The Konkrete Kids boys basketball team came into Saturday’s district championship game against Parkland looking to match their gold medal performance in winning the EPC title. Instead, a hot-shooting Trojans squad combined with some uncharacteristically jittery play from Northampton led to a 66-33 performance that the Kids will be happy to have in their rearview mirror.

“A tough one. They crushed us today. They shot lights out. And for the first time in a month, I thought we played scared,” head coach Matt Scholl explained after the game.

Parkland went up 9-0 halfway through the opening period, going 3-3 from beyond the arc. That was part of 7 of 10 shooting performance from 3-point range in the first half and 11 of 19 for the game. They missed 1 shot in the fourth quarter.

The Trojans led by 7 after 1 quarter. By 15 at the half. And so on.

The loss is an illustration of how difficult it is to win both the league title and a district championship in the same year. With Central and Becahi participating in the EPC tournament before playing in a lower classification for the remainder of the postseason, it’s considered to be more difficult to win the conference tournament than to win districts.

“We’ve still got games to play. We’re good. I don’t think this is indicative of who we are. We’ve got a week to figure it out. We’ve got a state game and it’s going to be a battle, but we have a chance. If we play like tonight we won’t, but play like we have for the past month, we’ll have a chance to go on a run,” asserted Scholl.

That run will start with a home game against Hazleton on Saturday in Pete Schneider Gymnasium at 1 p.m. The Cougars were the runners-up to Scranton in a subregional playoff that combined the 6A teams from Districts 2 and 4. They are 12-12 on the season, the worst record of any 6A team that qualified for states.

If the K-Kids win and advance, they would play on Wednesday against the winner of Conestoga, the District 1 champions and Mechanicsburg, District 3’s 6th place finisher.