Northwestern’s PIAA quarterfinal game against Faith Christian on Saturday had two distinct halves.

Even though the game turned physical very quickly, the referees were slow to call fouls in the first half.

The intensity continued to increase, and the refs turned to calling more penalties and handing out yellow cards in the second half.

The game went into overtime and Faith Christian came up with a game-winning goal with 1:42 left in the period to take a 2-1 win and stop Northwestern’s defense of the 2024 state championship.

Faith Christian’s Yago Molero passed to Jude Clymer, who headed the ball to the back of the net for the winning goal.

The Lions combined a height advantage with speed and a physical style of play to get the win over Northwestern.

“In certain positions,” said Northwestern head coach Nate Hunsicker, “they were definitely bigger than us. They have some really big kids on that side. On top of being big, they’re skilled and they’re athletic, so they had the total package.”

With just :03 left in the game, a pass came through to Cole Mertz, and Faith Christian’s Johnny Carmona came over Mertz’ back, knocking him to the ground inside the penalty area, but no penalty was called.

“I have to come back to that foul on Cole inside the box,” said Hunsicker. “That maybe avoids a whole lot of this, but that’s the game.”

A similar play just outside the box led to the Tigers’ first goal.

Just 2:32 into the game, Mertz was pulled down by a defender and Northwestern was awarded a free kick from just beyond the penalty box.

Logan Mesics took the kick and tucked it into the lower right corner of the goal for a 1-0 lead.

Faith Christian picked up its intensity, and the game became a physical battle.

With 8:39 left in the opening half, Faith Christian was awarded a free kick and quickly put the ball back in play, sending it outside to Levi Clymer. He quickly fired the ball back inside to Spencer Huber.

Huber took a shot to the upper left corner of the goal that goalie Dean Carl was unable to reach. The goal tied the game 1-1 and it stayed that way into halftime.

The refs called the game much tighter in the second half, giving out three yellow cards to Faith Christian players. The Tigers came up with opportunities and with 14:21 left in regulation, Weston Killar launched a shot on goal but it carried up and over the crossbar.

Northwestern had three balls that got just over the crossbar in the game.

The physical play continued with Jude Clymer picking up a yellow card early in the overtime period, but Northwestern failed to take advantage of the penalty.

“I thought we played well enough to win,” said Hunsicker. “We jumped out early. We kind of fell asleep on the equalizer and then they got a heck of a cross there to close things out. We had opportunities, both sides had opportunities.”

PIAA First Round

Northwestern 10, Midd-West 3

Teams that face Northwestern have three key players that they have to keep an eye on, but even if they can stop Cole Mertz, Logan Mesics, and Caelan Stangil, that doesn’t mean that they can stop the Northwestern offense. Midd-West High School did a good job of stopping the big three early in their PIAA first round game against the Tigers. But three other Northwestern players, who had a combined 15 goals coming into the game, all scored in the first half as Northwestern took a 10-3 win to advance to the quarterfinals.

Just 4:40 into the game, Mertz put a shot on goal that goalie Derek Wert blocked. It bounced to freshman Lyle Good, who gave Northwestern a 1-0 lead.

A Mesics header went off the crossbar for Caelan Stangil, who played it to John Kelley. The senior fired a shot past Wert for his third goal of the season.

Finally, Mertz took a free kick and played it to Egan Boyle in front of the goal. Boyle headed it in for the third Northwestern goal.

“They were playing a high line,” said Kelley. “We were able to get some great through balls. We got them early in the first half and then we picked up the pace and continued to build our lead in the second half.”

Stangil and Mesics executed a two-on-one late in the half that resulted in a Mesics goal.

Midd-West got a first half goal off a corner kick from Evan Devine that Abram Sellers converted into a goal to make it 4-1 at halftime.

Mertz and Mesics both added two more goals in the second half, and Stangil added a goal and two assists. Logan Shurr teamed up with fellow sophomore Weston Killar to close out the scoring when he headed a ball past Wert to make it 10-2 with 17:56 left in the game.

“It was a free kick,” said Shurr, whose goal was his second of the season. “I just saw Weston (Killar) flick it on, so I had to go up and get it. I was able to get there and head it for the goal.”

Midd-West got a second goal off a corner and Devine added a late goal on a shot that goalie Dean Carl got his hands on, but the ball went off his fingertips and just under the crossbar for a goal that made it 10-3.

“It was awesome to see our entire team come to fruition,” said Tiger head coach Nate Hunsicker. “Our first three goals were kids who aren’t in the big three who normally crack the scoreboard, so when you’re getting contributions from those guys, we knew it was a matter of time until some of the others started to fire on all cylinders.”