Seneca Valley Raiders

CORAOPOLIS – For the patrons attending the late game at the Airport arena last night, it was very noticeable how spacious the room was on both the South Fayette and the Quigley benches. For the Lions, it is very understandable since South Fayette is a first varsity program and according to club officials, its just a battle to keep players due to money concerns and the ‘kool aid’ effect of amateur programs, who are looking to steal any players they can and might I add at a much lower cost. So SF had the league minimum twelve players on the bench at the start of the game and added two more when the freshman game next door was over midway through the second, which is a testimony to Head Coach Tim Darnely and the SF people. Welcome to life in the PIHL South Fayette ! Quigley, well they know all about this life as the Spartans have been battling for years to keep their program afloat. When returning goaltender Craig Mohr decided just to play for the Junior B team, Quigley was stuck and almost wasn’t able to field a team. Fortunately, Kyle Milbert, having never played goalie before volunteered and with the help of former standout goaltender Luke Belsky and the Quigley coaching staff, the Spartans now have a goaltender and a team. The first period was back and forth with both teams having some decent chances and as we all know games are built on breaks and momentum. At 8:49 of the first, Quigley received the ultimate ‘gift’ as a South Fayette defenseman trying to clear the puck to safety accidentally scored on his own net. The play happened so fast that neither the crowd nor Lions goaltender Sean Kennedy could react and it was 1-0 Quigley. The Spartans scored the conventional way at 7:40 as Sean Wormald scored on a rebound to make it 2-0. South Fayette pulled within one at 7:13 as Jason Pastorious tipped in a shot from the point past Kyle Milbert to cut the lead to 2-1. On to the second period and while SF goalie Sean Kennedy was frantically trying to get back his stick, Quigley freshman Josh Marshall took advantage with a slick shot to the stick side at 10:22. On the very next shift, it was Marshall again after a nice feed by Tim Powell, beating Kennedy to the stick side and the Spartans now had a 4-1 lead with 8:32 left in the period. Marshall had two good chances for the hat trick, but was robbed by Kennedy at 7:12 and shot one off the crossbar with a backhander at 3:49. Late in the 2nd period, Michael Darnely scored to pull South Fayette within two at 4-2. The third period was all Quigley as Michael Conti, Sean Wormald and Jake Belsky scored to make the final 7-2 in favor of the Spartans.