The Nazareth Area Blue Eagles had already proven themselves in the regular season, and didn't miss a beat now that it's playoff time. They enjoyed a cozy 21-7 win over Northampton on Friday. The win was familiar territory for Nazareth Area who now have eight in a row.
Leading Nazareth Area to victory were Mason Kuehner and Peyton Falzone. Kuehner picked up 158 receiving yards and a touchdown, while Falzone threw for 255 yards and two touchdowns.
Nazareth Area pushed their record up to 11-1 with that win, which was their seventh straight at home. It's not like the team was facing easy opposition over that stretch either, as it included 9-3 Allentown Central Catholic and 7-5 Bethlehem Catholic (their opponents had an average overall winning percentage of 57.7% over those games). As for Northampton, their defeat ended a five-game streak of away wins and brought them to 10-3.
Both teams will have to hit the road in their upcoming games. Nazareth Area will square off against Parkland at 7:05 p.m. on Friday. Parkland knows how to get points on the board -- the squad has finished with flashy point totals in its past 11 contests -- so hopefully Nazareth Area likes a good challenge. Northampton will have plenty of time to ponder what went wrong as they've got a bye scheduled next week. After, they'll take on Catasauqua at 10:00 a.m. on November 23rd. Catasauqua will have to bring their A-game into this one, as they are staring down a pretty big deficit in the MaxPreps Pennsylvania Rankings (they are ranked 262nd, while Northampton is ranked 60th).
