Players from North Schuylkill and Schuylkill Haven stand at midfield prior to Tuesday's semifinal at Blue Mountain's Eagles' Nest. The Spartans won 3-1 to advance to their first-ever Schuylkill League soccer title match (Photo by NS Athletics).

ORWIGSBURG — The old guard will face the up-and-coming newcomers in Thursday’s Schuylkill League girls’ soccer championship.

Defending champion Blue Mountain and North Schuylkill will square off for the league title after each scored victories in a semifinal doubleheader Tuesday at Blue Mountain’s Eagles’ Nest.

North Schuylkill won the opener of the twinbill, beating Division II champion Schuylkill Haven 3-1 to advance to the league final for the first time in school history. Blue Mountain followed with a 2-0 win over Division I champion Pottsville. The Spartans and Eagles will meet at 7 p.m. Thursday for the title.

Game 1 of Tuesday’s semifinal doubleheader featured four of the league’s top 10 goal scorers. A back-and-forth game in beginning, North Schuylkill (16-4) opened the scoring 23 minutes in with Mia McDonald slotting home the game’s opening tally off a pass from Jillian Murray.

Schuylkill Haven (15-3-1) looked to equalize in the dying seconds of the first half after a shot from Taylor Haag was parried away by North Schuylkill goalkeeper Madelyn Moyer.

The Spartans added to the tally in the second half after Addie Urban’s corner kick found Lilah Helwig for the game’s second score.

Both teams pressed on, but North Schuylkill put the game away shortly afterward with an unassisted goal from McDonald.

Haag gave Schuylkill Haven hope with a brilliant free kick from 20 yards out that sailed over Moyer’s head with 20 minutes left in the contest to make it 3-1.

Haven had chances to equalize but could not find the back of the net as Moyer stood tall to preserve the win for the Spartans.

North Schuylkill Clint Warner had nothing but praise for his team answering the call to supplement Helwig’s sensational rookie campaign.

“We needed more scoring from other players,” Warner said. “Everybody knows Lilah and she can score under tough situations but I needed other players to step up. The team as a whole is playing some good soccer right now and were definitely on a roll.”

The second game of the doubleheader featured two teams that are all too familiar with one another as Division I champion Pottsville (13-5-1) faced off against Division I third seed Blue Mountain (14-6) in this season’s bonus installment of the “Clash of 61.”

Pottsville got the better of Blue Mountain during the regular season, as the Crimson Tide defeated the Eagles 2-0 and 2-1.

The Eagles came out looking to avenge their regular season dread in hopes of securing another berth in the Schuylkill League final.

A chippy affair saw both teams battle to a scoreless first 20-minute frame. With 22:30 into the first half Blue Mountain’s Addyson Fishburn, a defender by trade, ripped a shot from 25 yards out that went over Pottsville goalkeeper Aubrey Scanlan’s head for the game’s first score.

“Just incredible!” Blue Mountain coach Matt Kenitzer said of Fishburn’s goal. “The heart that she has in every game just working and working and her just taking a shot from outside and going in just energized our team even more.”

Pottsville looked to respond quickly thereafter but Blue Mountain keeper Makayla Keck made a diving save of a rocket of a shot from the Tide.

The second half saw a wild sequence with about 17 minutes left to play. Pottsville earned a corner kick that was whipped in by Cami Quirin-Morris. The ball was batted off the line and gave a free kick to Blue Mountain.

With 6:42 left in the game Lexi Waschko gave Blue Mountain a key insurance goal when she fired a shot past Scanlan. Blue Mountain’s defense stayed strong, despite Pottsville throwing the kitchen sink in its direction.

Kenitzer said adjustments his squad made after seeing the Tide during the regular season paid off in Tuesday’s semifinal.

“We just adjusted a couple things and had some ups and downs after that,” Kenitzer said. “But we’ve just been fine tuning it and the work ethic had been tremendous.”

The victories by Blue Mountain and North Schuylkill mark the first time that a division champion didn’t reach the league title game. While it will be North Schuylkill’s first championship game appearance, the Eagles will be making their 12th title game appearance, winning eight titles (2023, ’18, ’17, ’15, ’13, ’12, ’11, ’10).

The teams split during the regular season, with Blue Mountain winning 1-0 on Aug. 27 and the Spartans taking a 5-4 decision on Sept. 19.

Schuylkill League Girls’ Soccer Playoffs

At Blue Mountain

Saturday’s quarterfinals

North Schuylkill 3, Williams Valley 1

Blue Mountain 7, Tri-Valley 1

Tuesday’s semifinals

North Schuylkill 3, Schuylkill Haven 1

Blue Mountain 2, Pottsville 0

Thursday’s Championship

North Schuylkill (16-4) vs. Blue Mountain (14-6), 7 p.m.

Game Summaries

Schuylkill League Girls’ Soccer Semifinals

Game 1

North Schuylkill (16-4)                   1       2      —      3

Schuylkill Haven (15-3-1)              0        1       —   1

NS – McDonald (Murray), 21:50

NS – Helwig (Urban), 51:30

NS – McDonald, 53:53

SH – Haag, 56:25

Shots on goal: North Schuylkill 7, Schuylkill Haven 5. Saves: North Schuylkill (Moyer) 4, Schuylkill Haven (Domermuth) 5

Game 2

Blue Mountain (14-6)           1        1        —      2   

Pottsville (13-5-1)                 0        0          —    0 

BM – Fishburn (Scheuer), 22:30

BM – Waschko, 73:18
Shots on goal: Blue Mountain 8, Pottsville 8. Corner kicks: Pottsville 4, Blue Mountain 1. Saves: Blue Mountain (Keck) 8, Pottsville (Scanlan) 6