Marcus Janda is generally an easy going sort of coach. One thing is for sure in that he holds his players accountable and lets them know he expects maximum effort.

Coming off last year’s district championship, Janda told his players to get over it because this year’s players had to go out and prove themselves all over again, emphasizing that nobody was going to step aside and let them repeat.

On Monday, Janda was able to show his players just what he was talking about when Allentown Central Catholic, the team Northwestern defeated in the district final last season, rolled the Tigers in what Janda called an embarrassing 20-6 loss.

“What I saw was that one team today had been thinking about this game all offseason and the other team thought they could just show up and play and they absolutely destroyed us,” he said. “They beat us in every aspect of the game, every 50-50 opportunity went their way and it’s because they were hungrier, they were faster, they were meaner and were everything that we weren’t. That team absolutely deserved the win tonight.”

Coming into the game against the Vikings, Northwestern (6-3) had allowed 40 goals in seven games before allowing 20 against Central Catholic (5-4). The offense, which averaged a little over 11 goals per game coming into the week, was able to get just six goals.

“If you’re a winning program you have to have the mentality that teams are going to put a target on your back and they’re going to give you their best shot,” said Janda. “If you’re not up to the task, you’re going to get caught and we ran into a really talented team. But it wasn’t just that they were more talented. They wanted it more.”

The Tigers had little time to sulk over the loss since the schedule had Northwestern back on the field the next day against Nazareth (7-2).

Blaine Snyder led the offense with three goals and two assists as Northwestern picked up a 7-6 win over the Blue Eagles. Freshmen Michael Lagowy and Tyler Kaas both had two goals and Stone Sosnovik added one for the Tigers. Bailen Smargiassi had 12 saves in the win.

The loss to the Vikings cut into Northwestern’s lead in the District 11 2A rankings as teams jockey for district playoff spots and for seeding in the district tournament.

The next three games are against teams also jockeying for position in the 3A rankings and for EPC playoff spots. First up is Parkland, followed by Easton and Freedom. All three teams are 7-3 on the season and combined with Nazareth make up the top four teams in the EPC this season.