Plum Mustangs - 1989 A

CRANBERRY - Freeport has been the big surprise at Class A in first place in the North Division with a 9-2-1-0 record. Coach Dave Hepler’s squad only has two blemishes, a 4-0 loss to Bishop McCort and a 5-1 loss to Richland Cambria. Mars and Freeport played to a 2-2 tie in the last game prior to the end of the first half of the season at the Belmont. Dustin Gaworski has had the hot hand for Freeport and leads the team in scoring through the first 12 games of the regular season. Mars has also been a pleasant surprise under Eric Glover with a 8-3-1 record. The Planets have played well as of late and their most impressive outing may have been a 5-3 loss to # 1 and undefeated Serra Catholic on December 17th. Mars has had a complete turnaround from a year ago and would like nothing more than to return to the Penguins Cup semi-finals, which it accomplished back in back in 2003, before falling to State Finalist Westmont-Hilltop at the Rostraver Ice Garden. Goaltender Bryan Ross was a freshman on that team and has now established himself as one of the top goaltenders in Class A. After a scoreless 1st period, at 13:50 of the second period Mike Riefner beat Freeport goaltender Tim Zahumensky on the stick side to give the Planets a 1-0 lead. Bryan Reel caught Zahumensky off the post at 13:15 of the second and scored on the wraparound to give Mars a 2-0 advantage. The Yellow Jackets would answer at 6:42 as Zach Hepler beat Bryan Ross with a wrist shot to the stick side to make the score 2-1 On to the third period and Freeport had a power play and a chance to tie the game to start the 3rd period, which was killed by Mars. Dustin Gaworski did not come out for the 3rd, which would make the Yellow Jackets plight even more of an up hill climb. This would be the game that the Planets would not relinquish and with 3:45 left Michael Randolph beat the Freeport defense and threw the puck to the net where Bryan Reel found a wide open net for his 2nd goal and deposited for a 3-1 Planet lead. Zahumensky made several nice stops in third, but Mars held on to win the game 3-1 and moved closer to first place in a battle with Sewickly Academy and Quaker Valley