Devon Hildebrand scored from close range, and he scored from long range. He scored from the left, the right, and center.

Hildebrand was the go-to guy Wednesday night as he scored nine goals in Northwestern’s 21-7 non-league victory over Pleasant Valley.

It was the second time in three games that the Tigers put up 21 goals in a game.

“Actually, I feel like our offense is just starting to mesh well,” said Hildebrand, who is a senior midfielder for the Tigers. “That first half was nothing for us to hang our hat on. It just wasn’t a very good half by us. In the second half we turned it up. I’m really proud of our guys.”

Northwestern led 8-5 at halftime behind four Hildebrand goals. Freshman Mike Lagowy added two goals for the Tigers, while classmate Tyler Kaas and sophomore Braxton Lakatosh both added first-half goals.

The Bears were able to stay close in the opening half as Zane Kromer scored twice in the first quarter and then added a third goal before halftime. Nicholas Iandoli scored the first goal of the night for Pleasant Valley, which grabbed an early 2-1 lead. Chris Ward got a goal in the final minute of the first half for the Bears to keep them within striking distance.

“I feel like we were rushing it a lot in the first half and trying to push transition, and our passing wasn’t very good,” said Hildebrand. “In the second half we took a step back, surveyed the field, and played a more under control style of lacrosse.”

Hildebrand opened the scoring in the second half, and scored four more times in the third quarter before adding one final tally in the fourth quarter. Stone Sosnovik finished with four goals for the Tigers, while Kaas and Lagowy had three goals each. Josh Wambold and Lakatosh added one goal each.

“We have to come out faster. It seems we come out flat, and today was a good representation of that. We just didn’t score enough in that first half, and we just weren’t running a settled offense like we did in the second half,” said Northwestern senior attacker Blaine Snyder.

HELPERS ... In addition to their goals, Hildebrand and Kaas both had three assists for Northwestern. Snyder and Wambold had two assists each.

BEARS’ HIGHLIGHT ... Kromer finished with four goals for Pleasant Valley (0-4).

LETS GET PHYSICAL ... The style of play became more physical late in the first half, and a series of hard hits on the sideline led to three penalties and one Pleasant Valley ejection.

MILESTONE … Snyder scored the 100th goal of his career earlier in the season. “It feels great, and it was good to get it over with early in the season, so that’s not hanging around,” said Snyder.

SAVE THE DATE … The Tigers (3-0) will face Allentown Central Catholic in a rematch of the last two District 11 2A finals next week. The game will be played on Wednesday at Salisbury High School. It will also mark the toughest test of the season for Northwestern, who has played three games against opponents with a combined 0-9 record, and face a 1-2 Nazareth team tomorrow.