Even when you are an undefeated team and the top seed in the district tournament, the level of competition means that nothing comes easily.

For the 23-0 Northwestern Tigers, Thursday night’s 2A championship game against Blue Mountain at Northern Lehigh High School opened with an offensive barrage, but the Eagles would later put the Tigers on notice that getting gold medals was not going to be easy.

In the end, Northwestern collected gold with a 3-1 victory over Blue Mountain.

Logan Mesics was a man among boys in the early going. A little under six minutes into the game, Mesics scored for the first time, and just 64 seconds later, he made it 2-0. Mesics beat goalie Colton Leibold for his first goal, and then took a pass from Jake Van Lierop just in front of the goal and headed the ball into the back of the net to make it 2-0. Initially, the goal was announced as being from Nate Kinzel, but after the game, Kinzel stepped up and clarified the scoring, crediting the goal to Mesics.

“I saw the ball coming in and I brought it down and was able to keep my composure and just put it in,” Mesics said of his first goal. “It was good for us to get going early and I think it helped us, especially with how they were playing, and we just went forward from there.”

With Blue Mountain (19-4) trying to figure out how to stop the Tigers offense, Northwestern got some more opportunities, but ultimately would have to wait for another goal. Leibold settled in and saved shots by Matt Johnson and Caelan Stangil, and tipped two shots off his fingertips to keep his team in the running.

As the game went on, Northwestern seemed to accept that two goals would be enough. In the second half, it would be the Eagles surging.

As Blue Mountain closed in on a scoring opportunity, goalie Brandon Krapf came out of the goal and made a feet first dive to stop a shot coming in from the right side. The ball went off Krapf’s feet and rolled back toward the middle, where Don Hertzog was perfectly positioned and drove a shot high in the goal that got past a Northwestern defender who was coming over to help in goal until Krapf could resume his position.

The goal made it 2-1 and got the Blue Mountain fans back into the game as they cheered on their team, which also got them to dance around to keep themselves warm on a crisp Autumn night.

“We fought hard in that first 10 minutes to get that early lead, and that was huge,” said Tigers coach Nate Hunsicker. “We got a little complacent after that I thought, and we didn’t strike.”

As the game got later and later, the level of physical play went higher and higher. Van Lierop was given a yellow card with 25:10 left in regulation. The Tigers killed the penalty, and shortly after Van Lierop returned, Mesics was back to his old tricks, but this time with an assist. Mesics teed up an easy shot for Johnson when he arched the ball down to Johnson, who used his speed to control the ball and beat a defender to score and give Northwestern a 3-1 edge.

The final 15 minutes was a matter of Northwestern playing strong defense to keep its lead at two goals. Defense is a major component of the Tigers’ success, and it went into high gear late in the game to help the squad secure the title and officially get a spot in the PIAA tournament, where they have the opportunity to defend last year’s championship.

“We have really good relationships with each other,” said Kinzel of the defensive unit. “Our communication is really good, and we just lock it down back there. Plus, everyone defends well, the wingbacks and even the strikers help us out, so it’s always a good team effort.”

THE GLORY OF GOLD

… With the win, Northwestern gets the opportunity to defend last year’s state championship. It also stays on course to reach all four of its goals that it brought into the season. After falling to Southern Lehigh in the Colonial League finals last season, the Tigers wanted to capture gold in leagues, districts, and states, and do all of that without losing a game. They now have the first two gold medals checked off and will play for the third starting next week, and the perfect record is also still intact as they have now won 29 straight games dating back to last season. “We’re getting closer and closer, and we had to take two stops on the way to get those medals,” said Johnson. “And now, we go for the repeat from last year and get that state medal.”

THE CENTURY MARK

… Johnson’s goal was his 37th of the season, and 99th of his career with Northwestern, as he continues to stretch his lead as the program’s all-time leader in goals.