Baldwin’s defense too tough for Haverford in Pennsylvania Cup final
Haverford has come up against hot goalies this season. What made Baldwin different in Saturday’s Class AA Pennsylvania Cup was the team the Fighting Highlanders put in front of that stellar netminder.
It took until the third period for Haverford to break through, on the way to a 4-1 setback in the state final.
Mike McGeoch finally broke the shutout at 11:16 of the third period, tipping home a Jagur McClelland shot on the power play. It took that long to get by Eddie Nowicki, who made 27 saves in net.
“Everybody talked about how good the goalie was. We know coming into this how good the goalie was,” Haverford coach John Povey said. “But the team in front of him is, so tight, they play so well defensively. As many shots on goal as we had, we had just as many shots blocked or deflected. The buy-in of that team, you rarely see teams buy in defensively like that at any level, much less the high school level.”
Povey pointed to a first period in which his Fords outshot Baldwin 7-2 as a chance to get a breakthrough, thinking that playing with the lead against such a solid defensive team would force them forward. But Baldwin (21-1) held the line early and often.
Trevor Belak scored twice, putting Baldwin up 23 seconds into a power play midway through the second period. He ripped one home from the faceoff dot to the left of Jai Jani four minutes into the third period to make it 3-0 and make Haverford’s climb that much more difficult.
Logan Picchi batted a rebound out of the air in the second period for what goes down as the game-winning goal, and Keith Reed added some gloss with an empty-netter with a second to play for the Fighting Highlanders. It’s their first Pennsylvania Cup since 1988 and third overall.
Nowicki was just too good, preventing the Fords from tipping the momentum. In one sequence early in the third period, he made a right pad stop on McClelland, then shimmied left to get that pad down, spread eagle, to stop the follow-up attempt.
Getting ahead was one of Povey’s keys to turning the game.
“I knew when I first watched this team play a couple of months ago, I knew we had to get up 1-0,” Povey said. “Because 1-0 against them almost feels like 6-0 against some other team. It’s really hard to come back when they get a lead because you’re playing more to their strength.”
The Fords, who won their fifth Flyers Cup and first since 2007, end on just their second loss of the season. While the nucleus of their team is a star-studded senior class, the experience of a journey like this can echo down the years in the program.
“We came in with multiple goals this year, and to win a state championship was one of them,” Povey said. “You can’t take anything away from winning Flyers Cup, you can’t take anything away from winning a Central League championship.”
