Midd-West High School is located in Middleburg, about two hours away from New Tripoli.

Somewhere on the drive from there to Tiger Stadium, the Mustangs lost their defense.

Northwestern Lehigh scored early and often to take a 10-3 win in the opening round of the PIAA Class 2A state tournament Tuesday night to advance to the quarterfinals.

It says something about the Tigers offense when their first three goals were scored by players who had a combined 15 goals coming into the game.

With 35:20 left in the first half, Cole Mertz put a shot on goal that goalie Derek Wert was able to block, but could not control the ball and it bounced to freshman Lyle Good, who gave Northwestern a quick 1-0 lead.

Logan Mesics thought he had a goal, but his header went off the crossbar for Caelan Stangil, who played it to John Kelley who put the shot past Wert for his third goal of the season.

Finally, Cole Mertz took a free kick and played it beautifully to Egan Boyle in front of the net for the third goal of the night for the Tigers.

“They were playing a high line, and we were able to get some great through balls. We got them early in the first half, and then we picked up the pace and continued to build our lead in the second half,” said Kelley.

Stangil and Mesics perfectly executed a two-on-one play late in the first half that had Wert twisted in every direction imaginable.

Mesics came down the right side and flipped a pass by a defender and over to the left side for Mertz who quickly returned the ball, and Mesics put a shot to the far side of the goal leaving Wert on his back.

Midd-West did get a first-half goal off of a corner kick from Evan Devine that Abram Sellers was able to convert into a goal and at halftime, the Tigers were up 4-1.

The second half turned into a blur for Midd-West.

Mertz and Mesics both added two more goals to their scoring column, and Stangil added another goal and two assists to his resume.

Logan Shurr teamed up with fellow sophomore Weston Killar to close out the scoring when he was able to head a ball past Wert to cap the Northwestern scoring and make it 10-2 with 17:56 left.

“It was a free kick, and I just saw Weston (Killar) flick it on, so I had to go up and get it, and I was able to get there and head it for the goal,” said Shurr, whose tally was his second of the season.

Midd-West got a second goal off a corner, and Devine added a late goal on a shot that goalie Dean Carl got his hands on, but the ball went off his fingertips and just under the crossbar that made it 10-3.

“It was awesome to see our entire team come to fruition. Our first three goals were kids who aren’t in the big three who normally crack the scoreboard, so when you’re getting contributions from those guys, we knew it was a matter of time until some of the others started to fire on all cylinders,” said Tiger head coach Nate Hunsicker.

“I know I’m scoreboard watching, and when you see another team put up a 10 spot against a team in the state tournament, you know they’re for real, so it does send a bit of a message. At the end of the day though, you have to show up and put in a full 80 minutes because the previous game doesn’t matter then.”

YOU’VE GOT TO HAVE FAITH … Next up is the District 1 champion Faith Christian (19-1-1). Faith defeated Lancaster Catholic 1-0 in double overtime in a first-round game to advance to the quarterfinals. The game will be played on Saturday, but the place and time have not yet been announced.

Northwestern 10, Midd-West 3

Midd-West 1 2 - 3

Northwestern 4 6 - 10

Goals: Midd-West - A. Sellers 1, J. Sellers 1, Devine 1; Northwestern - Mertz 2, Mesics 2, Stangil 2, Good 1, Kelley 1, Boyle 1, Shurr 1; Saves: Midd-West - Wert 4; Northwestern - Carl 2.

Records: Midd-West (17-4-1); Northwestern (24-1).