Plum Mustangs - 1989 A

KITTANNING - Since all you need is a pulse to qualify for the Class A playoffs, Deer Lakes at 7-15-0 finished tied with Forest Hills for the 10th slot in the playoffs, resulting in a tiebreaker situation. The head to head was 3-2 in favor of Forest Hills giving the Rangers the 10th spot and Deer Lakes the 11th to face Mars. The Forest Hills School Board told the club that since they were under .500, they would not participate, which is advice the PIHL should heed and only have 8 teams in the Class A playoffs, 12 in AA and 12 in AAA. So Deer Lakes ended up at # 10 anyway and a return trip to the Belmont to face Freeport, who the Lancers fell last week to 5-2 after relinquishing a 2-0 lead after two periods. Deer Lakes can be proud as at the beginning of the season, there were rumors that the Lancers would not field a team, so pulse was an issue in November. Coach Dave Hepler’s squad earned a spot in the Class A dance with a 13-8-1 record finishing just behind Westmont Hilltop in the North Division missing a division crown by just one point. The Yellow Jackets have faired well in the playoffs as in 2002 they ventured to the Penguins Cup Semis before losing to eventual State Champions Serra Catholic at Rostraver and in 2003 they lost in round two. The game was slow paced early on as the teams traded territorial edge in the first ten minutes. Freeport received a scare as leading scorer Dustin Gaworski was slammed to the boards with 4:30 left in the opening period, but return to the game late in the period. The Yellow Jackets struck first as Josh Schreckengost tipped in a Branden McQueen shot past Rich Smith for a 1-0 Freeport lead. Deer Lakes answered as Rick Bigley beat Tim Zahuremsky over the glove side to tie the score with 46 seconds left in the period. On to the 2nd and Freeport seized the lead as Josh Schreckengost scored his second goal with 10:23 remaining for a 2-1 edge. After being stopped on a breakaway by Rich Smith just moments earlier, Dustin Gaworski converted beating Smith for a 3-1 lead with just 1:10 left in the 2nd. The Jackets came right and scored again with just :28 left in the period as Zach Hepler beat Smith and Freeport took control 4-1. At 13:19 of the 3rd Josh Schreckengost completed the hat trick to put Freeport sniffing round two with a 5-1 rout. Gaworski added another goal on a rebound at 9:30 for 6-1 and the Yellow Jackets were on their way to Johnstown next week for a meeting with Bishop McCort. With 26 ticks left Jason Bubb capped it off with a wrist shot to the stick side for a 7-1 Freeport victory.