NEVILLE TWP., Pa. — The West Chester Rustin Knights won their sixth consecutive Pennsylvania Cup and seventh overall state title with a dominant 11-3 victory over Montour at RMU Island Sports Center on Saturday.
The Knights scored their first goal 45 seconds into the first period, when captain Matt Owens scored his first of three goals on the day.
Rustin added three more goals before the end of the first period to race out to a 4-0 lead, with Nick Ferraro assisting on three of the four first-period tallies.
“There’s a reason they’re six-time state champs,” Montour coach Clayton Shell said. “They’re very good, very fast, very skilled. They were the better team. They shut us down and we got away from our game.”
Two more goals in the first half of the second period made it a 6-0 lead for the Knights, with Ferraro adding another assist and a goal to give him five points on the day.
Down big early, the Spartans put up a fight, both on the scoreboard and literally.
Anthony Migliozzi scored late in the second and Dustin Geregach scored a power play goal early in the third period to close the gap to 6-2. The power play was unkind to the Spartans, who finished 1 for 6 with the man advantage.
Midway through the third period, a line brawl marred the game, with six players receiving misconducts.
“We don’t take penalties like that,” Shell said. “That’s not us. That’s not how we play. We got ourselves in a hole and they just kept us there.”
After the fracas, Rustin added on, scoring four more goals to make the lopsided final result. The Knights have won the Class-A state title in six straight seasons and seven times overall.
The Spartans can still feel good about their season after earning their first PIHL Penguins Cup and the state finals berth that came along with it. They got the added bonus of getting to play the state title game in front of their fans in their home arena.
“You saw how many of our middle school and developmental kids were in the stands,” Shell said. “It’s awesome. It builds the program. … It was pretty cool to have the state championship in our home rink.”
The Spartans have a chance to build on the momentum of their first championship season, as they’ll return all but four skaters from this year’s squad, with defenseman Ethan Diffendal and forward Ryan Eisel, Richard Froehlich and Cayd Wilson the senior skaters. They will have to work to do in goal, as both starter Zachary O’Malley and backup Mason Skeath will graduate.
