is amazing right now. He has worked all summer on his finishing because we were going to need more scorers. He was already great at setting up his teammates, and he is near the top of all-time EPC assist leaders.

“He has now combined these skills, and it makes it difficult to defend. The passion and joy he plays with makes him one of the best players in the area and a joy to coach.”

Through it all, Eisenhart has maintained his passion and determination.

“The love of the game was always with me through the ups and downs and to this day,” he said. “I’m still a kid, kicking a ball on the field with my friends.”

And Eisenhart and his friends continue to be successful.