HERSHEY — The Northwestern boys soccer team came out strong against Lower Dauphin, but couldn’t continue the momentum in the PIAA 3A Championship game at Hersheypark Stadium. Lower Dauphin defeated the Tigers 3-0 to cap an unbeaten season.

“We came out strong and had three real good chances before they even got their first goal,” said Northwestern head coach Nate Hunsicker. “We had a lot of momentum and were charged up, but just couldn’t break through for anything.”The early chances came on two free kicks and a breakaway for Northwestern. The first of the free kicks was headed out of the pack in front of the goal by Lower Dauphin and the second was kicked out by a Falcons player, keeping the Tigers from scoring early to get an advantage.Andrew Goodolf had an opportunity on a breakaway, but his shot sailed about two feet over the crossbar.“If we hit on just one of those shots, it could be a different game. That could have made a big difference for us,” said Hunsicker.Lower Dauphin (28-0) broke through when Tim Townsend fired a free kick that made it past senior goalkeeper Kyle Bellhorn for the first score of the game, giving the Falcons a 1-0 lead. Bellhorn was blocked by one of his defenders and a player from Lower Dauphin, making him lose sight of the shot.Lower Dauphin tried unsuccessfully to control play for the rest of the first half, but Northwestern found ways of breaking up opportunities that the Falcons tried to create. With six minutes left to play in the half, the Falcons Brad Shafer headed a shot just wide of the net. Again, Lower Dauphin looked to stretch their lead, but Bellhorn made a big save with just under two minutes to play in the half to keep the Falcons lead at 1-0.“Kyle [Bellhorn] played a heck of a game. I think he was thinking he had a defender who could play that first one out and then he got shielded. We sometimes have a problem marking players and that’s what happened on that first goal,” said Hunsicker.The Tigers (24-1-1) intensity wasn’t quite as high in the second half and Lower Dauphin had a lot of opportunities. Jackson Becher got off a solid shot from the right front side of the goal just four minutes into the second half, but Tom Creighton deflected the ball and Bellhorn came up with the save. Less than 10 minutes later, Bellhorn made a diving save on a shot by Townsend, followed by a shot from Nick Iagnemma that went wide of the goal.As Northwestern looked to move the play to the other end of the field, Lower Dauphin got a breakaway with Jackson Becher drawing Bellhorn out of the net. Becher drove a shot toward the goal and Jonathan Blaine attempted to make a defensive save, but wound up kicking the ball into the net. Becher would add his second goal of the game with just under three minutes left to play to make it a 3-0 game.DEFINITE PROGRESS ... Northwestern had never won a state tournament game until last season when they were in the 2A classification and went to the semifinals where they lost to Lewisburg, who went on to win the state championship.STINGY TIGERS ... In their two state tournament wins last season, Northwestern didn’t allow a goal, outscoring Pottsgrove and Gettysburg by a combined score of 8-0. In this year’s tournament, they also didn’t allow a goal in their first three games, beating Athens 1-0, Daniel Boone 2-0 and Gettysburg 1-0 before bowing to Lower Dauphin.NOT SO FAST ... Jackson Becher’s younger brother Ryan was initially awarded the first Lower Dauphin goal when it was thought that he tipped the shot from Townsend. On review, it was ruled that he didn’t deflect the shot, making Townsend the goal scorer. His big brother went on to add the two insurance goals for the Falcons.