Surprising Upper St. Clair in thick of playoff chase
Tri-State Sports & News Service
Upper St. Clair struggled in its final two years in Class 3A, but after moving down to Class 2A as part of the annual PIHL realignment, the Panthers are once again in the postseason hunt.
“We had a couple of challenging seasons in Triple-A for various reasons, but this year in Double-A, the competition is excellent and the kids have responded very well,” Upper St. Clair coach Ray Conway said. “That transition has been a good one for our team.”
Upper St. Clair (9-6-1-1) most recently won the Penguins Cup in 2011, but missed the playoffs each of the past two years in Class 3A before the drop down in classification. So far the Panthers have quietly been one of the surprises in Class 2A and are in the thick of the chase, but the South/East Division is so competitive that all seven teams are separated by only seven points with two games remaining in the regular season.
Latrobe (12-5-0-0) is the only team in the division that has clinched a postseason berth. Upper St. Clair is currently in fourth place and, as of Monday, had a (Records through Monday) Class 3A 1. Peters Township (12-2-0-1) 2. Seneca Valley (11-3-2-0) 3. Cathedral Prep (11-4-1-0) 4. North Allegheny (9-5-2-0) 5. Butler (8-7-1-0) Class 2A 1. Armstrong (13-3-0-0) 2. Latrobe (12-5-0-0) 3. Pine-Richland (9-4-2-1) 4. Franklin Regional (10-6-0-1) 5. Hampton (8-5-1-3) Class 1A 1. Bishop McCort (17-0-0-0) 2. Meadville (14-1-0-0) 3. Thomas Jefferson (14-3-0-0) 4. West Allegheny (15-3-0-0) 5. Indiana (14-3-0-1) two-point lead over both fifthplace Penn-Trafford and Shaler and three over last-place Baldwin.
Only the top five teams in each division push through to the tournament.
One of the reasons why Upper St. Clair has stayed in the thick of things has been its triumvirate of scorers in all-stars Devin Rohrich (16 goals, 14 assists, 30 points), Quinn Giacobbe (16-1329) and Joseph Pulit (13-16-29). All three were on the same line to start the year, but in recent games they have been moved around in the lineup to generate scoring.
“We had to move them off of one line to keep teams from loading up against us,” Conway said. “It’s been successful for us.”
Upper St. Clair has also boasted a two-man goaltending rotation with seniors Jonathan Bleier, who is 5-2-0-0 with a 2.62 goals-against average and a .921 save percentage and Anthony Petito with a 4-5-0-0 mark, a 4.35 GAA and a .840 save percentage.
“I think the goaltending has been the key for us this year,” Conway said. “I think both guys push each other in a good and positive way, both are seniors, both are experienced and they brought a lot to our team this year.”
Plum
For most of the season, Plum had settled into the Class 3A basement and appeared it would finish the season right where it started after an opening-night loss to Peters Township.
All of a sudden, the reigning Class 2A champions are starting to look — and play — like a postseason contender.
On Monday, the Mustangs pulled off their biggest win of the season, a 4-1 home victory against second-place Seneca Valley (11-3-2-0) that pushed them out of last place for the first time this season. That win, coupled with Canon-McMillan (5-11-0-0) ending a seven-game skid against Mt. Lebanon, has the two teams locked into the eighth and final playoff spot.
If the two remain tied, CanonMcMillan would likely get the nod despite the fact the two teams split their season series because it has a plus-5 goal differential in those two contests. But Plum may have the edge as it has two games-in-hand on the Big Macs, one of those its final home game Feb. 19 against last-place Central Catholic.