Lehman leads Peters Township icers to win over Mt. Lebanon
Eleanor Bailey/The Almanac
Seth Hanna (18) Ryan Luppe (41) and Torrey Schwartz (91) rush in to celebrate with Mark Lehman (56), who scored the game-winning goal in double overtime as Peters Township edged Mt. Lebanon, 3-2, in the PIHL Class AAA semifinal game.
Mark Lehman (56) gets a congratulatory hug from his teammates, including Torrey Schwartz, after he scored teh game-winning goal for Peters Township in a 3-2 victory against Mt. Lebanon in the PIHL Class AAA semifinals.
Andrew Wilbert (25) chases down and gains control of the puck against FeNo Monaco (58) during PIHL Class AAA semifinal action.
Luke Husak (67) gains control of the puck against Jeremy Anthos (81) during PIHL Class AAA semifinal action.
Torrey Schwartz (91) and Timothy Adler (No. 3) battle stick-to-stick for the puck during PIAA Class AAA semifinal playoff action
Aidan Weaver (54) battles Eric Wilbert (55) and Owen Barrett for the loose puck during PIAA Class AAA semifinal playoff action.
Ryan Luppe (41) rushess in to congratulate Andrew Wilbert (25) who celebrates after scoring Peters Township's go-ahead goal with 4:45 left in the second period of a PIHL Class AAA semifinal game against Mt. Lebanon.
Mark Lehman leaves the basketball to his twin sister, Mackenzie, but not the heroics.
While Mackenzie helped lead Peters Township to a WPIAL championship by scoring the equalizer in regulation and then the winning hoop in overtime as the Indians beat North Allegheny, 43-40, for the District 7 title, Mark propelled Peters Township to the Penguins Cup championship final.
The 6-foot, 6-inch forward punched in the game-winning goal as the Indians edged Mt. Lebanon, 3-2, in double overtime at the RMU Island Sports Arena.
“Yes,” Mark conceded, whatever Mackenzie does he must do, too. “I have to get one-up on her all the time.
“Although she’s going to win a state championship, I’ll settle for a tie.”
Peters Township (16-3) must beat North Allegheny, a 2-1 winner against Bethel Park in the other semifinal, in PIHL Class AAA championship contest set for 8:30 p.m. March 19 at the UPMC Lemieux Sports Complex for the Lehman family to have two-gold medalists.
Should the Indians beat the Tigers, then they would have a shot at the Pennsylvania Cup. The state finals are set for 4 p.m. March 23 at the RMU Island Sports Complex. That is one day after the PIAA Class 6A girls’ basketball championships will be played in Hershey.
“Last year, we fell one game short so getting to the Penguins Cup championship and winning it is our goal,” Mark said of last year’s loss to Seneca Valley.
Though he has the height for it, the goal for Mark has never been to keep up with his sibling in basketball. In kindergarten, his mother signed him up for a skating class and he fell in love with hockey.
“When I was growing up I did play basketball but I did not enjoy it as much as hockey,” Mark explained.
His teammates are thrilled he stuck to the ice because they are able to plant his tall frame in front of the net. And, that is exactly from where Mark scored the winning goal. Torrey Schwartz and Jeremy Anthos collected assists on the play.
“My job is to get in front of the net,” he explained. “When we got the power play, we got our chance.
“All the Lebo guys were high and Torrey made the pass and crossed it to Anthos. {span}We’ve been kind of working back-door passes all year,” Lehman added. “So when I saw the pass go across the ice, I just slid back and opened up for the pass. Anthos fed it to me {/span}and we made the play.”
The Blue Devils (10-9) made the plays to start and finish regulation.
At 7:13 of the first frame, Wyatt George scored off an assist from Timonty Adler. At the 13:23 mark in the third period, Griffin Erdely scored on the power play to push the game into overtime.
The Indians dominated the second stanza, outshooting Lebo, 18-5, as well as outscoring the Blue Devils, 2-0. Eric Wilbert, off an assist from Lehman, knotted the contest, 1-1, at 1:49. Andrew Wilbert recorded the go-ahead goal, 2-1, at 12:15. Ryan Luppe and Nico Watsula assisted the power-play score.
The game was relatively penalty-free. PT picked up three, 2-minute minors while Lebo had a pair of penalties.
Bradley Weaver and Alex Wilbert played all 54 minutes in goal. Lebo’s net minder stopped 41 of 44 shots while Wilbert turned away 31 of 33 Blue Devil shots.
NA edges BP
North Allegheny put one shot on goal in the second overtime period and made it count as the Tigers edge Bethel Park, 2-1, in the other PIHL Class AAA semifinal game at RMU Island Sports Center.
Will Parreaguirre registered the even-strength goal that came at 11:54 of the second, extra 10-minute frame.
BP outshot the Tigers in the period, 6-1, and held a 54-31 advantage in the game. Nicholas Guimond made 29 saves for the Hawks.
NA opened the scoring on an even-strength goal from Tyler Putnam at 6:11 of the first period. Vincent Abel and Dylan Watkins assisted.
Austin Read netted the equalizer for BP. Jeffrey Bele and Ryan McLinden assisted the tally, which came on the power play at 14:42 of the second stanza.
Upper St. Clair outlasted Franklin Regional in overtime, 9-8, and advanced to the Class AA championship game to be played against Pine-Richland at 8:30 p.m. March 18 at the UPMC Lemieux Sports Complex in Cranberry.
During semifinal action on March 13 at the RMU Island Sports Center, Quinn Giacobbe scored the decisive goal midway through the extra period.
The Panthers appeared to have the game won in regulation but Mathieu Sliva scored the equalizer with just 29.4 seconds remaining in the third period.
After battling to a 2-2 deadlock in the first period, USC also edged ahead, 5-4, after two periods on a goal by Giacobbe at the 13:18 mark in the frame. Anthony Carone assisted. Giacobbe finished with four goals and two assists.
Also for the Panthers, Devin Rohrich tallied two goals while Joseph Pulit, Chase Wucher and Colton Shiry added single scores.
Same Sweet and Carone dished up three assists. Rohrich collected two while Andrew Woomer, Jacob Ball and Shiry had one dish apiece.
In goal, Kyle Rohrich faced 27 shots while his USC teammates bombarded the Franklin nets with 41 shots
SF in A finals
Alexander Keller scored at the 9:34 mark in the second stanza to snap a 1-1 deadlock and propel South Fayette to victory over West Allegheny, 2-1, on March 12 at the RMU Island Sports Center.
The win vaulted the Lions into the Penguins Cup Class A championship. They will face off against Montour at 6 p.m. March 19 at the UPMC Lemieux Sports Complex in Cranberry.
The Lions constructed a 1-0 advantage on a goal from Tristan Cribben with 10 seconds left in the first period. Matthew Swider assisted on the tally.
Nolan Sarnowski garnered the assist on Keller’s game-winning goal.
In the nets, Bruce Hardman turned away 31 shots. The Lions put 28 shots on goal.