The Eastern Pennsylvania Conference’s Northampton County Division is considered the strongest of the three EPC divisions and one of the toughest six-team groupings possibly in the state.
Last year, Easton, Liberty and Nazareth combined to go 30-9, with the Red Rovers leading the way with a record 14-1 season.
Meanwhile, the other three teams in the EPC Northampton — Bethlehem Catholic, Freedom and Northampton — were 18-18.
At least for one week, there was a role reversal in the division.
In Friday’s season-opening action, the Red Rovers, Hurricanes and Blue Eagles went winless and were outscored 134-41, while the Golden Hawks, Patriots and Konkrete Kids posted wins.
No one should overreact to one game, especially in Week 1, when 16 of the 18 teams in the league played outside competition that varied greatly in terms of geography and quality.
But based on first impressions, it looks as though graduation has taken a major toll at Easton and Liberty, and Nazareth needs some work on defense after failing to solve Garnet Valley’s triple-option in a 63-34 loss.
On the flip side, no Week 1 win was more impressive than Freedom’s 51-20 victory at Downingtown West considering the Patriots were routed by the Whippets 47-7 in the 2025 season opener at Bethlehem Area School District Stadium.
The best news of all was that star running back Lashawn Johnson, who went out late last season with a knee injury, returned to form with 144 yards on 22 carries and three touchdowns. Amory Sangster added 65 yards and a touchdown on nine carries and Jahaire Hughes chipped in 30 yards and a score as Freedom had 486 total yards on offense, with 249 coming on the ground and 237 in the air.
“I was really happy with our kids’ energy, resilience and physicality,” said Jason Roeder, who began his 22nd as head coach. “As usual in Week 1 game, we needed to play a lot of kids, many of whom were sophomores, and they played really well considering it was their first varsity experience.”
Roeder will never make one game more important than the next, but he knew the program needed to get off to a good start.
“We’ve had a lot of big wins over the years but coming off the year we had and facing an opponent that beats us 47-7 last year, this was a huge win for us,” he said.
As for Johnson, Roeder was equally pleased.
“It was Lashawn’s first action since the injury in Week 9 of last season, and he has done everything in his power to get back for Week 1 and I am so happy for him that he played so well,” Roeder said. “He has developed into a great leader, not just a great running back.”
Freedom plays its home opener Friday night against a Parkland team that will have something to prove after the Trojans were pushed around up front in a 28-21 loss to Phillipsburg. Parkland won last year’s meeting 18-7.
Chase for success
Northampton’s Chase Kessler was one of the area’s best sophomores last season, rushing for 1,501 yards and 15 TDs. He averaged eight yards per carry.
Kessler picked up right where he left off in a 35-6 win over Martin Luther King in Philadelphia. He ran for 210 yards on 11 carries and scored two touchdowns and a two-point conversion.
“He ran hard and with great vision,” Konkrete Kids coach John Toman said. “He is becoming a vocal leader on the offense. He is off to a good start, but we have so much to improve on.”
One of them is the center-to-quarterback exchange.
“We had several bad ones, and we need that clean up,” Toman said. “We only punted once at the end of the game, so it was us, not them, stopping us. We controlled the line of scrimmage, which was good.”
Northampton did a good job of containing MLK running back Jaden Staten, but Toman wasn’t pleased with some of his team’s pass coverage.
While Staten was held to nine yards on nine carries, the Golden Cougars threw for more than 200 yards, and their one touchdown came in the air.
A hot Holy War?
Bethlehem Catholic and Allentown Central Catholic are longtime rivals who have combined for five state championships, and each has won 14 district golds.
Their so-called Holy War each year is one of the marquee attractions on the EPC schedule, and it usually happens late in the season.
Not so this season as the teams will play a nonleague game at 1 p.m. Saturday at J. Birney Crum Stadium, and both come in at 1-0 after hard-fought wins over District 2 teams.
The Golden Hawks edged Delaware Valley 21-20, and Allentown CCHS turned back Abington Heights 10-3.
“Del Val did exactly what we though they would to control the ball on offense and loading the box on defense,” Becahi coach Joe Bernard said. “Our defense tackled well and made them earn their yardage. On offense, we liked our matchups on the outside once we saw how they were playing us.”
New Hampshire commit Axel Burkart had a big night, completing 16 of 21 passes for 279 yards and a touchdown. The TD catch was made by Towson commit Carter Vassa, who had eight catches for 202 yards.
“Axel did a great job on his reads and spread the ball to our skill people,” Bernard said. “I was pleased with our skill people, with only four penalties for 35 yards.”
Central Catholic coach Jake Reichard, who like Bernard is in his second year at his current post, was also happy with the toughness his players showed in a road win.
“We flashed back a little bit on Friday night and played some old-school football in an awesome atmosphere,” Reichard said. “We had the expectation that [a hard-nosed game] was going to happen. That’s a good football program. Their coach [Joe Rephis] has been around for more than 20 years, and they have a great offensive line and a really good running back [Jayden Anglin] who is a special player. He was a 1,500-yard back last year who reminded me a little bit of [former Parkland star] Andre Williams the way he was built. We had a hard time tackling him. We played bend-but-don’t-break defense, and the key was that we kept them out of the end zone.”
Who’s hot
Nazareth quarterback Cooper Madson completed 20 of 38 passes for 215 yards and a touchdown in the team’s loss at Garnet Valley and Matt Leluga and Luke DiPietro had eight receptions apiece for a combined 190 yards.
Emmaus running back Anthony Attare had 89 yards on 14 carries and scored two TDs in a 20-13 loss at Neshaminy. He also had three catches for 21 yards.
Allen quarterback Julian Pagan threw four TD passes to four different receivers in a 39-0 win over Thomas Edison in Philadelphia.
Who’s not
The Nazareth defense allowed 597 yards off offense, including 356 on the ground, in its loss at Garnet Valley
Easton only managed 41 yards on the ground in its loss to Central Bucks West, averaging 1.5 yards per carry.
Liberty was held to just 44 yards rushing on 18 attempts in its loss at Pennridge.
Week 1 scoreboard
Allen 39, Thomas Edison 0
Allentown Central Catholic 10, Abington Heights 3
Bangor 49, East Stroudsburg North 0
Bethlehem Catholic 21, Delaware Valley (PA) 20
Central Bucks West 36, Easton 7
East Stroudsburg South 50, Pittston Area 32
Freedom 51, Downingtown West 30
Garnet Valley 63, Nazareth 34
Neshaminy 20, Emmaus 13
Northampton 35, Martin Luther King 6
Pennridge 35, Liberty 0
Phillipsburg 28, Parkland 21
Pleasant Valley 41, Saucon Valley 7
Pocono Mountain East 42, Dieruff 0
Pocono Mountain West 27, Scranton 0
Stroudsburg 39, George Washington 7
Whitehall 21, Wilkes-Barre Area 19
Week 2 schedule
Thursday
Lehighton at Pocono Mountain West
Pleasant Valley at Dieruff
Pocono Mountain East at Bangor
Friday
Delaware Valley at Northampton
East Stroudsburg North at Honesdale
Liberty at Central Bucks East
Nazareth at Whitehall
Parkland at Freedom
Pennsbury at Easton
Phillipsburg (NJ) at Emmaus
Wallenpaupack at East Stroudsburg South
Wilkes-Barre at Stroudsburg
Saturday
Bethlehem Catholic at Allentown CCHS, 1 p.m.
Martin Luther King at Allen, 7 p.m.