MECHANICSBURG - When Lancaster Catholic scored to bring the state title game to a 1-1 tie, it wasn’t the first time all season that the Northwestern Lehigh boys soccer team faced a bit of adversity. But it was the last time.

Less than five minutes after the Crusaders knotted the score, the Tigers’ Jack Mauro scored the game-winner with 15:33 left in the game. Northwestern held on for a 2-1 win Saturday at Cumberland Valley’s Eagle View Middle School to earn this year’s PIAA Class 2A boys soccer championship.

“The resolve we showed, it’s who we are,” said Northwestern head coach Nate Hunsicker. “It’s in our DNA. We don’t quit. We come out swinging.”

Mauro’s goal came on a loose ball in front of the net.

Jake Van Lierop, Matt Johnson and Josh Zellner all worked to get the ball in the box with some nifty passing. Eventually the ball found its way to Mauro’s foot.

“It was a bouncing ball right in front of the box,” said Mauro. “It was pretty crowded in the box. People were taking whacks at it. They were trying to clear it. I just finished it. It felt great to score in a state final.”

With a swift and steady wind in the Tigers’ face for the second half, Mauro said he knew his team needed a small-ball goal. Long shots had little chance to get through.

Mauro, a sophomore center-midfielder who is listed on the roster at 5-5, 130 pounds, showed no fear in getting to the ball in a crowded area.

“Jack just works his tail off box to box,” said Hunsicker. “He’ll go up against a guy twice his size and get the ball off of him like it’s no big deal. And he’s so quick when he turns and counters and we’re working back up the pitch. He’s just magical with the ball.”

Mauro was one of two sophomores to score in the state title game. Jake Van Lierop - who has scored two game-winning goals in the postseason and had a victory-clinching penalty kick in the state semifinals - put the Tigers ahead 1-0 with 18:56 to go in the first half of the state title game.

Matt Johnson dribbled down the middle of the field with one defender in front of him. He slid a pass to Van Lierop, who was making a run down the right side and curling in toward the goal. Van Lierop had only goalkeeper Nate Hummer to beat. He shot the ball low to the far post. Hummer tried to make the diving stop, but had little chance to get a glove on it.

Northwestern dominated possession in the first half, but Van Lierop’s goal was the only one on the scoreboard at halftime. With the wind at their back for the game’s first 40 minutes, the Tigers had hoped to get another one or two past Hummer before switching sides of the field.

“It was frustrating in the first half,” said Hunsicker. “We thought maybe we should have been up two or three to nothing at halftime. We were knocking at the door. We thought we defended pretty well in the first half. Second half we even had a couple chances early on, then we just hit a lull from the 20-to-30 minute mark.”

That lull resulted in Stephen Scott’s goal with 20:12 left in the game.

“We were just kind going into survival mode and defending,” said Hunsicker. “It was a matter of time. Their top three on their front line boasted a really strong attack.”

That goal woke up the Tigers, just as a loss in the league semifinal had done nearly a month ago when Southern Lehigh ruined Northwestern’s chances at an unbeaten season. The Tigers followed that loss with a run to the state title.

Mauro put his team ahead less than five minutes later, and the Tiger defense, which has been formidable all season, made sure the one-goal lead held up.

“I thought as a team we defended pretty well today,” said Hunsicker. “But our back three in particular stepped (up) and put up the right amount of pressure to give them the opportunity to get those opportunities off.”

In his 11 seasons as head coach, Hunsicker has hung a lot of medals on many of his players’ necks. But draping that state gold on his team - and having Northwestern Athletic Director Jason Zimmerman slip one on Hunsicker - felt even better than all those others than came before.

“It felt way different,” he said. “To win a league and district championship is so special, and that’s always our goal going into a season. But to get a state championship, it’s unfathomable. It’s just a whole other level of success.”

Hunsicker’s teams had made deep runs in the tournament in the past and twice played for the gold medal. Unlike their last two appearances in the state final, this season the Tigers went into the game feeling like the favorite.

In 2016 and 2017, Northwestern met up with a powerhouse of a team in the finals, and went home with silver medals both years.

“We knew the two years when we were going up against Lower Dauphin they were a really strong side and we had quite the uphill climb to defeat them,” said Northwestern head coach Nate Hunsicker. “We came in today knowing this was a winnable game, but we had to play well and we had to execute. I thought for the most part we did. It was just awesome.”

The Tigers have won five league crowns and six district titles over the past seven years. This year’s team was one of its deepest, and most talented.

That was obvious the past few months as they went 18-0 in the regular season. A stumble in the Colonial League Championship game ended Northwestern’s hopes of a perfect season. At the same time, it might have helped the team refocus heading into the win-or-go-home postseason.

After its lone loss of the season, Northwestern kept winning and sent a lot of teams home.

“We played well all year, then the league final when we lost it woke us up,” said sophomore central defender Nate Kinzell. “It sparked a fire, and that helped us throughout the entire postseason.

“It was really beneficial. We would probably still be here (in the state title game), but it was really beneficial to take that loss and know what adversity felt like.”

Hunsicker - who crossed the 200-win milestone as coach this season - knew he had the kind of team that could make a run to the state title, as the Tigers are strong up and down the roster.

“The group of kids we had this year was 100 percent the right group to get the job done,” said Hunsicker. “From senior leadership to freshmen and sophomores stepping up and playing big roles for us and doing it at a very high level on the biggest stage is just a testament to the culture that we have.

“Going forward, we’re looking to hopefully be back here again next year. We bring back a strong core, and we’ve got some good eighth-graders coming up next year.”

Northwestern’s senior group served as the strong returning core this fall. Cayden Fitch and Josh Zellner both have been part of the starting lineup most of their high school careers. Goalkeeper Damian Krapf was one of the best in the area this fall, and classmates Dartanyon DeLillo, Zachary Grohotolski and Jaylen Lowthert will all be missed next season. More importantly, they’ll always be remembered as part of the program’s first state title.

More than half-a-dozen starters will return next year. Expectations will be exponential for the next few years.

Both goal scorers in the state championship were sophomores. The team’s leading goal scorer, junior Matt Johnson, will also be back next season, along with the starting back line of Kinzell, junior Nick Krum and freshman Caelin Stangil.

“The bar should be set high,” said Kinzell. “We should be good coming up. I’m looking forward to it.”