Central Bucks West Bucks

HARMARVILLE - Deer Lakes Coach Al Pawloski knows his team must win three of its last four to ensure a playoff berth in the upcoming Class A playoffs. The first task at hand would be a very high scoring # 4 ranked Freeport squad, who can light up the lamp and has scored 6 or more goals in eight games this season. Early on was a goaltending dual between Deer Lake's Richard Andemark and Freeport's Eric Gaworski. Andemark stopped Mike Bender twice from in close at 10:39 and 5:39, while Gawroski stoned the Lancers high scorers McIntyre and DiSanti on key scoring opportunities. Then Freeport's scoring machine freshman Nick DeCroo, who is a notable omission from the Class A PIHL all-star roster, went to work as he scooped up a Ryan Janoski rebound and shoveled past Andemark at 4:31 to give Freeport a 1-0 lead. In the second period, Deer Lakes fought back and tied the game on a goal by Tim Paul at 12:53. The Yellow Jackets answered in a big way 10 seconds later as Ben Lowry scored to put them back on top. Then building on the momentum, DeCroo scored again at 11:54 to begin a Freeport onslaught. Scott Gallagher scored on a beautiful shot upstairs at 3:05 on a Justin Gaworski feed to the slot. Then DeCroo took a nice pass from Gallagher and slipped a backhander past Andemark to make it 5-1 and complete the hat trick. Not to be outdone, DeCroo scored a nifty goal by banking his own pass off the goal around the Deer Lakes defender and backhanded a shot past Andemark on the short side for his fourth goal and to cap off a five goal Freeport second period. The Yellow Jackets outshot Deer Lakes 14-4 in the middle frame. Mike Bender closed out the scoring early in the third period and Freeport went on to a 7-1 victory. The win sets up a huge matchup with # 1 ranked Mars Thursday night at the Belmont Ice Complex.