This was absolutely the comeback of the season. And it couldn’t have come at a better time.
Council Rock South overcame a 3-0 deficit in the final 11:19 of the third period to defeat Boyertown, 5-3, in Thursday’s quarterfinal round of the Flyers Cup at Hatfield Ice Arena.
“We flipped a switch,” said CR South senior defenseman Peter Pereborow. “We went into the locker room for that intermission (when the Zamboni was resurfacing the ice) and just changed everything. We realized we can’t let any team get to us and that we had to come out battling. Any team can beat any team and we just had to find a way to win.
“This is a lesson learned. When they scored that third goal, I was like, ‘We’re going to dig down and find a way to win this one’ and we did. I’m so proud of us.”
Boyertown, the tourney’s ninth seed, started strong with a pair of first period goals, scoring on their first shot when Noah Cutillo took a feed from Braydon Havrilla while the Bears were on a power play barely two minutes into the game.
Logan Brown added a second goal for Boyertown, assisted by Cutillo.
After a scoreless second period, the Bears added a third goal while playing shorthanded when Cutillo’s pass found Jax Drost, who got it into the net.
“I think in the early portion of the game we were playing good,” CR South senior center Jackson Mosely said. “We just weren’t playing to our potential. We were getting a lot of shots, but they weren’t going on net. I think we got away from our game a little bit. Obviously, it was frustrating because we were shooting so much and we couldn’t get a goal but eventually we were able to get them in.
“When they put in that third goal, I thought it was just going to be a harder game for us to win. I knew we were going to have to go through some adversity.”
Then everything changed.
The Golden Hawks, seeded first in the tournament, netted a power play goal on their 56th shot of the game when Jeremy Rayher took a pass from Jack Weiner and Jackson Mosley with 11:19 to go.
That was the first of many, as Weiner scored with an assist from Jake Maurer on CR South’s next shot on goal with 10 minutes to go. A minute and a half later, Jordan Sarne (Rayher assist) tied it up with a power play goal.
Less than a minute later, Jagger Smith netted the game winner with an assist from Weiner, who iced the cake with an empty net goal with 38 seconds to go.
“We had some good bursts of momentum in the first and second periods, but I think we really got on board when we got that first goal,” Mosely said. “We needed to get one to get a few. I think they knew how good we are and once we got that first one, they were shaken a little bit.”
The Golden Hawks held an astounding 68-23 advantage in shots on goal.
“They have a great goalie (Tyler Griffith) and that’s hard to work against,” said Weiner, a junior forward. “In playoff hockey, anything can happen any time. We were going hard the whole game; we were taking a lot of shots. We just needed to bury one. There was never a doubt in my mind that we would pull it off.
“Being the one seed puts a target on our backs, but I love that. I love teams coming at us. It makes us work harder and not want to give up.
We’re excited for the next game. We know business is on the table and we have to finish, and we’ll take what we learned in this game as we move forward. Never give up. Keep shooting. Find a way to win.”
CR South advances to the semifinals and will take on 12th seeded Spring-Ford, a 4-0 winner over fourth seed Haverford.
Boyertown 2 0 1—3
Council Rock South 0 0 5—5
First-period goals: Noah Cutillo (B) from Brayden Havrilla, 2:10; Logan Brown (B) from Cutillo, 9:40
Third-period goals: Jax Drost (B) from Cutillo, :40; Jeremy Rayher (CRS) from Jack Weiner and Jackson Mosely, 5:41; Weiner (CRS) from Jake Maurer, 6:59; Jordan Sarne (CRS) from Rayher, 8:34; Jagger Smith (CRS) from Weiner, 9:06; Weiner (CRS), 16:22
Shots: Boyertown 23, Council Rock South 68; Saves: Tyler Griffith (B) 63; Trey Prozzillo (CRS) 20
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