Peters Township ices Prep to advance to PIHL semifinals

Peters Township defeated Cathedral Prep 3-2 to advance to the semifinals in the Pennsylvania Interscholastic Hockey League playoffs.
The Indians (15-6) will face Seneca Valley (14-5-2) at 9 p.m. March 12 at the RMU Island Sports Center to earn the right to compete in the PIHL championship game set for 6 p.m. March 17 at the Lemieux Sports Complex in Cranberry.
Peters Township, which did all of its scoring during a 2:45 span of the first period, then relied on goaltender Alex Wilbert to hold off the Ramblers (12-7-2). Wilbert stopped 12 shots on goal.
Mark Lehman ignited PT’s offense, scoring an even-strength goal at 9:19, which was assisted by Aidan Alexander and Hunter Ferguson.
Eighty-eight seconds later, Dylan McElhinny increased PT’s advantage with a goal that was assisted by Drew Wilbert and Jack Zaken.
Gavin Dabkowski completed the Indians’ scoring at 12:04. Christian Biscardo and Anthony Fultz earned assists on the goal.
Peters Township was the only area team to advance in the PIHL playoffs as Bethel Park (8-11-2), Canon-McMillan (12-7-2) and Upper St. Clair (14-5-2) were eliminated in other quarterfinal matches.
The Black Hawks dropped a 4-3 decision to top-seeded North Allegheny (16-4-1) March 3 at the Baierl Ice Complex in Wexford.
After a scoreless first period, NA staked a 2-0 lead on goals from Connor Chi and Tyler Putnam.
BP narrowed the gap on a goal from Luke McLinden, which was assisted by Ben Guenther, but another two-goal barrage by Chi and Putnam gave the Black Hawks a deficit from which they could not recover.
The Black Hawks scored twice in the final five minutes. Joey Wandrisco scored a goal at 11:51, off an assist from Ryan McLinden.
McLinden then scored the final goal of the game with one second to play.
NA outshot BP, 31-22. Zachary Ott made 18 saves for the Black Hawks.
USC fell to Seneca Valley 5-2 March 3 at the Ice Castle Arena in Castle Shannon.
After a scoreless first period, the Raiders’ Ryan Russell and CJ Phillips poured in two goals.
USC’s Andrew Woomer scored a goal, off assists from Mitchell Gainer and Colton Shiry to narrow the Panthers’ deficit.
Chris Belt netted back-to-back goals at the end of the first period and the start of the second for Seneca Valley to make it 4-1.
Zach Fairfull added an even-strength goal for the Panthers, which was assisted by Mitchell Gainer and Zach Hardy.
Russell closed out the scoring to seal the win for the Raiders.
Kyle Rohrich faced 34 shots on goal for the Panthers.
Pine-Richland (13-6-2) breezed to a 4-1 victory over Canon-McMillan March 3 at the Printscape Arena in Southpointe.
After the Rams constructed a four-goal lead, C-M’s Joshua Hrip prevented the shutout. Christian Trottier assisted Hrip’s tally at 6:52.
The Rams put 31 shots on goal against C-M’s Mario Eafrati.