Right before every sports season at Northwestern Lehigh, athletic director Jason Zimmerman puts together a Media Day.

It’s a day for the players and teams to have their photos taken, and the media grills the coaches and players on what to look for in the upcoming season.

The Tigers’ fall season was so successful that Zimmerman put together a postseason media day to allow photographers and media members to get all of the photos and interviews they needed.

Just prior to the event, Zimmerman rolled a table on wheels into the gymnasium with all of the team trophies from the fall season, including boys’ and girls’ soccer, and football trophies from not just the state championship, but from league and district titles as well.

Thankfully, girls’ soccer coach Jordan Smith was there to help because they didn’t all fit on the table. That’s just how successful the fall season was.

Now come the accolades from the fall season for players and coaches who were honored to be awarded statewide honors. The Pennsylvania Soccer Coaches Association released their Coaches of the Year awards and not surprisingly, the names of Nate Hunsicker and Jordan Smith are on the trophies.

Hunsicker guided the boys’ team to a 28-0 record, and its second state championship in three seasons, while Smith guided the girls’ team to a 28-0 record, and brought the first state championship trophy to New Tripoli as the program won its first PIAA championship.

As it turned out, the state championship victory over Cathedral Prep was the 275th win of Hunsicker’s coaching career at Northwestern Lehigh. His overall record of 275-44-10 gives him a winning percentage of .851 over 14 seasons leading the program.

“It’s an individual award, but it’s actually for a team accomplishment,” said Hunsicker, who also won the award in 2018. “You don’t win a whole lot of games if you don’t have good kids. For me, it’s seeing all of the hard work come to fruition and getting recognized for it. I would be lying if I said that it didn’t mean anything to me.”

When the Tigers won the state championship in 2022, there was just the smallest of stains on the title. That stain came from losing to Southern Lehigh 2-1 in the Colonial League championship.

Coming into the season, the goal was not just to win the state title, but to capture gold in the league and districts ahead of the PIAA gold. This year’s team was more devastating than the team that won in ’22, as it had to work its way through penalty kicks in the semifinals to advance to the championship.

“It was really exciting to watch these guys during the season. Throughout the entire season this team never trailed for a second in any of their games,” said Hunsicker. “And then to have the girls’ team on the same path, and I think they only trailed in one game, made it really special for the school and the community. I think football only trailed twice during the season, and they wound up with a state championship, too. It really was just a very special season.”

Smith took over the program after the 2020 season, and has continued to build on the success the program had been building. The team continued to take steps forward each season and reached the semifinal game in 2023, and then came into 2024 looking to get that last link on the chain by winning a PIAA championship. In his four seasons, Smith has already won 89 games, with just nine losses and two ties.

“I never even thought about stuff like this during the season because I was so focused on the team, and how we were doing and what I needed to do to help us reach our goals and get to the best level that we could get to,” said Smith. “After the season, I was just thinking about accolades for my players because they had put in so much work to achieve the success that they did.”

Unfortunately, the hard work did not pay off in any of the players receiving state-wide honors. Even though the team went undefeated and won the state championship, there was not one Northwestern player on the All-State team. Smith was bothered by that fact because he has a special connection with the seniors on the team.

“They were the first freshman class that I had when I took over as coach, so that’s always special to have that first class go through their four years and finish it with a championship,” said Smith. “We always focus on being team first, so I think the fact that we won a league championship, district championship, and a state championship means more to the girls. It is going to be weird though to go to the awards ceremony and not have any of my players with me.

“The guy from the coaches association asked how many all-state players we had and I said none. He said ‘how does a team go 28-0 and win a state championship and not have any all-state players?’”

Throughout the season there were signs that this team was determined. Early in the year they defeated Central Columbia, the team that eliminated them in the 2023 semifinals, and won. They had beaten Central in the 2023 regular season though, so while it was a good sign, Smith and the team knew they had to do more.

The team kept winning, and in the district championship met Allentown Central Catholic, the champions of the EPC. Not even the powerhouse Vikettes could stand in the way of the Tigers, who won the game and moved full steam ahead toward a state title.

“We had a great summer league season, but you really only have part of your team because of vacations and things like that. In early August when we got together and put our pieces in place and figured out who is playing where, I thought that a state title was a legit possibility even before we had played a game,” Smith recalled. “Then we went through the season the way we did, and I think beating Central Catholic in the championship really showed us just how good we are, and that we had a very realistic chance of bringing home the state championship.”

For both coaches, the whole process just starts all over. Smith says goodbye to the first group of players he had as a rookie coach, while Hunsicker bids farewell to a talented group of seniors who helped bring two state championships to Northwestern.

“You get used to the coming and going of players,” noted Hunsicker. “This isn’t like the pros where we give out 12-year contracts. We know we have them for four years and that’s it.”