Freeport Yellow Jackets

DELMONT - January is when we start to take a look at the playoff race and there is no question that Plum and Mt Lebanon will make the playoffs this year .....with 16 teams quaifying, why not just let the other eight in and let Connellsville travel to Erie and Woodland Hills travel to Meadville just for the hell of it and see what happens ! Now playoff positioning, thats another story and both the Mustangs and the Blue Devils are currently positioned to possibly get a second round playoff home game......and both Stu Relnick and Paul Taibi know that come March tonights game could be pivotal to where their respective teams will end up should they advance past the first round. So the game was delayed by the normal route 22 gridlock to Delmont as it took yours trully 1 1/2 from Bellevue to Center Ice [Normally 45 minutes on a non-traffic day]. Plum carried the play to the Blue Devils in the first period with an early 10-3 shot advantage. Mt Lebanon struck first on a pinpoint pass from Tony Valerino to Lebo sniper Eric Sloan who buried the shot past BJ Schreib at 5:21 to make it 1-0. The Mustangs could not beat freshman keeper Matt Vaughn as the period finished with Plum outshooting the Blue Devils 14-4. In the second, the Mustangs continued their onslaught on Vaughn outshooting Mt Lebo 14-5...but could not score on the Blue Devil goaltender. Bill Leckenby had a golden opportunity to extend the Blue Devil lead as Sloan found him alone in front but could not get the shot off. With just :02 left Schreib made a hug save on Sloan, who walked around the Plum defense and the score remained 1-0 in favor of Mt Lebanon. On to the third and Mt Lebanon seemed to tire and made a meantal mistake with a too many men on the ice penalty at 12:07. Plum continued their pressure and John Kalichuk finally broke through at 10:49 on the power play cashing in on a third rebound as Vaughn topped the inital two shots to tie the game at 1-1. Plum came right back just 35 seconds later as Mike Renna got his own rebound and beat Vaughn to give the Mustangs a 2-1 lead at 10:14. Although Plum outshot Mt Lebanon 12-6 in the third and 42-15 on the night, the Mustangs seemed to go into the dreaded 'Cleveland' prevent defense with under five minutes remaining and with some bad neutral zone passes came Mt Lebanon opportunites. Michale Jordan made them pay at 2:28 as he found open ice down the right side and beat Schreib on the stick side to tie the game at 2-2. With :44 left Bill Leckenby's apparent go ahead goal was waved off citing the referee had lost sight of the puck. In the overtime, Plum had chances to win as Kalichuk missed with 1:10 remaining and Robbie Tunon's backhander went off the crossbar and the game ended in a 2-2 tie.

AIRPORT - Quaker Valley defeated Serra Catholic 6-2 back on November 25th and ws ranked 2nd ahead of the Eagles in the rankings. John Mooney's Eagles were looking forward to the new year and a rematch with the Quakers. Quaker coach Kevin Quinn knew that Steve Leppo and C.J. King did not play in the first meeting which could have an affect on the outcome of the rematch. QV didn't take long to pick up where they left off as Ben Herring scored at 14:37 of the opening period for a 1-0 lead. Serra fought back in the first as Ray Gillis scored to tie the game at 7:16 of the opening frame. Jesse Lubasch gave the Eagles their first lead at 3:47 of the first period 2-1. The backbreaker came with just :10 left in th first as C.J. King scored to extend the Serra lead to 3-1. On to the second and the Eagles blew the game wide open as King, Steve Leppo [2 goals] and Josh Jones scored to extend the lead to 7-1 after two periods. Leppo's second goal was a beauty as hebeat Jed Michael on a wrist shot thorugh the 5-hole at 2:08. Jones took a perfect pass from Jessie Lubasch with 55 seconds left in the middle period for Serra's 7th goal. Serra's Jessie Lubasch and QV's Ben Herringtraded goals in the third period as Serra got their payback over Quaker Valley 8-2. Serra outshot Quaker Valley 38-28. The big win leaves only Mars undefeated as Serra looks to move up one peg in the rankings this week.

HARMARVILLE - Franklin Regional coach Jim Damp knew his team had a little confidence after its Director's Cup final appearance in the Scholastic Showcase earlier this week and why not ? ....two overtime come from behind overtime victories and all without a full lineup. Well, coach Damp would have to go after it again without forwards Jimmy Daugherty and Luke Baughman, who watched from the stands. Keith Kearney's knows all about less than full line-ups, you see two of his top forwards Lorenz and Baker where at a conveniently scheduled 9:00 PM on a school night Junior B non-sense practice, which has been a common distraction for high school teams in this area. So the Foxes were a little shorthanded as well. Franklin Regional's Luke DeLorenzo opened up the scoring with two goals in the games first five minutes to give the Panthers a 2-0 lead at 10:03. Dakota Drew scored at 8:54 and the Panthers were off and running with a 3-0 lead. Seemed safe enough until FC's Pat King threw a puck to the net off the far boards, which fooled Brandon Stallard and ended up behind him and the Foxes where on the board 3-1. At 10:45 of the second, Fox Chapel went on the 5 on 3 power play and Franklin was able to kill it and maintain its lead. At 6:34, FC freshman sensation Matt Quigley beat three Franklin defenders after going coast to coast on an outlet pass by goaltender Todd Hendry and beat Stallard on the stickside to cut the lead to 3-2. DeLorenzo completed the hat trick at 5:59 as he slipped the puck through the FC center on the faceoff and roofed one upstairs to make it 4-2 Panthers. Quigley came right back at 2:51 on the power play with a wicked wrist shot and the Foxes were within one heading to the third period 4-3. Fox Chapel's fortunes looked good early in the third as Hendry stopped Michael Roth on the breakaway at 13:24, but Franklin Regional kept on coming in waves as DeLorenzo added his fourth [11:21] and fifth [7:29] goals of the evening and Louis Levine and Michael Roth added two more to pace the Panthers to an impressive 8-3 victory.

2003 Penguins Cup Finals ***GAME SUMMARIES*** Class A - Westmont Hilltop 4 Serra Catholic 3 Class AA - Peters Twp 6 Kittanning 3 Class AAA - Meadville 8 Franklin Regional 3

HARMARVILLE - Everybody knows about the 'Christmas Story' reruns where Ralphie dreams of getting the Red Rider BB Gun from Santa Claus. Deer Lakes coach Al Pawloski has to feel like he's the kid who got his tongue stuck to the flagpole at Deer Lakes High School as he has preached defense to his high scoring group and the Lancers have given up some big numbers on defense this season. The Westmont Hilltoppers on the otherhand is like a family gathering every night as they boarded the bus from J-Town with the usual suspects lead by Bob 'the Bus Driver', 'Super' Fan Dan Lenzi, 'the Boy Wonder' Assistant coach Brace Moran, the lovely Hilltopperette Team Managers and of course 'King Arthur' McQuillan amongst the Westy faithful. The Hilltoppers are on a roll since a couple of early season setbacks to undefeated Mars and Quaker Valley and they ignored the warnings of Ralphie's Mother and School Teacher of the Red Rider BB gun lore of 'you'll shoot your eye out' or maybe they just misinterpeted it 'like an eligibility case of the PIHL'. Anyway........ a well played first period saw Deer Lakes and Westmont in a scoreless defensive battle, which was ok for coach Pawloski, who was taking in the game from the stands. While that was going on coach McQuillan sounded like a Penguin crowd during a power play ......shoot .....shoot....shoot that Westy Red Rider BB Gun and one of the 8 shots in the first period found its way at exactly five minutes when Kevin Gleason rammed home a rebound to give the Hilltoppers a 1-0 lead. Westmont's Justin McCloskey got into the spirit in the second period while killing off a penalty, he beat the Deer Lakes defense and scored to extend the lead to 2-0. At 5:15 of the second, it was McCloskey to make it 3-0. Then it was the backbreaker as Anthony DeMarco scored with just :24 seconds remaining in the middle period to make it 4-0 Hilltoppers. On to the third and at 11:50 McCloskey completed the hat trick on a pretty backhand to the short side. Just 39 seconds later, the Lancers got on the board as Sean McIntyre beat Pat Krumenacker on a quick shot to close the lead to 5-1. Westmont added two more tallies in the final period and went on to an impressive 7-1 victory over Deer Lakes.