It obviously wasn't the way Northwestern wanted to start the season.

Coming off a tremendous 2014 campaign that saw them go 11-2 and capture Colonial League and District 11 Class AA titles, the Tigers lost their opener to Notre Dame of Green Pond.For a program with postseason aspirations, an early loss can sometimes snowball into more problems down the line.But that hasn't been the case for Northwestern."It can be tough mentally on a team to lose that first game," said Northwestern coach Josh Snyder. "When you spend the whole off-season lifting, working out and practicing in preparation for the opener and then come out and lose, it can be a little deflating."But we told the kids that championships are never won or loss in the first game. It's a long season. We talked to them about re-dedicating themselves to becoming better football players and becoming a better football team."The Tigers responded with back-to-back shutout victories over Bangor and Pen Argyl."I definitely like how we have regrouped and moved forward," said Snyder. "We have strong senior leadership and they made sure that no one was hanging their heads after the loss. Because if you do that, it can easily lead to more losses."After capturing an Eastern Conference championship in 2013 and pushing eventual state finalist Dunmore to the limit in the opening round of the PIAA playoffs before falling last season, Northwestern is trying to make it three straight postseason appearances."I'm not a really big goal guy," said Snyder. "I don't talk to the kids a lot about winning a league championship or a district championship. But our general expectation before every season is to be playing an 11th game."With an offense led by last year's Times News Player of the Year Harry Hall and quickly developing first-year starting quarterback Dylan Snyder, Northwestern can put points on the board. The defense, spearheaded by linebackers Hall and Teagen Golden, who returned to the lineup after missing the first two games with an injury, has been air tight the last two weeks.By all indications, Northwestern has responded to the season-opening loss in an extremely positive manner."We played our best all-around game of the season last week against Pen Argyl," said Snyder. "Not many teams go 10-0 during the regular season, especially in a league as tough and balanced as ours. So we want our kids to have the mindset that the most important game of the season is the next one you play."We don't want them looking ahead or looking back. We just need them to focus on the next opponent."After a tough start, it seems like Snyder has the Tigers doing just that.******BECKER'S BOOT ... Bailey Becker capped Jim Thorpe's victory against Tamaqua last Friday by kicking a 26-yard field goal.The three-pointer was the first by an Olympian since James Denny connected on a 26-yarder on Oct. 30, 2009 during a 37-34 victory over Marian.In Thorpe's last 100 games, this was just its fifth field goal. Besides Becker and Denny, Nate Schmidt had one during the 2007 season and Alex and Landon had two in 2006.The field goal by Becker is even more amazing considering the senior had ACL surgery on his kicking knee and returned in just six weeks.******FAB FOUR ... Jim Thorpe, Lehighton, Marian and Palmerton have all started the season with perfect 3-0 records.This marks the second straight year that four Times News area teams began the year with victories in the first three weeks.A year ago, three of the above teams - Jim Thorpe, Marian and Palmerton - along with Northwestern opened 3-0.Since 1980, this is just the fourth time that four TN teams were 3-0 after the third week of the season. During that time span, Marian and Northwestern have the most 3-0 starts with 13 of them.******BACK-TO-BACK SHUTOUTS ... As stated above, Northwestern lost its opening game to Notre Dame before rebounding for back-to-back shutout wins over Pen Argyl and Bangor.The last time the Tigers earned consecutive shutouts was in 2009 when they opened the season with a 16-0 win over Salisbury and followed it with a 27-0 victory over Saucon Valley.Over the past 20 years, Northwestern has posted an impressive 37 shutouts. That figure is second-best among Times News area team. Northern Lehigh has the most (38) over that time span.******BULLDOGS' BIG PLAYS ... Northern Lehigh rolled past Wilson last Friday.Among the touchdowns the Bulldogs scored during their 39-7 Colonial League victory were a 66-yard run by Taz McNair and a 61-yard pass from Chad Cederberg to Brandon Smith.Over the last 250 Northern Lehigh games (dating back to 1993), this was just the fourth time the team had at least one TD run and one TD pass of at least 60 yards in the same contest.The last time the 'Dawgs accomplished the feat was Oct. 29, 2010 when Cody Remaley had an 81-yard touchdown run and a 64-yard scoring toss from Dylan Hofmann.The other times were Sept. 23, 2005 (Matt Snyder 66-yard pass from Matt Sutjak and 62-yard run by Nick Hosford) and Sept. 9, 1995 (Kody Fedorcha 70-yard pass from Darin Van Norman and 61-yard run by Mike Lilly).