Freeport Yellow Jackets

ROSTRAVER - Greensburg CC is going through its toughest stretch of their 2002-2003 schedule and with victories over defending Pa State champ Peters Twp 4-3 and Pine Richland 4-3 last week, head coach Joe Dykta had to be pretty confident going on the road to face Thomas Jefferson. The Jaguars are in the midst of an excellent season with only a bump in losing to arch rival Peters Twp two weeks ago. TJ rebounded to score an impressive 6-2 victory over South Park last Friday. Don Powell was looking at GCC as an opportunity to make a statement in Class AA. The first period can be summed up in missed opportunities for Greensburg CC, but more so that Danny Hartman made some big saves on Josh Chiado at 10:28 and Alan Pershing at 4:10 to keep the Centarians off the board. TJ scored the lone goal of the first period as Eric Holzer cut to the slot and too a pass from Barnadon School and beat Jake Genes at 4:49 to give the Jaguars a 1-0 lead. In the second period, Hartman was up to his old tricks as he stoned Matt Ward on the breakaway at 10:36 and Casey Shoub at 6:39. Shoub finally broke the TJ netminder at 6:16 as he beat the Jaguar defense and lofted a shot upstairs to knot the game at 1-1. Thomas Jefferson responded by picking up their game and it paid off as Andrew Olmstead found a loose puck in the slot and buried a wrist shot past Genes to help the Jaguars regain the lead. On to the third and the next goal would be the big one as Olmstead took a pass from Derek Kelly and wheeled on the backhand to give TJ a two goal advantage at 13:48. The Jaguars then played solid defense in front of Hartman and Kelly added an empty net goal to give Thomas Jefferson a big 4-1 victory ovr Class AA's # 1 ranked team.

ROSTRAVER - Elizabeth Forward is off to a very good start at 6-2-1 and right in the thick of the playoff picture. Chuck Beckinger's Warriors were looking to rebound from a sluggish effort in a 7-2 loss to Wheeling Park and were looking for a little motivation with their game against arch-rival Serra. Serra has one bump in a 7-1-0 start in an earlier loss to Quaker Valley, in which they were minus the services of Steve Leppo and CJ King. Coach John Mooney isn't worried about the start as much as he is about the finish and the Eagles have finished the past three seasons with a win in their final game, which has resulted in three straight Pennsylvania Class A crowns. If last nights first period was any indication, Serra is well on their way to a 4th, as those Eagles Jesse Lubasch, Steve Leppo, CJ King, Justin Lubasch and Cody Moy swarmed Elizabeth Forward for a 5-0 first period advantage. The Eagles added three more in the second and four in the third to pace Serra to a 12-1 pasting. At the other end, Timmy Johnson continued his excellent play between the pipes stopping everthing except Mike Mitchko's goal at 14:04 of the 2nd. Serra's win sets up a big game Thursday against undefeated Wheeling Park at the Wheeling Civic Center.

DELMONT - Franklin Regional coach Jim Damp was liking Thursday night as his squad slid into first place as Gateway fell to Cathedral Prep and Plum lost earlier in the week to defending State Champions Bethel Park. The Panthers had a golden opportunity to hold the loss column and seize the division lead. The tall task at hand would be Central Catholic, winners of 5 of 6 coming off a 2-2 tie Thursday night against a hot Mt Lebanon club. Coach Kevin Zielmanski would only have to look into the eyes of his players to see the motivation of his players, who were being given the raz of the Franklin student section with the getting old fast 'Tea Bag' routine. It took an old Franklin nemisis in the form of former Gator Matt Capalongo, who knows the formula to shutting up the Franklin faithful during his days at Gateway....score early and often....and the Viking junior opened the scoring early in the first to give CC a 1-0 lead. Then it was Eddie Martin's turn with 1:57 left in the opening period as he beat Brandon Stallard on the stick side to make it 2-0. Early in the second Capalongo and Matt Urso could not convert a great passing sequence as Stallard slid out to stop the Vikings and keep the score at 2-0 at 12:05. Franklin Regional cut the lead in half at 10:25 as Michael Roth scored on the rebound and the CC lead was 2-1. Central controlled the play through two periods outshooting FR 21-10 and Martin broke Franklin's back at 7:26 with a beautiful wrister through the five hole from the off wing to extend the Viking lead to 3-1. The third period was all Cetral Catholic as Pete Dolan, Matt Urso, Michael McGurk and Chris Niznik added to the Central assault which resulted in a 30-13 shot advantage and an impressive 7-1 victory over Franklin Regional.

VALENCIA - Deer Lakes coach Al Pawloski knows his team can score goals with high scoring duo Sean McIntyre and Matt DiSanti and if you add in Andreas Backstrom, well now we know why the Lancers were off to a 5-0 start in 2002-2003. Hockey at the high school levels not only requires scoring, it requires defense which Deer Lakes found out in two recent losses 8-5 to undefeated Quaker Valley and 6-5 to upstart Somerset. Mars seems to have figured this formula out early in the campaign as they have rocketed to a 7-0 start scoring a staggering 10 goals a game, while only giving up three goals the entie season. After two division championships, the Planets decided to hand the reigns over to Bob Finney to try to get the team past the second round of the playoffs, including last years melt down in the late season. Andreas Backstrom got the Lancers off and running with a power play goal at 13:37 of the opening period. Mars had plenty of opportunities in the first period but struggled on the power play and missed a couple of open nets. Brendan Orris missed a golden opportunity with :03 left in the first as his shorthanded breakaway hit the post. It didn't take # 1 Mars long to find its scoring touch in the second period as Jim Roach blew by the Deer Lakes defense and beat Roman Drienovsky on the forehand to tie the game at 14:40. Bob Brill gave Mars the lead on a shot from the point through traffic to make it 2-1 at 11:55. That lead was shortlived, as Sean McIntyre tied the game for Deer Lakes at 11:17, on a beautiful backhander upstair past freshman Brian Ross. The Planets regained the lead at 7:36 as Brill found a loose puck on the doorstep from a Mike Manganello shot to put Mars on top 3-2. Then it happened, with Deer Lakes on the power play, Mars Jake Mashuda cleared the puck out of his zone, the puck caroomed off the end boards and Drienovsky's attempt to play the puck resulted in disaster as the puck ended up hitting the Deer Lakes goaltenders stick and going into the net giving Mar a 4-2 lead at 3:44. Brendan Orris pulled the Lancers back to within one at 2:57 with a slap shot which beat Ross on the stick side to make it a nailbitter 4-3 at the end of two periods. The third period was all Mars as Bob Finney added two goals and Roach added another to lead the Planets to a 7-3 victory. The win cemented what many believe to be Class A's # 1 team's stranglehold on the Pa Hockey and Post Gazette's # 1 ranking. The hope for Mars fans is that thy can keep it going through the season and into the playoffs, which will be tested next Tuesday when the travel to Johnstown to meet the Bishop McCort Crimson Crushers.

HARMARVILLE - Butler has a very young club this season which includes a lot of players which have been forced to play at the Varsity level due to players who have chosen amatuer hockey over high school. Therefore, coach Ed Bernot has witness a shooting gallery for his goaltender Bucky Holt. Fox Chapel on the other hand is looking to challenge Central Catholic for the North Division lead and was looking to rebound from a heartbreaking loss to McDowell 8-7. Keith Kearney's squad has some nice looking skaters, some so fast that the officials had trouble keeping track of the goals. The Foxes raced to a 6-0 lead in the first period and never looked back in a 9-2 victory. Fox Chapel was paced by four goals by Jason Kreps and a pair by Matt Quigley and Matt King. The goal that never went in was via Joe Budz, but the officials called it a goal and it stood. Greg Rogerson and BJ Tipton scored for the Golden Toronadoes.