Northwestern needed a spark.

Ezra Neff had just claimed a critical decision victory for Northern Lehigh to tie Tuesday's Colonial League contest with just three matches 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 said. "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, 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," said Rex, who pinned Tyler Hargreaves at 138 pounds to put the Tigers up 34-28.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 gotta 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."HIGH PRAISE… 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. "I'm proud of him," Snyder said of Rudolph. "He's a freshman at 195, coming up and wrestling with the big boys. That's a big confidence booster for a guy like that. And for Preston, he's going to have some growing pains … but he was pretty impressive. He stayed within himself once he got those first couple of takedowns and got those points out of the way. That was nice."BUT FIRST… Northwestern won the junior high match, 39-27.Northwestern 43, Northern Lehigh 28160 - Caleb Clymer (NW) won by forfeit170 - Ryan Farber (NL) won by forfeit182 - Isaac Bredbenner (NW) won by forfeit195 - Austin Rudolph (NL) major dec. Sam Day, 10-1220 - Micah Marasshak (NW) won by forfeit285 - Jason Schaffer (NL) injury def. Jason Lin, 2:10106 - Preston Bauer (NL) pinned Aiden Meyers in 4:57113 - Daniel Belfonti (NL) dec. Harrison Bernhard, 5-3120 - Jack Casciano (NW) pinned Brent Nierer in 1:30126 - Baily Wehr (NW) major dec. Seth Fronheiser, 9-0132 - Ezra Neff (NL) dec. Matt Peters, 2-1138 - Colin Rex (NW) pinned Tyler Hargreaves in 1:00145 - Tyler Derr (NW) pinned Dale Wanamaker in 1:52152 - Jackson Bernhard (NW) dec. Brandon Belfonti, 4-2