ORWIGSBURG — And then there were two.

That’s how many wins stand between Northwestern Lehigh and its second state championship in three seasons after the Tigers beat Faith Christian 4-0 Saturday in the PIAA quarterfinals at Blue Mountain High School.

The win sends Northwestern into the semifinals Tuesday night at Emmaus High School.

Coming into the game, the Lions were the only other undefeated team in the Class 2A classification with a record that now stands at 20-1.

Faith Christian had some early success in controlling the ball, but were unable to get a shot past senior goalkeeper Brandon Krapf.

Even though the Tigers’ defense bent but didn’t break, the realization that the Tigers lost in the quarterfinals last round against Camp Hill — also playing at Blue Mountain — was not lost on the players, coaches or fans.

The fact that the Lions were unable to convert on any shots started to actually shift the momentum over to the Tigers.

“We definitely thought about it (last year’s quarterfinals) because it was on the same field at the same time and the girls played first, but we came in today and got the job done,” said Northwestern’s Logan Mesics.

On one of the best early opportunities for Northwestern, Jacob van Lierop attempted a bicycle kick to break the scoreless tie, but put the shot over the crossbar.

Shortly after the play, the Tigers were awarded a free kick from a little over 20 yards out near the sideline.

Jack Mauro, who specializes in placing free kicks into playable balls, lofted his kick into the penalty area where it ping-ponged off a defender to where Mesics found the ball with his left foot and played it past goalie Ryan Sigafoos to give the Tigers a 1-0 lead with 18:25 left in the opening half.

“There were a bunch of bodies there. I had tried to head it and I think it went off of a defender, and then it just dropped down to me,” said Mesics of his first goal. “At that point, you’re that close, you’re just trying to smash it as hard as you can into the back of the net.”

As the play clock moved under two minutes, Northwestern (26-0) again went on the attack and was awarded a corner.

Mauro took the kick and again placed it perfectly in front of the goal, where Mesics rose above a ring of defenders and headed the ball just under the crossbar for a 2-0 edge with just 1:45 remaining until halftime.

If the play was a little chippy in the first half, it became downright physical for the final 40 minutes.

Carlos Megias was given a yellow card for pulling down Mesics, and four minutes later Austin Bittenbender was given a yellow for Northwestern. As the officials worked to restore order, the Tigers were able to clear a ball through the midfield that van Lierop played in stride to take on Sigafoos one-on-one.

As Sigafoos came out to contest the play, van Lierop took a simple side-step to the left as Sigafoos dove, and with nothing between him and the net he just tapped the ball in for a more comfortable 3-0 lead.

Krapf added to the Lions’ frustration by stopping or knocking away every shot they were able to put on goal.

Faith Christian’s Ryan Noel took a free kick from the same spot that Mauro had sent a ball to Mesics for the first goal and was able to put it between the heads of two defenders on the wall, but as the ball curved toward the open goal Krapf stepped up to make an easy catch to again turn away the Lions.

Just in case they needed any more insurance, the Tigers got it with 8:44 left to play.

Cole Mertz took the ball downfield with van Lierop open to his right and as the pair approached the goal, Sigafoos decided to key on van Lierop and Mertz took the opportunity to put a shot right where Sigafoos had moved from and made it a 4-0 game.

“I am beyond excited. We knew this was not going to be an easy task by any stretch,” said Northwestern head coach Nate Hunsicker.

“I think it lived up to the bill; No. 1 in the state versus No. 2 in the state, and we absolutely proved our worth here today. That’s a really tough team over there, and they were a tough matchup for us, but we did just enough to make it work.”

COLONIAL SHOWDOWN … Northwestern will play Colonial League foe Notre Dame-Green Pond in the semifinals on Tuesday. The game will be a rematch of the district championship game, and because it features two local teams, will be played close to home at Emmaus’ Memorial Field. “It’s a team that we’re familiar with, another Colonial League team, so that’s kind of cool that we can represent the Colonial League and District 11 by making it that far. We had two really good results against them, but we’re not going to rest on our laurels. It’s back to business on Tuesday,” said Hunsicker.

CLYMER CONNECTION … The name Clymer is a familiar one within Northwestern Lehigh sports. It’s also becoming a familiar one at Faith Christian Academy. Ben Clymer was a state wrestling champion for Northwestern, and is now the wrestling coach at Faith while his uncle, Ryan Clymer, is the boys soccer coach. Cousins Jude and Brady Clymer are on the Lions roster, with Jude being a junior and Brady getting playing time as a freshman.