All season long, Northampton’s boys’ basketball had plenty of doubters, and all season long, the Konkrete Kids continued to prove their skeptics wrong.

The Kids got off to a quick start, winning their first four games. They then began to hit their share of road blocks before the Kids reeled off a 10-game winning streak down the stretch, capturing their first championship – an East Penn Conference crown – in 52 years.

Northampton advanced to District 11 Class 6A championship, dropping a 61-33 decision to Parkland. The Kids recently lost their opening-round state game to Hazleton, 60-41, ending their season with an overall 19-10 record.

Head coach Matt Scholl, who finished his fourth season at the helm, watched his club struggle after a fast start against Hazleton.

“We started out with four quick three-pointers against their zone, but we went cold after that,” said Scholl. “We rushed a bit on our shots and that led to some easy breakout layups for Hazleton. Their coaching staff did a tremendous job of keeping them composed and they just battled back and were able to pull away as our offense sputtered.”

Looking back, Scholl was pleased with his team’s overall performance.

“At the beginning of the season, there weren’t many people that thought we would make it that far,” added Scholl. “Although it’s tough to have perspective right after the season ends, we did have a very successful season. We were able to bring home our first championship in boys’ basketball in 52 years.”

Losing only one senior – Ronnie Jones – the Kids will return their full cast that will be ready to take the next step.

“We return every starter and our first 4 players off the bench for next season,” noted Scholl. “As much success as we achieved, I feel like we left some on the table in our last two games. We will use that to motivate our players in the offseason because we will not be an underdog very often next season. We need to get stronger, faster, and improve our defensive capabilities so we have an opportunity to be successful.”

Junior Noah Walakovits is also excited to have the bulk of the team back next season.

“We will take about two weeks off to rest our bodies and mentally reset but then we will head right back into the weight room. Summer league starts in May and we plan on attending a team camp at the end of June.

“We are lucky that we have so many players coming back but we can’t be content with what we achieved this year. Our hope is that the players come back even more motivated to work this offseason. We have a lot of players who only play basketball so we have an opportunity to get a lot done in the offseason.

“We didn’t capitalize off the lead we had early and let them come back we’re al very excited to get back to work.”

Leo Regec also saw it as a missed opportunity but is ready to get back to work.

“I saw the game as a humbling experience for the team since everyone is coming back next year,” he said. “We have to learn to stay under control and maintain any lead we have. We have a lot of work to do over the offseason, especially as a team, and I’m looking forward to the challenges. I feel like we have a good chance to make some noise next season.”