NORTHAMPTON — What a difference a year makes.

Back in 2023, the Northampton football team didn’t win a game until its very last contest of the year, and it took a miracle touchdown as time expired. But in 2024, the Blue Devils are a completely different team.

And on Friday night, when sophomore Levi Moran made a diving interception to seal Northampton’s third straight victory to open the season, head coach Joe Kocot pointed in the other direction, signaling it was his team’s possession with a smile on his face.

The Blue Devils’ offense erupted for 28 first-half points and never trailed en route to a 28-18 triumph over Mahar at Northampton High School under the lights in front of a packed house.

“They have a better attitude, and I think they’re buying into the new offense,” Kocot said of his team. “It’s a simple offense, but it gives different players places to attack. You can attack all the holes, left to right, and that’s what happened tonight.”

The hosts opened up the scoring after the Senators fumbled the snap on a punt deep in their own territory, setting up Northampton at the Mahar 18-yard line. Two plays later, Jacoby Allard rumbled in from 15 yards out. A Dion Cadez 2-point conversion made it 8-0 in favor of the Blue Devils.

Mahar responded right away, driving methodically down the field to punch in a physical 10-yard run, one where Jayden Delgado was originally stopped at the six yard line but a strong effort from his offensive line pushed him over the goal line. The 11 play, 62-yard drive cut the Sens’ deficit to two, 8-6.

That is, until the ensuing kickoff was returned by Northampton’s Ethan Rivera 70 yards to the house, giving all momentum back to the Blue Devils.

And after forcing a punt on Mahar’s next possession, Northampton scored quickly again. Cadez rolled out of the pocket after faking the handoff to Allard, and threw a strike on the run to hit Ian Paradise in stride, who made a Senators defender miss and bolted 77 yards for a touchdown. It was 22-6 Blue Devils right after Mahar had got it within two.

“We had a kickoff touchdown, we had a rushing touchdown, we had a long throw,” Kocot said. “Ian did a great job, and so did Dion. Dion bailed, and Ian was so smart, he saw him scrambling, so he broke off the route and cut it up to the corner. That was a great play.”

Mahar quarterback Morgan Softic put his athleticism on full display on Mahar’s next drive. The senior signal caller miraculously spun off a pair of Northampton defenders, broke another tackle and took off 50 yards for a score, diving for the left pylon to cap off the unbelievable run.

“Dynamic,” Senators head coach Percy Eady said of Softic. “He’s dynamic. He is a leader, and he’s grown as a leader more than words. As an athlete, that speaks for itself. We’re not in the position we are in without him.”

Northampton once again responded with a touchdown of its own, this time Gerald Lopez taking a handoff up the middle and scoring from two yards out.

The Blue Devils would take a 28-12 advantage into the half.

“The first half was great,” Kocot said. “Then I thought we got a little sloppy there in the second half. We turned the ball over too much and it gave them a chance to get back in the game.”

A pair of fumbles plagued Northampton’s offense in the third quarter, giving Mahar the ball on the Blue Devils’ side of the field twice. The Senators were unable to capitalize either time, however.

The chance to get within one possession or even tie the contest was there for them, but those two drives resulted in a punt and a turnover on downs.

“We saw so much good in that first half, and we wanted to come out in the second half and take advantage of it,” Eady said. “But we came out a little slow. Toward the end we figured it out, and we had opportunities right in front of us, but today is going to be about those missed opportunities in the second half.”

Mahar did score late in the fourth quarter, a 20-yard Delgado touchdown run making it 28-18, but not getting the 2-point conversion kept the margin at two possessions.

There ultimately wasn’t enough time for the Senators to score twice, and Northampton ran the clock out to seal its third win of the season.

“It’s important that they learn how to win early on in their careers,” Kocot said of his young Blue Devils team, one that has only two seniors. “They’ve done a good job of learning a lot in a short period of time. Now we just have to figure out how to take care of the ball better.”

Mahar may have dropped its first game of 2024, but Eady was still as proud as ever of his group. It showed signs of maturity and growth that he never saw throughout his first year with the program last fall.

And holding the Blue Devils to zero points in the second half, as well as outscoring them 6-0, is absolutely something to hang their hats on.

“They follow the game plan, and they did a good job getting over that initial wave,” Eady said of his defense. “We settled in, and this is who we are. We lay up zeroes [on the board] … The way that we finished this game, the way we fought to the very end, this was not here last year. The way that they fight, I’m ready to take them against any team in our league. I wish we started league play yesterday.”