Title Town.

It’s a phrase that’s been thrown around a lot lately about New Tripoli, and for good reason.

That’s because the Northwestern Lehigh High School fall teams again made the start of the school year a mess for opposing schools both near and far.

The story of the Northwestern Lehigh fall sports season has not been fully written. The football team still needs two wins to finish as state champions, so the official end may not come until the first weekend in December.

The Tigers of the gridiron are 14-0, and set to face Danville in the semifinals Friday night at Berwick High School. In their two PIAA games this season, the Tigers have outscored Conwell Egan and Scranton Prep by a combined score of 81-7, and picked up the first shutout win for Northwestern in a playoff game in 21 seasons.

Individually, running back Eli Zimmerman and quarterback Shane Leh continue to close in on individual records. Zimmerman is closing in on the school’s records for rushing yardage and rushing touchdowns in a season as a senior. Meanwhile, Leh is still a junior and has two of the top five passing yardage totals for a season in school history.

If Northwestern wins the final two games, it will become the third Northwestern Lehigh team this fall to win a state championship and do it with an undefeated season. The boys’ and girls’ soccer teams both completed that task in Mid-November when they both celebrated championships at Eagle View Middle School in Mechanicsburg.

“I know I have been following the other teams, and I was at the football game last night (Nov. 15 against Conwell Egan) and it was amazing,” said senior Nate Kinzel of the state champion boys’ soccer team. “It’s so perfect that we are all going for state championships and all have perfect records. We’re all rooting for each other and come out to games when we can.”

If Zimmerman and Leh are the names to remember for football, then Jake van Lierop is absolutely the name to know in soccer. The senior set school records for goals in a season (74) and goals in a career (105) as he assembled a year for the ages that helped the boys’ team to its second state championship in three seasons and a 28-0-0 record.

The girls’ team will lose just four seniors from this year’s roster, and figures to be powerful again in 2025. For now though, they are enjoying their perfect 28-0-0 season, as well as the sparkle of their gold medals from the program’s first state championship.

The Lady Tigers had four players score at least 20 goals and dish off at least 20 assists this season. Senior Paige Bissell scored 35 goals, including the only two goals Northwestern registered in the PIAA championship game when it defeated Cathedral Prep 2-1 in double overtime.

“It’s great to win a state championship and finish with a perfect record, and then you also get to follow the boys’ team and the football team and we’re all sort of in this together,” said senior soccer player Brook Balliet of the winning atmosphere at Northwestern Lehigh.

Field hockey also qualified for states with a 20-4-0 record, and championships in both the Colonial League and District 11. In all, four teams – football, boys’ soccer, girls’ soccer, and field hockey – picked up district championships this fall.

The young volleyball team qualified for districts and won one match before falling to Allentown Central Catholic, who were coming off an East Penn Conference championship and wound up as the district runner-up this season.

The Tigers had three of the top six finishers at this year’s District 11 girls Class 2A golf championships, as junior Gracie Scheffler qualified for states with a third-place finish at districts.

The cross country team had a pair of seniors finish with spots in the state championship meet at Hershey. Senior Sophia Cornell made her third trip to states after picking up a District 11 medal for eighth place in the district competition. Another senior cross country runner, Xander Giandomenico, competed in his first state competition by finishing 11th at districts, just shy of earning a district medal.

And while Northwestern doesn’t have a tennis team, it does have a tennis player who also had a big fall season. Mallory Connor finished second in the 2A district singles championship playing as an independent, and will return for her senior season looking to take a further step in the postseason.

“It’s phenomenal when the kids all come together for each other, and are all cheering each other on and talking about how great the other teams are doing,” said boys’ soccer coach Nate Hunsicker. “There’s a lot of support among the students and from the community. People who don’t even have kids on the soccer team are talking about it and even coming out to games sometimes. It’s fantastic.”

What makes things even more storybook is that both of Northwestern’s varsity soccer coaches, along with head football coach Josh Snyder, are all Northwestern graduates and former Tiger athletes.