Palmerton scored from in close and from far away, while also maintaining a stifling defense in a 4-1 Colonial League victory over Northern Lehigh on Wednesday night.

The win keeps Palmerton in line for the league’s regular-season title - and the No. 1 seed in the upcoming CL playoffs.

The Blue Bombers are 10-1 in league play, while Northwestern closed out its league schedule with a 10-1-1 record. Southern Lehigh has a mark of 9-1-1.

A win over Pen Argyl (3-8) on Tuesday would give Palmerton the regular-season crown.

The Colonial League playoffs are scheduled to begin with quarterfinal games on Thursday, Oct. 13. The semifinals are slated for Monday, Oct. 17.

With the postseason nearing, Bomber head coach David O’Brien considered his team’s performance “very encouraging.”

“Northern Lehigh’s a great team,” said O’Brien. “It’s always a good game when we play together, so to get a really good win like that going into the playoffs is good.”

Palmerton ran onto the field poised for action, taking a quick 1-0 lead just 5 1/2 minutes into the game on an undefendable strike by Nataly Walters. Walters moved the ball to just left of the net, and then unleashed a slant kick that was untouched by the goalkeeper.

At the 15:39 mark, the Bombers struck again when Emma Martinez scored with Beth Morgan getting an assist. Morgan was on the left sideline and passed to Martinez, who was standing inches away from the left post. She quickly smacked the ball into the netting to give her team a 2-0 advantage.

An amazing play by Northern Lehigh two minutes later showed the Bulldogs to be persistent.

Mikayla Gordon scored on a corner play after sophomore Katelynn Barthold hit the corner shot directly to her. Gordon was amidst a crowd of teammates at the goal, and instantly knocked the ball between the posts.

Palmerton, however, got its second goal when Cora Wentz came off the bench and targeted it perfectly.

Then came an unbelievable strike by Sam Perloni, which put the game away. Perloni was alone on the 45-yard line when she booted the ball straight ahead. It took one bounce at about the five and then soared over the goalie’s head.

“That was fantastic,” O’Brien said of Perloni’s shot. “She gets a couple of those a year.”

Although four different players posted goals for Palmerton, there’s little question the Bombers solid defense was a major contributing factor. Especially in the second half, as defenders swarmed the goal area whenever Northern Lehigh got close to the keeper.

“Our defense has been really sound this year,” O’Brien said. “And we had some young players back there that have really come on. They stay organized, and they play together really well. We score some goals but really, it’s been the defense that’s been our driving force.

“The offense put it together at the end. Beth Morgan’s again, you know, our linchpin in the middle, and Nataly Walters up front, our guard in the middle, gave us some really good chances.”

Northern Lehigh had some letdowns in the contest, which cost the team dearly.

“We killed ourselves with mental mistakes,” said Bulldog mentor Jason Reinhard. “The goals that they scored, they were due to our mental breakdowns. And you can’t have mental breakdowns against a good team. We knew that coming in.”

WHAT’S NEXT ... Palmerton takes on Notre Dame on Saturday, before playing its final league contest Tuesday against Pen Argyl. Northern Lehigh, which ended league play at 6-6, hosts Jim Thorpe today in its regular-season finale. The Bombers (13-2 overall) are currently second in the district Class 2A rankings, one spot behind Central Catholic. The Bulldogs (10-7) are fifth in Class 1A.

SOME STATS ... Palmerton had 11 shots on goal with seven of them defended. Northern Lehigh had nine shots on goal with eight defended. There were two corners for each team during the game.