High School Ice Hockey:
Cherokee Works Overtime to Beat Township

Sunday, February 27, 2000

By Mike Costantino
SJSports Staff Writer

Cherokee rallied from a two-goal deficit and defeated Washington Township 6-5 in overtime to win game one of the best of three to determine the champion in SJHSIHL JVB. Sean Zahacewski had two goals and an assist, including the game winner, to pace the Cherokee attack. Counting the regular season, that's 19 wins in a row for Cherokee, and they will try for twenty on Monday night.

Township broke on top early as Steve Overpeck scored with an assist to Mike Duczkowski. Cherokee would tie the game at 1-1 as Earl Scott converted a Doug Acker pass with just over six minutes remaining in the first period. Less than two minutes later with Cherokee on the power play, Zahacewski dug the puck out from the corner and found a wide-open Brandon Gould in the slot. His quick shot gave Cherokee the lead at 2-1 after one period.

Township would score three goals in a span of three minutes early in the second period to take a 4-2 lead, as Zagiezsky, Davidson and Matt McKinney found the net. Jeff Land brought Cherokee to within 5-4, scoring on the power play with assists going to PJ Dever and Bill Goy. Late in the period, Duczkowski gave Township a 5-3 lead, but fifty-seven seconds later Justin Zeitler cut the lead to 5-4 heading into the third period.

The break came for Cherokee when they went on a power play with eight minutes remaining, Zahacewski tied the game at 5-5with Alex Szcepkowski getting the assist. In overtime, Zahacewski picked up a loose puck and fired a quick wrist shot that found the top corner with ninety seconds left and Cherokee survived its toughest challenge of the year.

Photos by Boog Williams