FOUNTAIN SPRINGS — Pennsbury shocked Northwestern Lehigh when it defeated the Tigers 4-3 in the season opener and ever since then, teams have been trying to figure out how they did it.

That game was an anomaly; Northwestern came out cold and disorganized, a mistake they wouldn’t make again during the 2025 season.

Its opponents have sometimes had a speed or height advantage or tried to use brute force to beat them, and nothing worked. It turns out that combining speed, height, and a physical style of play was the recipe.

Faith Christian used those three things Saturday afternoon at North Schuylkill High School to beat the Tigers 2-1 in overtime, and eliminate Northwestern from defending its state championship from last season.

With just 1:42 left in overtime, Faith Christian put pressure on the Northwestern defense, and Yago Molero was able to sneak a pass through a group of defenders to Jude Clymer, who was able to rise up and head the ball to the back of the net for the winning goal.

“In certain positions, they were definitely bigger than us; they have some really big kids on that side,” said coach Nate Hunsicker. “On top of being big, they’re skilled, and they’re athletic, so they had the total package.”

From a refereeing standpoint, the game was played in two distinct halves.

In the first half, there were very few fouls called even though the game turned physical with several blatant fouls.

Just 2:32 into the game, Cole Mertz was pulled down by a Faith Christian defender and Northwestern was awarded a free kick from just beyond the penalty box and Logan Mesics took the kick.

With goalie Joey Varano expecting a line drive, Mesics smartly kept the ball on the ground and tucked it into the right corner of the goal for a quick 1-0 lead.

Suddenly finding itself down, Faith Christian picked up its intensity, and the game became a physical battle. It also limited the opportunities for Northwestern, as its defense was challenged and had to focus more on simply clearing balls than looking to start a play from the back.

With 8:39 left in the opening half, Faith Christian was awarded a free kick and rather than look to set something up, it quickly put the ball back in play, sending it outside to Levi Clymer, who quickly fired the ball back inside to Spencer Huber. From there, Huber fired a shot to the upper left corner of the goal that goalie Dean Carl was unable to reach. The goal tied the game 1-1, and it stayed that way into halftime and through the second half.

The refs called the game much tighter in the second half, giving out three yellow cards to Faith Christian players.

With 14:21 left in regulation, Weston Killar launched a shot on goal, but it carried up and over the crossbar. Northwestern had three balls that got just over the crossbar, including one by Caelan Stangil with 9:00 left in overtime.

It appeared the Lions had a goal by Jude Clymer with 5:25 left in regulation, but it was waived off due to an offsides penalty.

The physical play continued, with Jude Clymer picking up a yellow card early on in the overtime period, but Northwestern was unable to take advantage of the penalty.

“I thought we played well enough to win; we jumped out early. We kind of fell asleep on the equalizer, and then they got a heck of a cross there to close things out,” said Hunsicker. “We had opportunities, both sides had opportunities.”

A controversial play with three seconds left in regulation could have turned the fortunes for Northwestern.

A pass came toward Mertz and it appeared that Faith Christian’s Johnny Carmona went into Mertz’ back, knocking him to the ground inside the penalty area which should have resulted in a penalty kick, but the call wasn’t made and the game went into overtime.

“I have to come back to that foul on Cole inside the box. That maybe avoids a whole lot of this, but that’s the game,” said Hunsicker.

TIME TO RELOAD … A year ago, Northwestern had to replace 100 goals that it would be losing to graduation — 74 of which came from Jake van Lierop. That makes this year’s reloading project look easy; the Tigers lose 95 goals from their seniors when graduation takes place. Among them are Mesics (49 goals) and Stangil (37), who with junior Mertz (42) formed the crux of the Tigers scoring machine. They also lose Austin Bittenbender, John Kelley, Egan Boyle and Isaiah Lynch from their staunch defensive unit.

Faith Christian 2, N’western 1

Faith Christian 1 0 1 - 2

Northwestern 1 0 0 - 1

Goals: Faith Christian - Huber 1, J. Clymer 1; Northwestern - Mesics 1; Saves: Faith Christian - Varano 2; Northwestern - Carl 7.

Records: Faith Christian (20-1-1); Northwestern (24-2).