Seniors Taylor Wikert and Andrew Sabo have seen a lot of success on the football field and are hoping to transition that to the lacrosse field. Last year’s Northwestern varsity boys lacrosse team went 5-12 in its third season in existence.

This year’s players and head coach Marcus Janda both believe bigger and better things are possible this season.

Wikert and Sabo will be the key cogs for this year’s team and Janda is relying on them to help younger players adjust to the varsity game and help keep the team headed in the right direction.

“They are the kind of players that coaches dream about,” said Janda. “These guys are tremendous teammates, tremendous leaders and it has been great because I have been able to watch them develop since they were underclassmen and develop not just in lacrosse, but in football in the fall, too.”

The physicality of football translates well to lacrosse. Owen Coffield is one of the seniors from last year’s team that graduated, and he was known for being tough on both fields.

“For me, the running back-and-forth is very similar to football and the pace of play is similar,” said Sabo. “I think that lacrosse helps me a lot with my footwork on defense and getting in position to guard a guy.”

Moravian Academy and Southern Lehigh have been a thorn in the side of the program and Northwestern Lehigh has yet to beat either school in lacrosse. This season, the players have marked those games on the schedule to get wins against them and help lead a charge that they hope will end in districts.

“We played Moravian pretty close last season, we lost a tough one on their turf last year in overtime,” said Wikert, who will attend Lancaster Bible College in the fall. “

The Colonial League does not have a league setup for lacrosse because it is short one team for the league to officially sanction a league with playoffs and league championships. Bangor has a youth program up and running and could go live with a lacrosse program soon and with the Bucks County area being a hotbed for lacrosse in the area, Palisades is a likely option for a school to pick up the sport.

“I think it will be great when there is Colonial League lacrosse,” said Janda, who played the sport at Parkland High School. “It just gives the kids that extra level of competition and another goal to shoot for during the season. I certainly hope that when there is a league set up that we will get the better of the competition and be at the top like Northwestern Lehigh is in a lot of sports.”

Without a league tournament, the focus is entirely on getting to districts for the first time in the history of the program.

“I certainly am looking forward to it,” said Sabo of playing in districts. “I think it’s always a great experience and it would be a nice achievement for us as a program to get there and kind of let everybody know that we are turning the corner.”