ALLENTOWN - Perhaps the most heartbreaking loss of the season for Northwestern Lehigh came against Palisades when Jacob Davis scored the game’s lone goal with under a minute to play in regulation.

When the two teams met Tuesday night in the quarterfinal round of the Colonial League playoffs, Northwestern (12-4-1) wanted to be sure that scenario wouldn’t play out again, so it scored early and often. The result was a 9-1 win at Salisbury High School to oust the Pirates from the league playoffs.

Northwestern, the No. 4 seed in the tournament, got its first goal of the night when Dylan Moss took a corner from Cayden Fitch just nine minutes into the game and beat goalkeeper Blake Reinhard to open the scoring. Minutes later, Fitch again played a corner ball into perfect position, this time for Josh Zellner, who headed the ball past Reinhard to make it 2-0 less than seven minutes into the contest.

“The last time, we didn’t really have a lot of chances to score, but we felt like we outplayed them the whole game, so it felt good personally to get that goal,” said Moss. “The first 15 minutes were very physical, and then we found our game, which is possessing the ball. Once we got that down, we had tons of chances to capitalize this time.”

The physical play led to multiple foul calls and collisions. Palisades’ Gianluca LeBlanc received a yellow card with 1:57 left in the first half as the teams took a break tied 2-0. Northwestern coach Nate Hunsicker didn’t divulge what his halftime talk was about, but whatever it was, it made an impact.

“We had a talk with coach at halftime, and we wanted more goals and more goals,” said Matt Johnson, who went on to pick up three second-half goals for the Tigers. “We needed a lot more communication, and that helped us a lot in the second half.”

Johnson and Palisades’ Seth Ford traded goals early in the second half, with Ford’s goal being somewhat controversial as Northwestern wanted a foul call on the play, but all it got for its efforts with the officials was a yellow card.

The Tigers responded with six unanswered goals in a span of just 14 minutes. In that streak, Johnson added two more scores, and Colin Coffield (who returned after missing time with an injury) notched a goal off an assist from Zellner.

Dominic Yeakel and Phil Taylor also scored goals, and just when it looked like time was going to run out, Jacob Van Lierop added another with: 10 left in the game.

The win eliminates Palisades (9-8-0), and sends Northwestern to the semifinals where it will meet top-seeded Moravian Academy (14-2-0) Thursday night at Northern Lehigh High School.

WELCOME BACK ... Coffield was not the only injured player to return in time for the postseason. Fellow midfielder Mason Brensinger also returned, giving the team the use of two key senior players in their midfield. “It was good to get them back. We haven’t had our full lineup in a while, so that will help us a lot here in the postseason,” said Hunsicker.

CROCCO-DIALED IN ... Senior goalkeeper Mason Crocco seemed determined not to allow any goals in the game, making several diving and leaping saves throughout the night. Fords’ goal was controversial, which only made Crocco more determined to not allow any others.

CORNER MAN ... Hunsicker gave credit to coach Derrick Reinert for dialing up big plays on corners that resulted in two goals for Northwestern. The team’s first two goals came off corners where Reinert set the play. The Tigers almost had a third, but it went just over the crossbar.