CATASAUQUA — Offense, check. Defense, check. Unsung hero, check.

Northwestern Lehigh won its fourth straight Colonial League soccer championship at Catasauqua’s Alumni Field on Saturday. It is also the Tigers’ fifth in the past six seasons.

This one came in a 2-1 win over Southern Lehigh, who were the last team besides Northwestern to get a league title.

The offense was driven by senior Cole Mertz, who scored both of Northwestern’s goals.

It took the first 30 minutes for either team to find the net, but Mertz capitalized on a miscommunication in the backfield to get his 47th goal of the season and 115th of his career to give the Tigers a 1-0 lead.

Later in the half, Mertz found himself with an open look from the left flank and put a shot past goalie Everett Arellano and Northwestern took a 2-0 lead into halftime.

“Someone found me outside and got the ball to me and when I looked, I was one-on-one with a defender, did a little step-over to work past him and then just took the shot,” said Mertz of the insurance goal that came in handy later in the game.

Just under 15 minutes into the second half, Mertz looked for his third of the game when he was 20 yards out to the left of the goal and put his shot off of the post to Arellano’s left.

Just four minutes after that, it was Southern Lehigh putting pressure on Northwestern goalie Dean Carl.

As the Spartans played the ball into the box, the Tigers were called for a foul that gave Kai Sarko a penalty kick against Carl. As Sarko approached the ball, Carl moved to his right and dove, but the ball went off his fingertips and stayed just inside the post to make it a 2-1 game with 21:30 left in regulation.

At that point, Southern Lehigh rode the momentum of the goal to keep pressure on the Northwestern defense. The Spartans would have tied the game if not for the anticipation of junior Logan Shurr.

As Vasilis Tantaros drove toward the goal, Carl came out to cut down the angle and blocked Tantaros’ shot only to have it sail directly toward the net. Shurr had moved in behind Carl from the other side of the goal and had to make a quick move back to his right to knock the ball down with his leg and then clear it before it went into the net.

“They played a really nice ball over the top and there was a man (Tantaros) who snuck behind the defense, and I saw Dean come out,” recalled Shurr after the game. “It was just a split second decision, and I was able to be there to save a goal.”

Carl was his usual strong self in goal and was credited with four saves. The Northwestern defense has allowed just 27 goals in 19 games this year with six shutouts.

“We always stress communication back there and that’s important for us to stay successful,” said Shurr of the cohesiveness of the defense.

The Northwestern seniors have a Colonial League championship for each of their seasons and the team has won five of the last six league titles.

The only other team to interrupt their championship run was Southern Lehigh, who won the title in 2022. Of course, that season Northwestern Lehigh won the state championship and then repeated in 2024.

“Winning never gets old and each year it’s different faces and different places, so it’s exciting,” said coach Nate Hunsicker. “Hats off to our seniors to do this four years in a row, and then for our new players, it’s exciting to get gold in their first year.”

WE’LL BE WAITING … Ninth-seed Tamaqua and eighth-seed Salisbury will meet in a District 11 2A first round game tonight with the winner advancing to the district quarterfinals. The bad news though is that the winner will then face Northwestern Lehigh at Tiger Stadium Wednesday night. Northwestern finished the regular season as the 2A top seed and clinched that spot by virtue of winning the Colonial League championship. The Tigers did not play Tamaqua during the regular season, but they defeated Salisbury 5-2 and then downed the Falcons 6-1 in the Colonial League quarterfinals.

Northwestern 2, So. Lehigh 1

Southern Lehigh 0 1 - 1

Northwestern 2 0 - 2

Goals: Southern Lehigh - Sarko 1; Northwestern - Mertz 2; Saves: Southern Lehigh - E. Arellano 5; Northwestern - Carl 4.

Records: Southern Lehigh (12-5-4); Northwestern Lehigh (18-1-2).