The Mathews High School varsity football team dropped its first regular season contest of the year, falling to the visiting Northampton Yellow Jackets on Friday by a 28-6 margin.

The Yellow Jackets received the opening kickoff and quickly marched downfield to claim an early 6-0 lead. Midway through the second quarter, Northampton got on the scoreboard a second time, taking a 12-0 lead into halftime.

Mathews narrowed the gap in the third quarter. On the opening possession of the second half, the Devils drove downfield with Jovan Johnson running the ball on a third-and-goal play from the 10-yard-line. The PAT kick was blocked and Mathews narrowed the gap to 12-6.

Unfortunately for the Devils, that was as close as they were to get as the Yellow Jackets came up with two fourth-quarter touchdowns and a pair of two-point conversions to seal the victory.

“I thought we worked the ball well,” head coach C.J. Kelly said. The Devils, however, had some costly turnovers that eithe...