Northwestern senior center back Jonathan Blaine got plenty of opportunities to produce on penalty kicks while playing for his club team when he was growing up.

All of that experience dealing with pressure came into play in Northwestern's 2-1 overtime win over Palisades in Tuesday's Colonial League semifinals at Northern Lehigh's Bulldog Stadium."Because I play center back, I don't really score that often," Blaine said. "It is kind of new territory for me, but it feels great to be able to help the team out in any way I can."In fact, Blaine recorded both of the top-seeded Tigers' goals in the victory to upend the fourth-seeded, upset-minded Pirates."Palisades played a great game. They have a few really skilled players, and they play a strong physical game and are aggressive throughout," said Northwestern coach Nate Hunsicker. "Hats off to them because they made us play their style of game."After a scoreless first half that saw both sides come up empty on several advances, the winners struck first when one of the Tigers was tripped up inside the box, yielding the PK for Blaine."Growing up, I took a lot of penalty kicks for my club team, so I kind of do that still," he said. "The last few that I've taken, I've been able to put them away, so it's confidence. I love that stage."Ten minutes after the Tigers took their 1-0 lead, Palisades senior Bobby McClintock belted a high shot from about the 55 that Colonial League All-Star First Team goalkeeper Kyle Bellhorn had difficulty with. The lofty boot escalated just out of Bellhorn's reach and hit twine to knot the score at 1-1 with 19:41 remaining in regulation."Palisades is always fantastic," Bellhorn admitted afterward. "It's never a blowout when we play them, and they're so physical and always a threat whether they're 60 yards out or six yards out."In the remaining minutes of regulation, both sides challenged their opponents' defenses, with several shots just missing their mark.In overtime, the Tigers maneuvered the possession downfield and drew a corner kick from sophomore Caleb Danner. The feed soared perfectly past Palisades' keeper Dylan Buccigrossi, where Blaine awaited the pass and headed it into the net for the game-winner."I thought both teams played a good, clean game and both sides played well," Palisades head coach Dennis Gluck said. "We got things rolling in the first half, and we had some opportunities that I think if we capitalized on, we could compete with a great team like Northwestern."I was hoping that the longer the game went, the better our chances might have been. But they managed to capitalize before we could."With the win, the Tigers (18-0-1), advance to take on Salisbury, a 3-0 winner over Saucon Valley, on Thursday night in the Championship."It was a crazy night," Hunsicker said. "Obviously, to end up in this situation (with the win), is much better than the alternative."BRING IT ON ... Northwestern's Jonathan Blaine is ready for the league finals, saying, "I want to celebrate this one tonight, tomorrow, have a tough practice and then get at it on Thursday."GIMME STATS, STAT! ... For the game, both sides finished with eight shots on goal. Bellhorn finished with seven saves and Buccigrossi stopped six. Palisades drops to 13-6 on the year and will await the start of district play.WHAT'S THE GAMEPLAN? ... "Honestly, if we can keep our composure and play the game that we know we're capable of playing, we should be all right," Bellhorn said. "We can't overthink things. We need to just keep it simple, and we should be able to compete with anybody."