Northwestern needed a spark.

Ezra Neff had just claimed a critical decision for Northern Lehigh to tie Tuesday’s Colonial League wrestling match with just three bouts remaining.

Colin Rex and Tyler Derr gave the Tigers the jolt they were looking for.

The duo came up with back-to-back pins to put Northwestern ahead and help secure a 43-28 win over Northern Lehigh.

“That was huge,” Tigers’ head coach Jim Moll. “Colin Rex is a super athletic kid, and probably the best athlete on our team. We knew we had a good shot of winning that match with him in there. He went out and wrestled hard and got it done.

“Tyler Derr is a senior. It’s his first time as a full-time starter for our team. He came out ready to go against Northern Lehigh and wrestled hard.”

The victories by Rex and Derr came after Neff had picked up a 2-1 decision against Matt Peters at 132 pounds to tie the match at 28-28.

“It’s just a fantastic feeling,” said Rex, “to know that the match is tied and you have to go out there and win your match, and help your team win the match.”

Rex (138) pinned Tyler Hargraves to give the Tigers a 42-28 lead.

Derr followed with a pin of Dale Wanamaker at 145 pounds to make it 40-28. Jackson Bernhard closed out the match with a 4-2 decision against Brandon Belfonti at 152 pounds to set the final tally.

“This is a big night, first match and against our rivals,” said Derr. “You want to start off good. You’ve got to want to beat the rivals.

“It was good getting those two pins. You’ve got to show that you want that right away.”

The Tigers took advantage of three Northern Lehigh forfeits in the first five matches to jump out to an 18-10 lead. But the Bulldogs responded with three straight victories by Jason Schaffer (285), Preston Bauer (106) and Dan Belfonti (113) to surge ahead 25-18.

A pin by Jack Casciano (120) and a major decision by Baily Wehr (126) put Northwestern back in front, 28-25, before Neff’s victory tied it.

The back-and-forth was something that didn’t surprise Moll.

“I expected a bunch of close matches with them,” he said. “They’re tough. They wrestle hard. They have some talented kids and they’re well-coached. And you can see it. They stay in good position.

“Neff, who beat Peters, he wrestled a great match. He stayed in great position, was hard to score on and he did his job.”

First-year Northern Lehigh head coach Scott Snyder enjoyed opening the season against a team the caliber of Northwestern, something he hopes will help to prepare his squad for what’s ahead.

“It was just another match against Northwestern. They’re all exciting,” said Snyder. “We come out here every time and we expect the same thing – it’s going to be competitive.

“It’s a rivalry. Both teams are going to show up. You’re going to wrestle hard. You’re going to bang heads and it’s going to be a close competition. I thought it was no different than any other time we wrestle them.

“I love it. I think it was a good thing for us. The intensity has to be high and hopefully you can ride that.”

Snyder spoke highly of freshmen Bauer and Austin Rudolph. Bauer pinned Aiden Meyers at 106 pounds, while Rudolph picked up a 10-1 major decision over Sam Day at 195.

Northwestern also won the junior high match, 39-27.