Pennsbury tops PV

The Pennsbury Falcons played through an uninspired performance to take their first round match with the Perkiomen Valley Vikings in the District 1 playoffs by a 8-5 score. The Falcons take their game on the road on Thursday, May 20th when they take on the Hatters of Hatboro-Horsham in a District 1 second round match.

This game marks the first playoff appearance for the Perk Valley Vikings as part of the rising tide in the PAC-10 conference. The Falcons, coming off the best regular season in their eight year varsity history at 16-2, is making their second straight playoff appearance. But Pennsbury was in PV's shoes last year as they played their first two playoff games in team history. In this game, the Falcons leveraged an exceptional face-off performance by Shawn Caven and Pat Bonnot, and a distinct advantage in shots and time-of-possession to carry the day.

The Falcons came out strong to begin the game, with middie Ricky Jutkiewicz scoring an unassisted goal less than a minute into the game. The next six minutes characterized much of the game, with turnovers negating both teams' momentum, at least until attacker Josh Caven converted a Kenneth Warren feed at the 6 minute mark to put Pennsbury up 2-0. But gritty Perkiomen Valley dug out multiple ground balls around the Falcon net until Viking senior Justin Morgan was able to convert past Pennsbury net-minder Peter Sweetland to end the first quarter at 2-1 Pennsbury.

In the second stanza, Pennsbury dominated time of possession, but Perkiomen Valley featured a packed in defense that knocked down inside passing attempts and dared the Falcons to shoot from the outside. Falcon Josh Caven was able to take advantage of a blocked shot rebound by Calvin Hopkins that kept Pennsbury possession and turned it into a goal. PV returned the favor by scooping up a rebound of a Tim Considine shot and fast breaking the other way as Wes Johnson fed Pete Scalfani for the goal. Pennsbury again dominated shots and time of possession but could not crack the Viking defense as the half ended with the score 3-2 Pennsbury.

The third quarter was a replay of the second with each team scoring a single goal amidst tight defense and a slew of forced, and unforced, turnovers by both teams. Pennsbury struck first with Ricky Jutkiwicz feeding Calvin Hopkins a the 11 minute mark and PV replying at the 7 minute mark when senior middie TJ Tagg fed junior attacker Pete Scalfani. The quarter ended with the Falcons nursing a razor thin 4-3 lead.

Pennsbury finally came alive in the final stanza as the Vikings were breathing down their necks and sensing an upset in the making. The Falcons rose to the occasion and put the first stake in the Vikings hearts with a left handed rip by attacker Kenneth Warren two minutes in. This was followed up two minutes later by another Josh Caven goal, converting a slick cross crease feed from Warren, and putting the Falcons up by a score of 6-3. But the Vikings had no quit in them as Scalfani fed senior attack Erik Horn to creep back within two. But Pennsbury dashed the upstart's hopes on successive goals by Calvin Hopkins (with a laser feed from Josh Caven) and then a rip from up top by Shawn Caven, assisted by Warren to put the Falcons up 8-4. With a minute left in the game, Falcon Tim Considine marched off to the penalty box with a minute slashing penalty, which the never-say-die Vikings converted with 40 seconds left in the game to cap the scoring at 8-5. Pennsbury's Shawn Caven (12 of 14 at the 'x') again won the face-off and with a Viking in the penalty box for a slash, the Falcons iced the ball to bring home the playoff victory.

Pennsbury was led by Josh Caven (3g, 1a), Kenneth Warren (1g, 3a), Calvin Hopkins (2 g), Ricky Jutkiewicz (1g, 1a) and Shawn Caven (1g, 15 gb, 12 f/o wins). The Perkiomen Valley Vikings got scoring from Pete Scalfani (2g, 1a), TJ Tagg (1g, 1a), Erik Horn (1g) and Justin Morgan (1g).

The win puts the Pennsbury Falcons at 17- 2 for the year and 1-0 in playoffs, while the Perkiomen Valley Vikings are 12-7 on the year and 0-1 in the playoffs.