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C.B. South 4 Downingtown East 3

By Karen Sangillo

It was fast paced and action packed. 

And when it was over, sixth seed Central Bucks South was a 4-3 winner over No. 11 Downingtown East in Tuesday’s opening round of the Flyers Cup Class AA tournament at Hatfield Ice Arena. 

The Titans will take on third seed Council Rock South, a 6-3 winner over No. 14 Spring-Ford, in Thursday’s quarterfinals at Hatfield.

CB South got a pair of late goals in the first period. The Titans were on what had been a rather lackluster power play when Nolan Senigo netted the first goal of the evening. Ryan Montagna followed with a second goal less than 30 seconds later to send CB South into the first intermission with a 2-0 lead. 

That lead was cut in half early in the second period when Downingtown East’s Chase McKeown scored. Montagna answered with his second goal of the evening to give CB South some breathing room, but the Cougars found the net in the final minutes of the period to again cut the CB South lead to one goal.   

Montagna completed a natural hat trick six minutes into the third period. That goal went from an insurance goal to the game winner when Franciscus scored for Downingtown East with less than five minutes to go.  

“It was definitely not a given,” said Montagna, a senior left wing. “Every single shift we had to work hard. They definitely could have come back on us.”

The Titans are very familiar with their next foe, CR South.   

“I think we’ve had a great couple of games,” Montagna said. “We beat CR South twice, and we had a good game against North Penn for the championship of our league. We didn’t play our best tonight. We need to change our defense a bit and get pucks deep. We were playing around with the puck too much we need to be simple with it.”

Nathan Napolitano was in goal for the Titans and he withstood a late charge by the Cougars as the final seconds ticked down. In the first period, Napolitano came up big with a save on a Downingtown East breakaway.  

“Nathan bailed us out,” said Slobodrian, a senior right winger. “It’s been the same story. He’s been bailing us out. we need to fix some things on D.

“We did a good job of drawing penalties, but we need to capitalize on them more. We only scored on one of them. We had a good amount of shots and at times we had quality shots but I think some of those could have been better. 

“We need to step up our game and fix things on defense, tweak a few things on offense and also on the power play.  

“When we scored those first two goals we let off the gas. I guess we thought the goals were going to be handed to us, then they scored and we realized ‘OK, were actually in a hockey game’ and we knew we had to pick it up. We had some lapses, but we did it.”

Downingtown East 0 2 1—3

CB South  2 1 1—4

First-period goals: Nolan Senigo (CBS) from Joseph Slobodrian and Ryan Frey, 14:24; Ryan Montagna (CBS) from Owen Frey, 14:50; Second period goals: Chase McKeown (DE) unassisted, 2:31; Montagna (CBS) from Slobodrian and John Lord, 6:50; Thomas Wolf (DE) from Colin Franciscus and Leonardo Nino, 15:17; Third period goals: Montagna (CBS) from Slobodrian and Ryan Frey, 5:57; Franciscus (DE) from Wolf, 12:23

Shots: Downingtown East 27, CB South 47; Saves: Lucas Fleuty (DE) 32, Nathan Napolitano (CBS) 20

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La Salle 6 Father Judge 2

The idea that {insert a postseason tournament here} is a new season is, in most instances, an overused cliché. But it’s a concept that the La Salle Explorers can embrace, particularly after Tuesday night. After a season that featured an abundance of frustration and disappointment, the Explorers put all the pieces together on the biggest stage in local scholastic hockey.

The result was a 6-3 win over Father Judge in the opening round of the Class AAA Flyers Cup tournament in front of a full house at Hatfield Ice. The win sends the third-seeded Explorers (7-13) into the semifinals next Thursday, March 12 against St. Joseph’s Prep. Sixth-seeded Father Judge ends its season at 13-10-1.

Junior forward Patrick Lunsford scored two of La Salle’s goals. He noted that the underclassmen in the lineup needed some time to adjust to the Flyers Cup environment.

“I think some of the guys at the beginning had a little bit of the jitters,” he said. “But as the game went on I think we really adapted and it worked out well for us.”

It was the Crusaders who scored first. Nolan Rauch launched a shot from the left point that found its way through a sea of legs all the way to the back of the net, giving Judge the lead with 1:34 remaining in the first period.

It took Lunsford just 13 seconds to answer and the opening period ended deadlocked, in no small measure because of the work La Salle goaltender Anthony Foster who made some quality saves in the opening session.

Thomas Leonards and John Greenwalt added goals in the second period to extends La Salle’s lead. The Explorers seemed to grow more comfortable with each shift.

“I think they definitely settled in a little bit,” said La Salle coach Wally Muehlbronner. “They started to make some better decisions with the puck and we started to get a little rhythm going.

Mathew Jones and Luke Bauman extended. the Explorers’ lead with goals early in the third period. Jake Proud added a power-play goal for Judge with 4:42 left to remind the Explorers they had to keep concentrating, but Nolan Hirska answered with a power-play goal of his own to complete the scoring.

The only negative on the La Salle side of the scoresheet was the eight minor penalties the Explorers took.

“We were in the box way too much,” Muehlbronner said.

But there will be another game to play, and the Flyers Cup title is still within reach.

Lunsford, despite whatever doubts he may have had, has always had faith in his teammates and coaches.

“I had belief in the team,” that we would get here,” he said, “and we’ve gotten to this point. We’ve just got to keep going.”

• St. Joseph’s Prep, the second seed in the tournament, bested seenth-seeded Salesianum 8-0 in another quarterfinal game on Tuesday

Father Judge 1 0 1—2

La Salle 1 2 3—6

First-period goals: Nolan Rauch (FJ) from Jake Proud. 15:26; Patrick Lunsford (L) from Bill Podulka, 15:39

Second-period goals: Thomas Leonards (L) from Andrew Frantz and John Greennwalt, 3:00; Greenwalt (L) unassisted, 14:27 (pp)

Third-period goals: Matthew Jones (L)from Luke Bauman and Matt Martin, 2:08; Lunsford (L) from Padilla, 9:11; Proud (FJ) from Rauch and Gavin Culver, 12:18 (pp); Nolan.  Hirshka (L) from Thomas Leonards, 14:36 (pp)

Shots: Father Judge 34, La Salle 36; Saves: Jonathan Dilliplane (FJ) 30, Anthony Foster (L) 32

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Flyers Cup Schedule Wednesday, March 4

Wednesday March 4

Girls Quarterfinals

Conestoga vs West Chester East 5:00 at PNY

Radnor vs. Lower Merion 6:45 at PNY

Pennridge vs. Downingtown West 8:45 at PNY

Thursday March 5

Class AA Quarterfinals

6:00 Boyertown vs. Pennsbury at Ice Line

6:30 Council Rock South vs. Central Bucks South at Hatfield Ice

8:15 Central Bucks East vs. Downingtown West  at Ice Line

8:45 North Penn vs. Owen J. Roberts at Hatfield Ice

Class A Quarterfinals

6:00 Penncrest vs. Garnet Valley at IceWorks

6:30 Kennett vs. Hatboro-Horsham at Ice Line

8:00 Hershey vs. West Chester Henderson at Ice Works

8:30 West Chester East vs. Marple Newtown at Ice Line

Flyers Cup Results

Tuesday, March 3

Class AAA Quarterfinals

La Salle 6 Father Judge 2 see story for details

Malvern Prep 6 Devon Prep 4—Ryan Jacobs scored two goals as the fourth-seeded Frairs bested the fifth-seeded Tide at Ice Line to earn a spot in the semifinals against top-seeded Holy Ghost Prep. James Young, Cole Scarbinsky, Pax Hoishik, and William McCullough all scored for Malvern Prep. Ryan Caterino made 25 saves in goal.

St. Joseph’s Prep 8 Salesianum 0—Cole Gargon scored twice and six other players added one goal each as the second-seeded Hawks shut out the seventh-seeded Sallies at the Skatium. Aiden Quinn, Connor Martin, Frankie Ely, Cole Sullivan, Bradan Fisher, and Vincent Burnett all scored for the Prep, which will face La Salle in next Thursday’s semifinals. Declan Geary earned the shutout in goal.

“I thought we played with incredible speed and that really opened up our offense,” said St. Joseph’s Prep coach Charlie van Kula. We knew Salesianum was going to be a good test. In the past we may have let our foot off the gas a bit, but I am proud of how our guys stayed dialed in, stayed positive, and played for one another.”

Class AA First Round

Owen J, Roberts 7 Avon Grove 5

Central Bucks South 4 Downingtown East 3—Ryan Montagna’s goal with 11:03 left in regulation proved to be the game winner as the sixth-seeded Titans outlasted 11th seed Downingtown East at Hatfield Ice. It was Montagna’s third goal of the game. He also added three assists.

Pennsbury 8 Haverford 5—Jacob Sarver scored three goals an added an assist an Shane Gleisner provided two goals and three assists as the 10th-seeded Falcons bested seventh seed Haverford at the Skatium to advance to the quarterfinals.

Council Rock South 6 Spring-Ford 3—Jake Weiner scored five goals, two of them in the third period, a the third-seeded Golden Hawks held off the 14th-seeded Rams at Hatfield Ice.

Boyertown 12 Souderton 2—Maxwell Ryon and Matthew Ceoss scored for the 15th-seeded Indians in the loss to the second-seeded Bears at Ice Line.

North Penn 9 Shawnee 2—the top-seeded and defending champion Knights scored four goals in the first period and went on to the win over the 16th-seeded Renegades. Samuel Norton, Gabriel Dunn, Nolan Shingle, and Chris Silvotti each scored twice. Derek Lugara also scored for North Penn which will face Owen J. Roberts in the quarterfinals.

C.B. South 4, Downingtown East 3—See story for details

Wednesday March 4

Girls Quarterfinals

4. Conestoga vs 5. West Chester East 5:00 at PNY

2. Downingtown West vs. 7 Pennridge 8:45 at PNY

3. Lower Merion Maroon v. 6 Radnor 6:45 at PNY

Monday, March 2

Class AA  First Round

Central Bucks East 6 Conestoga 3—Trailing 3-2 after two periods, the 13th-seeded Patriots scored four goals in the third and stunned the fourth-seeded Pioneers Monday night at Ice Line. Evan Asimmakopoulos scored what proved to be the winning goal with 13:44 left in regulation. Ethan Cenci extended the lead with a power-play goal with 12:18 left and added an empty-net goal with 21 seconds remaining.

Cole Kleindienst, Morris Ostrobrod and Samuel Gottesman also scored for East whih will face North Penn or Shawnee in Thursday’s quarterfinals.

Downingtown West 6 vs. Pennridge 2—Fifth-seed Downingtown West broke  the game open Monday night with three second-period goals and built a 5-0 third-period lead before Ryan Burke and Lanndon Bishop scored for the 12th-seeded Rams, who closed the season at 6-12-1.
 

Class A First Round

Garnet Valley 2 Palmyra 1

West Chester Henderson 6 Plymouth Whitemarsh 3 see story for details

Marple Newtown 5 West Chester Rustin 1

Hatboro-Horsham 10, Radnor 0 see story for details

Hatboro-Horsham 10 Radnor 0

Some would call it a dominant performance. Others would use the term overwhelming. Whatever the phraseology, Hatboro-Horsham’s offensive firepower was on full display Monday night in the opening round of the Class A Flyers Cup.

The sixth-seeded Hatters were too much for 11th-seeded Radnor and rolled to a 10-0 win at Hatfield Ice.

Nate Nemchinov scored four goals and added four assists for Hatboro-Horsham, which will face third-seeded Kennett in Thursday’s quarterfinals. Vince Graziani produced three goals and two assists before the game was terminated via the 10-goal rule with 10:45 remaining in the third period.

Prior to the stoppage, the Hatter (17-3) were in complete command and applying unrelenting pressure.

“We try to wear out our opponents with our stamina,” said Hatboro-Horsham coach Shane Smith. “We were able to do that here, we were able to keep the pressure on them, and keep it deep in their zone.”

Nemchinov and Graziani spend much of their time on the ice simultaneously. The chemistry between Nemchinov, a senior, and Graziani, a sophomore, is unique.

“We’ve played with each other for two years,” Nemchinov said. “We know where each other are on the ice at all times. We talk; it’s all about communication and chemistry.”

It took the Hatters some time to get started. The game was nearly nine-and-a-half minutes old before Luke Staffieri scored his team’s first goal. But once they started, the goals kept coming. Graziani and Cole Meyer added goals before the first period ended.

Nemchinov scored three times in the second frame and Graziani and Bill Moffa scored additional goals to propel Hatboro-Horsham to an 8-0 lead. Nemchinov an Graziani each scored in the final period.

The Hatters’ up-tempo approach theoretically leaves them vulnerable at the other end of the ice. But Graziani points out he and his teammates are confident in the defense behind them.

“There are very good players in this tournament, and it’s hard to get back,” he said. But we’ve got good goaltending and good ‘D’ back there, so it helps us out.”

Emotions were running high by the late stages of the second frame. The Raptors lost defenseman Charles Peterson with 1:51 left in the period when he drew a major penalty for head contact plus a match penalty for a hit on Staffieri. Staffieri himself was banished 3:30 into the third period after fisticuffs with Radnor’s Hayden Goldenberg. The Raptors’ Stephen Sucher also received a game misconduct for being the third man in the altercation. The fighting penalty means Staffieri will not be in uniform when the Hatters face Kennett on Thursday.

• Patrick Murphy and Eric Miller split the shutout in goal for the Hatters. Murphy played the first two periods, Miller the third.

Radnor 0 0 0—0

Hatboro-Horsham 3 5 2—10

First-period goals: Luca Staffieri (HH) from Nate Nemchinov, 9:26; Vince Graziani I(HH) from Staffieri and Giovani Bucci, 14:31; Cole Meyer (HH) from Joey Magnin, 16:28

Second-period goals: Nemchinov (HH) unassisted, 4:31; Graziani (HH) from Nemchinov and Bill Moffa, 10:22; Nemchinov (HH) from Graziani and Moffa 14:03; Moffa (HH) from Nemchinov, 14:35; Nemchinov (HH) from Graziani, 15:43;

Third-period goals: Nemchinov (HH) from Staffieri and Moffa, 2:54; Graziani (HH) from Nemchinov. 6:15

Shots: Radnor 11, Hatboro-Horsham 38; Saves: James Danner (Ra) 28, Patrick Murphy (HH) 8 and Eric Miller (HH) 3

Contested terminated with 10:45 remaining in third period

WC Henderson 6 PW 3

They sent up camp in the offensive zone early on and never really left. West Chester Henderson applied pressure from the opening faceoff and kept it up for a full 51 minutes. The result was a 6-2 win over Plymouth Whitemarsh Monday night in the opening round of the Class A Flyers Cup at Hatfield Ice.

The ninth-seeded Warriors (6-12-1) will face top-seeded Hershey in Thursday’s quarterfinals. The eighth-seeded Colonials closed the season at 14-4.

Henderson set the tone from the start. Harrison Eller got the Warriors in on the scoreboard 2:34 into the opening period when he beat Lucas Bennett from close range. That goal established a pattern for the balance of the period. Cooper Kanze tied the game for the Colonials with 2:55 left in the period on a shot that Warrior goaltender Ian Stefanovski probably wished he could have another look at, but Aller put his team back in front just eight seconds later.

By the time the period ended, the Warriors had launched 16 shots. It was Bennett’s work in goal that kept the Colonials close.

“Breakout is something we talk about a lot,” said Plymouth Whitemarsh coach Vince Forti. “Obviously, we struggled a little bit. Getting the puck out of the zones quick is a priority for the defense. You don’t want to give good teams extra zone time. It leads to extra chances and that’s how goals go in.”

Forti acknowledged that Henderson scoring first put his team in a hole they never could escape.

“There was some stat that said s scoring the first goal gives you a 70 percent chance of winning,” he said. “We usually want to get the first one. Unfortunately, they did. And we were just kind of chasing the game ever since then.”

Anthony Barthol extended Henderson’s lead 2:46 into the second period. Kanze scored his second goal of the night exactly 10 minutes later to send the teams into the post-second period ice cut just one goal apart on the scoreboard.

But Henderson separated itself once more when Declan Herr scored from the left wing that found space inside the near post, a shot Bennett appeared not to see. Miles Donnelly essentially shut the door with a power-play goal with 2:47 remaining.

Barthol added an empty net goal with 1:17 left.

The Warriors finished with a 49-20 advantage in shots.

It was a disappointing end to an impressive season.

“I think the guys played well all season,” Forti said. “It’s tough way to end a good season, so it doesn’t feel like it in the moment but overall, I think they did a lot of good things.”

West Chester Henderson 2 1 3

Plymouth Whitemarsh 1 1 0—6

First-period goals: Harrison Aller (WCH) from Miles Donnelly, 2:36; Cooper Kanze (PW) from Dan Moloney, 14:05; Aller (WCH) from Anthony Barthol  and Decal Dowd, 14:13

Second-period goals: Barthol (WCH) from Dowd and Aller, 2:46; Kanze (PW) from Dan Guller and Brandon Wooldridge, 12:46 (sh)

Third-period goals: Declan Herr (WCH) from Donnelly and Dowd, :49; Donnelly (WCH) from Dowd, 13:13 (pp); Barthol (WCH) unassisted, 15:43 (en):

Shots: West Chester Henderson 49, Plymouth Whitemarsh 20 Saves: Ian Stefanovski (WCH) 18, Lucas Bennett (PW) 43

Flyers Cup Results

Tuesday, March 3

Class AAA Quarterfinals

La Salle 6 Father Judge 2 see story for details

Malvern Prep 6 Devon Prep 4—Ryan Jacobs scored two goals as the fourth-seeded Frairs bested the fifth-seeded Tide at Ice Line to earn a spot in the semifinals against top-seeded Holy Ghost Prep. James Young, Cole Scarbinsky, Pax Hoishik, and William McCullough all scored for Malvern Prep. Ryan Caterino made 25 saves in goal.

St. Joseph’s Prep 8 Salesianum 0—Cole Gargon scored twice and six other players added one goal each as the second-seeded Hawks shut out the seventh-seeded Sallies at the Skatium. Aiden Quinn, Connor Martin, Frankie Ely, Cole Sullivan, Bradan Fisher, and Vincent Burnett all scored for the Prep, which will face La Salle in next Thursday’s semifinals. Declan Geary earned the shutout in goal.

“I thought we played with incredible speed and that really opened up our offense,” said St. Joseph’s Prep coach Charlie van Kula. We knew Salesianum was going to be a good test. In the past we may have let our foot off the gas a bit, but I am proud of how our guys stayed dialed in, stayed positive, and played for one another.”

Class AA First Round

Owen J, Roberts 7 Avon Grove 5

Central Bucks South 4 Downingtown East 3—Ryan Montagna’s goal with 11:03 left in regulation proved to be the game winner as the sixth-seeded Titans outlasted 11th seed Downingtown East at Hatfield Ice. It was Montagna’s third goal of the game. He also added three assists.

Pennsbury 8 Haverford 5—Jacob Sarver scored three goals an added an assist an Shane Gleisner provided two goals and three assists as the 10th-seeded Falcons bested seventh seed Haverford at the Skatium to advance to the quarterfinals.

Council Rock South 6 Spring-Ford 3—see story for details

Boyertown 12 Souderton 2—Maxwell Ryon and Matthew Ceoss scored for the 15th-seeded Indians in the loss to the second-seeded Bears at Ice Line.

North Penn 9 Shawnee 2—the top-seeded and defending champion Knights scored four goals in the first period and went on to the win over the 16th-seeded Renegades. Samuel Norton, Gabriel Dunn, Nolan Shingle, and Chris Silvotti each scored twice. Derek Lugara also scored for North Penn which will face Owen J. Roberts in the quarterfinals.

Wednesday March 4

Girls Quarterfinals

4. Conestoga vs 5. West Chester East 5:00 at PNY

2. Downingtown West vs. 7 Pennridge 8:45 at PNY

3. Lower Merion Maroon v. 6 Radnor 6:45 at PNY

Monday, March 2

Class AA  First Round

Central Bucks East 6 Conestoga 3—Trailing 3-2 after two periods, the 13th-seeded Patriots scored four goals in the third and stunned the fourth-seeded Pioneers Monday night at Ice Line. Evan Asimmakopoulos scored what proved to be the winning goal with 13:44 left in regulation. Ethan Cenci extended the lead with a power-play goal with 12:18 left and added an empty-net goal with 21 seconds remaining.

Cole Kleindienst, Morris Ostrobrod and Samuel Gottesman also scored for East whih will face North Penn or Shawnee in Thursday’s quarterfinals.

Downingtown West 6 vs. Pennridge 2—Fifth-seed Downingtown West broke  the game open Monday night with three second-period goals and built a 5-0 third-period lead before Ryan Burke and Lanndon Bishop scored for the 12th-seeded Rams, who closed the season at 6-12-1.
 

Class A First Round

Garnet Valley 2 Palmyra 1

West Chester Henderson 6 Plymouth Whitemarsh 3 see story for details

Marple Newtown 5 West Chester Rustin 1

Hatboro-Horsham 10, Radnor 0 see story for details

Hatboro-Horsham 4 Plymouth Whitemarsh 3

When two teams play each other five times over the course of a season, there are no secrets. Familiarity breeds intensity. And Thursday’s SHSHL final played out that way.

Vince Graziani’s goal 28 seconds into Stanley Cup-style sudden-death overtime, gave Hatboro-Horsham a 4-3 win over Plymouth Whitemarsh at Hatfield Ice. His game winner, his second goal of the game, came on a shot from the deep right wing.

“It feels amazing,” Graziani said. “We’ve come so far to get to this point.

“P-W has a great team, they have a great program, and it was just a great battle.”

The teams split four regular-season meetings and Thursday’s result superseded them all. It gave the Hatters (17-3) their second consecutive division championship in a championship-caliber game.

“This was a fantastic game,” said Hatboro-Horsham coach Shane Smith, “with two evenly matched teams that played well and hard against each other. This was the kind of game we expected. If you looked up championship in the dictionary this game would have {defined it}.”

 William Moffa got the scoring started for the Hatters 3:01 into the opening frame. Brandon Wooldridge tied the game for the Colonials (14-3) 77 seconds later. Graziani’s first goal of the night put the Hatters up 2-1 with 5:27 left in the period.

Cooper Kanzee, who assisted on the Colonials’ first goal, tied the game once more when he beat Patrick Murphy in the Hatter net with exactly three minutes left in the second period.

Special teams played into a third period that included four minor penalties. Joseph Mangin’s goal that put the Hatters up 3-2 came while Ryan Jagher was serving an interference penalty. Kanzee tied the game for the last time with 7:57 left in regulation came while the Hatters’ Luca Staffieri was in the box serving an interference penalty of his own.

It was as evenly matched an affair as could be imagined. But, a winner had to be determined,

“I think it just came down to one play at the end,” said Plymouth Whitemarsh coach Vince Forti. They’re a very good team and they capitalized.

“It was back and forth. I’m proud of our guys from battling until the end.”

Graziani spoke to the challenges that arose from playing the Colonials for a fifth time this season.

“It’s hard,” he said. You’ve just got to find your chances and find when to do things and put the puck in the net.”

Both teams open play in the Class A Flyers Cup on Monday. The sixth-seeded Hatters will face Number-11 Radnor while the eighth-seeded Colonials will take on ninth-seeded West Chester Henderson. Both games will be played at Hatfield Ice,

Hatboro-Horsham 2 0 1 1—4

P-W  1 1 1 0—3

First-period goals: Willlim Moffa (HH) from Nathan Nemchinov and Aiden North, 3:01; Brandon Wooldridge (PW) from Cooper Kanzee and Dan Guller, 4:18; Vincent Graziani (HH) from Luca Staffieri, 11:33

Second-period goals: Kanzee (PW) unassisted, 14:00

Third-period goals:[1]  Joseph Mangin (HH) from Nemchinov and Graziani, 3:31; Kanzee (PW) from Guller and Ryan Jagher, 9:03

Overtime goal: Graziani (HH) from Nemchinov, :28

Shots: Hatboro-Horsham 43, Plymouth Whitemarsh 26; Saves: Patrick Murphy (HH) 23, Max Yoder (PW) 39


 [1]

North Penn 6 C.B. South 3

Big games are often decided when winning teams and/or big-time players step up. Such was the case Thursday night as Sam Norton and his North Penn teammates came up big when the moment demanded it.

North Penn scored three straight goals over the second half of the second period to separate themselves from Central Bucks South and went on to a 6-3 win over the Titans in the SHSHL National Division championship game at Hatfield Ice. It was the 21st win in 22 starts this season for the top-seeded Knights, who claimed a SHSHL title for the fourth time in team history. They will be the top seed for the Class AA Flyers Cup and will face Shawnee in the opening round Tuesday night.

For now, the defending Cup and state champions will celebrate with another trophy.

“A win like that is always enjoyable,” Sam Norton said. “It’s a great experience. I’m going to remember it for a while.”

The third-seeded Titans (16-6) struck first when Ryan Montagna finished off a two-on-one during a South power play just 89 seconds into the opening period. It gave his team the lead but North Penn goaltender Andy Norton was unfazed.

“I try to focus on what’s coming next,” he said, “the next shot, I just put it behind me. I really trust my team. I trust they are going to put another one in the net.”

Which Sam Norton did two-and-a-half minutes later to tie the game. Norton followed with his second goal of the night not quite threo minutes after that and Declan Leahy made it a 3-1 game with 3:08 left in the first period.

South however, wasn’t going anywhere. Ryan Frey found the back of the net 3:05 into the second frame and Joey Slobodian tied the game at the 8:30 mark, making the second half of regulation theoretically a new game.

It was time for Sam Norton to step up once more. Twenty-eight seconds after Slobodian’s game-tying effort, Norton completed a hat trick to put North Penn in front for good. Daniel Cabrales followed with a goal with 6:44 left in regulation and Nolan Shingle completed the scoring for the night with exactly five minutes remaining.

“It wasn’t our greatest {game},” said North Penn coach Kevin Vaitis. “We had some mistakes but we capitalized on some as well. And, when you get to this point in the season and you’re playing a team like that, it’s not going to be perfect.

“I thought the guys worked hard. Even when they came back to tie it at three, nobody panicked. We’ve been in situations like this before and we just keep working through it.”

The Titans worked hard as well against an opponent that leaves an opponent little margin for error.

“We’re proud of our team,” said South coach Josh Sklar. “They battled to the end. You’ve got the two top teams. In the league going at it and sometimes the bounces just don’t go your way.”

Sklar pointed out that competing against the Knights requires going full bore for three full periods.

“Every shift means something,” he said. “Every shift is important. We’re a deep team, but we battled. We tried, we did our best.

• The Titans are seeded sixth in the Class AA Flyers Cup and will face Downingtown East Tuesday night in the first round…. North Penn’s previous SHSHL titles came in 2002, ‘09, and ‘14. The Titans are seven-time champions, their last coming in 2018.

C.B. South 1 2 0—3

North Penn 3 3 0—6

First-period goals: Ryan Montagna (CBS) from Dom Gibson,  1:29 (pp); Samuel Norton (NP) unassisted, 4:01;  Norton (NP) unassisted, 6:54; Declan Leahy (NP) from Ismael Cabrales, 12:52

Third-period goals: Ryan Frey (CBS) unassisted, 3;05; Joey Slobodian (CBS) unassisted, 8:30; Norton (NP) unassisted, 8:58; Daniel Cabrales (NP) from Landon Hostetter, 10:16; Nolan Shingle (NP) from I. Cabrales, 12:00

Shots: C.B. South 44, North Penn 22; Saves: Nate Neapolitan (CBS) 38, Andy Norton (NP) 19