Wren demanded that they stay focused until the final whistle. He told them to go out and execute what they had worked on in practice.

Check and checkmate.

Northwestern, ranked No. 2 in the state, beat No. 7 Lexington 3-0. The Trojans got their second straight shutout and have outscored the opposition 13-0. And they've done it just like Wren drew it on the board.

"I'm very proud of the way our kids executed our game plan," Wren said. "They had a foot in every play. We were ready on every pass, no matter which team had the ball. And we did a good job clearing the ball and playing assured.

"We prepared for Lexington as hard as we've prepared for anybody. They have a quality team and we knew they would come in and battle us."

That's a lot of soccer talk for the average fan, but it was easy to understand after watching the Trojans play. They smother every loose ball, attacking it the way a colony of ants goes after a sticky piece of hard candy.

The Trojans completely disrupted the Wildcats' offensive efforts, holding them to just four shots on goal, same as they did against Hillcrest in their 10-0 victory on Tuesday.

The leader of the pack was Robbie Benson, who at times looked like twins because he was all over the field. He and his mates pushed Lexington away from Northwestern's goal and fought off any thoughts the Wildcats had of an assault on the Trojans' net.

"We came out and immediately put pressure on them," Benson said. "We flew to the ball to keep them from getting anything started.

"This was an important win, but all of them are in the playoffs. You have to win because if you don't, your season ends.''

Northwestern moved to 20-2 and goes on the road to play Dorman, a 1-0 winner over T.L. Hanna, on Saturday night. Northwestern athletics director Bill Warren said a time will be set today. The Trojans have to win two more games to get back to the championship for the fifth time in six years. They are 1-3 in the title match.

Lexington ended its season with a 15-9 record.

The Trojans got the only goal they needed just under six minutes into the game. Enzo Martinez controlled the ball on the left side of the goal and fired a pass to Jeremy Dobbins, who kicked it past Lexington goalie Tanner Osborne into the net.

With 6:04 left in the half, Martinez picked off a loose ball and passed it to Ricardo Garbanzo, who found himself in front of the goal in a one-on-one situation with Osborne. He gave Osborne a little fake before blasting the ball into the back of the net. Garbanzo's goal put the Trojans up 2-0, the score at the half.

"Getting the first goal was good because we wanted to get on the board before they did and make them play catch-up,'' Dobbins said. "We wanted to get the momentum early and put pressure on them. Once we scored, we kept up our intensity and applied the pressure.

Martinez went into the game with 138 careers goals -- 46 this season -- and needing only three to tie former Andrew Jackson star Kyle Izzard's state record of 141.

He didn't get there on this night, but cut the chase to two more goals to tie and three more to move into first place with the only scoring kick of the second half.

Martinez, who says he doesn't worry about any numbers except those on the scoreboard, was checked hard all night, drawing two Lexington defenders nearly every time he got near the ball. He took his shots, but seemed content distributing the ball to his teammates so they could shoot.

The game was mostly clean, but a hard check resulted in a foul with 20:02 left that put Martinez 19 yards from the net at the top of the box. He scored, making it 3-0, and Northwestern's defense hit another gear to assure the win.