Northwestern boys soccer head coach Nate Hunsicker outlined it as a three-step process.

The path for Northwestern to reach the District 11 Class 3A final was clearly defined.

And the Tigers never deviated from the course.

For the fifth time in six seasons, Northwestern’s boys soccer team claimed a district title with a 3-0 win over Blue Mountain Thursday.

The fourth-seeded Tigers built on the momentum of a 1-0 win in double overtime against top seed Southern Lehigh just two days earlier with a torrid start.

Colin Coffield lifted the lid with a goal just over two minutes into the game to give Northwestern a 1-0 lead and put the Eagles on their heels.

“We were moving the ball super well,” Coffield said. “(It was) just a give-and-go, and I got the ball in the middle and had a load of space, so I took a 1-2 touch and I looked up, and the goalie was out of position and just hit it into the corner.”

But that momentum quickly stalled.

“I thought in the first half we came out on fire,” said Hunsicker. “Obviously we got that goal early, and then we kind of got away from what we were doing well. Granted it was a very small sample size, and that’s what we talked about at halftime.

“Everything that we game planned for, we did for two minutes and then we went away from it for 38 (minutes) and we gave them chance after chance after chance, and fortunately, our back line stood tall and resolute and we held them out. It was huge keeping that clean sheet going into the half, and I thought in the second half we just thoroughly outplayed them.”

Blue Mountain, seeded second, recovered and had several scoring opportunities in the first 40 minutes. Freshman Ryan Mundy had two huge runs to the net but came up empty each time, with Tigers’ goalie Austin Vogwill standing tall.

“We knew he (Mundy) was going to be dangerous...and one adjustment that we made at halftime was not giving No. 12 (Aidan Valentine) time in space to send that ball over the top to get him those opportunities, which I thought we did a fantastic job taking that away from him,” said Hunsicker. “Really the only time he was able to get the ball was in a nondangerous position out on the wing. I thought we responded really well after making that adjustment.”

Northwestern tightened its grip on the trophy in the second half.

Jeff Garcia added his fourth goal of the district tournament on a header off an assist from Coffield to push the advantage to 2-0 with 33:49 remaining in regulation.

Garcia had a hat trick in Northwestern’s quarterfinal win over Bangor, and had been a vital part of the offense since returning from a hamstring injury that cost him time during the first part of the season.

“Jeff played phenomenal for us in all three games through the district tournament,” said Hunsicker. “For him to put another one home today and just continue to make things happen, there’s a reason why he’s the central piece of our offense; everything goes through him.”

Freshman Matthew Johnson headed in the Tigers’ third goal on an assist from senior Ryan Baker with just under 10 minutes to play.

Northwestern’s most recent triumph came in the wake of a disappointing loss to Southern Lehigh in the Colonial League final, one that was decided on penalty kicks.

The Tigers found redemption by knocking off the Spartans in the semifinals.

Hunsicker set the stage for them to defend their district crown. And they delivered.

“It was initially hard to get everybody back up because we thought we played well enough to win that league final, and to lose that in penalty kicks in the fashion in which we did, it was disappointing. It was a downer,” he said. “As a staff, we had to rally these guys and make something happen because it was very easy for us to come into districts on such a sour note and just bow out early on.

“But hats off to our kids. They came in determined and ready to make this run, and we played three decent teams and it was no easy task, but we made it happen.”

The Tigers claimed the Class 2A crown in 2015, before winning 3A titles in 2016, 2017 and 2019.