William Tennent flies past Pennsbury in Flyers Cup AA 1st round

WARMINSTER >> By just looking at the box score of Tuesday night’s first round Flyers’ Cup  AA matchup, it shows No. 5 seed William Tennent defeated No. 12 Pennsbury as expected.

In actuality, Tennent had to rebound from a terrible start which saw the Panthers go down 2-0 before fighting back to earn the 5-2 victory.

“Going down 2-0 in a Flyers’ Cup game, we have been haunted by bad starts,” William Tennent coach Nick D’Aurizio said.

After Pennsbury scored its second goal of the game, D’Aurizio made a bold move to wake his team up. He pulled starting goalie Bryan Davis with his team down two on the scoreboard and getting outshot 6-1.

Tennent responded to D’Aurizio’s challenge by finishing the first period strong and even out shot Pennsbury 11-6 by the first intermission.

“Unfortunately I had to pull our starting goaltender Bryan Davis because I needed a wake up call,” D’Aurizio said. “It was not Bryan Davis’ fault. It was everyone else on the ice.”

The Panthers came out firing in the second period, possessing the puck in the Falcons’ zone for a majority of the period. Charlie Feeney finally broke through for the Panthers as he banged home the power play goal on a pass from Alec Dugan.

Robert Markus tied game up with 1:17 left in the second period as the Panthers battled back to get things squared up heading into the final frame.

“Our top line likes to create around the net,” said D’Aurizio of the offensive attack. “After playing Pennsbury (the last) two years I think they knew that and they really clogged the middle up and I also thought their goalie played terrifically.”

As the Tennent pressure eventually got to Pennsbury ,the Falcons committed a slue of penalties that saw the Panthers cash in three times in the final period. Tennent power play started 3-for-3 and finished 4-for-7 on the night.

“If we can stay out of box, win the penalty war, (if) we’re in the box less than the other team we’re going to come out on top more often than not,” D’Aurizio said. “We are a very good power play team and I think that showed again tonight.”

For Tennent, it now knows what navigating through the Flyers Cup with the target on its back will be like and will have to come out with sharper start if it hopes to knock off the winner of Ridley and Haverford High in the quarterfinals.