It was one of the best games in the Times News area last season.

Northwestern outlasted Blue Mountain in Week 3 28-21, and it was the Tigers’ toughest test during the regular season on their way to a 3A state championship runner-up performance in the postseason.

Once again, this season’s matchup between the Tigers and Eagles is stacking up to be a good one. Northwestern travels to the Eagles’ Nest as both teams look to stay unbeaten in the Times News Game of the Week.

Offense is flashy and always makes for good headlines, but Northwestern’s defense has been just as crucial in its run of late. It was the Tigers’ (3-0) defense last season that came up with two huge stops when they needed to in order to edge the Eagles in 2023 - a timely interception before the end of the first half and a key stop late in the fourth quarter on a fourth-and-two play from the Northwestern 13-yard line.

The Tigers’ defense has been dominant so far this season, allowing just 4.6 points per game and 94 total yards per game, with most of those points and yards occurring on their second and third string units when the game has already been put into the mercy rule.

Northwestern will, however, face its most difficult assignment to date against a very good Blue Mountain (3-0) offense. The Eagles have been balanced, and are led by quarterback Brody Strause and running back Tyler Stahley. Strause is an impressive 30-of-40 for 556 yards, with six touchdowns and just three interceptions, while also rushing for 52 yards and a touchdown. Stahle is the workhorse for the Eagles, as he has rushed for 342 yards and one touchdown.

Strause has a trio of receiving targets that have also made an impact this season. Gaige Guers (189 receiving yards, 2 TDs), Bradley Renninger (135 receiving yards, 2 TDs) and Lucas Kauffman (122 receiving yards, 2 TDs) have all made their mark in the passing game for Blue Mountain.

“Offensively, they run a similar style of offense to us. A lot of two-back formation, and they will run power out of that and also some other stuff. They’re going to look to run the football first,” said Northwestern head coach Josh Snyder. “Their running backs do a really nice job, and their quarterback gets the ball out quick in the passing game, and he can run it as well. They have nice size up front, but they’re quicker than they are big. They do have some young guys up front, so that’s something we’re going to look to try to take advantage of at times. But overall, there are not a lot of weaknesses that jump out at you. We’re looking forward to a fast and physical game for all four quarters.”

Blue Mountain’s defense has also been rock solid, and it has already been tested against good football teams like Schuylkill Haven and Southern Lehigh. However, the Eagles will see an explosive offense in the Tigers that they haven’t yet encountered.

Northwestern is averaging 53 points per game and 300 yards of total offense per game. Again, those are the Tigers’ numbers for essentially two quarters per game with the way their games have played out so far this season, often reaching mercy rule in the first half.

Eli Zimmerman has done a little bit of everything for Northwestern, as he leads the team in rushing with 250 yards and five touchdowns on just 11 carries (over 23 yards per rush). Quarterback Shane Leh has also been efficient, throwing for 213 yards and four touchdowns with no interceptions.

The Northwestern offense has also been perfect in taking care of the football with zero turnovers on the season.

“They have eight returning starters coming back from a defense that was pretty good last season. They’re really fast and they fly around,” said Snyder. “They play pretty much the exact same defense as us in the 3-3 stack. They play downhill, and they do a good job of getting in the gaps and creating negative plays. For us though, we have just really been clicking. I think we have played to our capabilities so far this season. Our players have been really focused and locked in, and we’ve been able to get out of the gate fast in all of our games. We know that is going to be a challenge this week, but we’re looking forward to making that adjustment.”

In primetime games like this one with two evenly-matched opponents, the game usually comes down to a momentum-changing play or an “x-factor”.

That “x-factor” for the Tigers this season has been their special teams play. Northwestern already has four punt return touchdowns to its credit, with Zimmerman returning three for scores and Seth Kern tallying one as well. Field position is always a big key in a game such as this one, and there’s no denying the Tigers have the special teams unit to put them in good positions throughout.

“We have some electric guys back there in the return game. And once you return one, then you see teams trying to kick it out of bounds, which they’re not used to doing and that’s when mistakes can happen as well,” said Snyder. “We spend a lot of time on special teams. About 20-25 minutes every practice, which is a good chunk of the practice. Our staff also does a great job of scheming up different things for each opponent to give us the best chance to make plays. I always say good special teams can give you the ability to make a splash play that can change the momentum in a game, and we’ve been able to do that a few times this season and over the past few years.”