ALLENTOWN – Northwestern Lehigh’s superbly oiled soccer machine doesn’t have many question marks.

When facing the Tigers, it’s usually the other guys that need to come up with answers.

For the fourth straight season, the Tigers are headed to the Colonial League championship after dispatching an upstart Southern Lehigh 3-0 Monday evening on the turf of Salisbury High School.

The next opponent on the horizon is Moravian Academ, which downed Saucon Valley 3-2 in the opening game of the semifinal doubleheader.

Spurred on by Jacob Sacco, who used a late first-half goal to snap a scoreless contest, the Tigers would dominate play with gusto in the second half, getting another score by Sacco and one from Caleb Dannar to pull away.

“It took us a little bit to get our feet, but once we started rolling, we got our possession game working,” explained veteran Northwestern coach Nate Hunsicker.

Sacco’s first score didn’t come until just 4:20 remained in the opening half off a corner kick.

The Tigers did have a golden opportunity earlier, but an offside call killed off the potential rally, forcing the Tigers to settle for a 1-0 lead at half.

With Southern Lehigh hanging around through the first 40 minutes, Hunsicker felt the second half was huge.

“I thought we played a pretty flawless second half, we started to fly on all cylinders,” noted the successful coach, who has built the program into state notoriety with two straight trips to the finals in Hershey. “We played really well in that second half.”

Almost to perfection.

Danner gave the Tigers some breathing room with 29:50 remaining when the senior defender booted in his team’s second score. And when Sacco kicked in the next score for the Tigers at the 23:13 mark, it was curtains for the Spartans (11-5-1, 8-3-1).

“(We were) just a little bit off, but I don’t know exactly what it was,” said Hunsicker of the lethargic play for the better part of the first half. “We just weren’t able to find our game for the first 20 minutes.”

To be sure, Hunsicker felt that his team capitalized on the momentum which got started with Sacco’s late first-half goal. “Once we got the positive energy flowing, we were able to take advantage of that, and it was a big boost for us.”

The win vaults the defending league champions back into the title game as they improve to 13-0 in the league and 17-1-1 overall. “We need to get that intensity earlier,” said Hunsicker. “But we’re excited to be back playing for another league championship.”

IMPRESSIVE … Northwestern Lehigh will be working on four straight league titles and a fourth-straight District 11 championship when that tournament rolls around next week. The Tigers will also be shooting for their third straight appearance in the state finals.

NUMBERS … Northwestern Lehigh had the advantage in just about all phases of the game, including a 6-1 edge in shots-on-goal, and a 5-1 advantage in corners. Zachary Rosamalia was the winning goalkeeper

HIGH PRAISE … Hunsicker had praise for Sacco’s leadership. He also praised the bench play, which featured Danner on the outside, Zach Creighton up top, and Michael Rebert and Luke Taylor, saying they played phenomenal games.