Heading into the team’s district Class 6A playoff game and second seeded Freedom, Northampton head coach John Toman and his troops fully understood the task ahead – slow or stop Freedom running back Aaron Beete, who rushed for over 1.500 yards entering the game.

The Konkrete Kids allowed Beete to run for 101 yards, but they couldn’t keep the Patriots in check, dropping a 38-15 decision a couple weeks ago.

During the regular season, Freedom doubled-up Northampton, 42-21 on Oct. 11 with Beete running for 176 yards and scoring three touchdowns.

The defeat left the Kids with an overall 5-6 record, as they will await to meet Catasauqua in the 101st meeting of their annual Thanksgiving Day game in a couple of weeks.

Toman was proud of his defensive effort, but the Kids couldn’t get their offense in gear.

“We did a nice job this time around defensively keeping us in the game,” said Toman. “Our defense held their run game in check all night long until their final TD run. This time around the offense did not execute well enough to beat a 9-1 team of their caliber. Offensively, we failed to move the chains and control the clock mainly due to dropped passes at bad times.

“We needed to play clean and we didn’t. The kids never stopped fighting, and I’m very proud of their effort.”

Offensively, the Kids were paced by senior Billy Struhldreher, who ran for 95 yards on 14 carries. Struhldreher also passed the 1,000-yard mark rushing for the season.

Struhldreher liked the play of his defense, but he knew the offense sputtered all night long. He also saw a big change in the team’s transition to from the former East Penn Conference to the new Northampton County conference.

“The defense fought hard, but the game didn’t go the way we wanted it to,” said Struhldreher. “The season has been a grind coming from the north to the south is a heck of a change.”

Struhldreher did appreciate the efforts to make him a 1,000-yard rusher.

“Hitting 1,000 yards is a huge personal achievement,” he said. “I couldn’t have done it without the offensive line. They are the ones who make the holes and create the seams.”