Garnet Valley coach Stephane Charbonneau never forgot the difficulty of addressing his team following several double-digit losses during his first season leading the team three years ago. They were the kind of defeats that made the team's latest victory just that much sweeter.
The Jaguars secured the first PIHL state championship in program history Saturday afternoon with a 7-2 victory over the Avonworth Antelopes at Robert Morris University Island Sports Complex. The Jaguars dominated the contest from start to finish, similar to many of their previous victories during a 16-win regular season… a far cry from their losses a few years back.
“I still can't believe it. This is an experience of a lifetime,” said senior forward Nolan Stott, who helped power Garnet Valley with a pair of goals and an assist. “I’m never going to forget this.”
It was the first title game appearance for the Jaguars in 27 years and marked the 13th straight Class 1A title for Flyers Cup teams competing in the state championship.
“They stood together and sacrificed for each other,” Charbonneau added. “They’re awesome kids. The best thing about a hockey team is when you stick together you can do a lot of good things.”
Game flow
The Jaguars showed very little fatigue from their long, cross-state road trip ahead of the game.
After surviving a couple of early power plays, Garnet Valley defenseman Jake Morrow scored the first goal of the game midway through the first period. After Avonworth’s Cooper Powell leveled the score two minutes later, Kaden Longo put the Jags ahead once again, and for good, with two and a half minutes remaining in the first period.
Kevin Walton scored early in the second period and Stott scored two minutes later to help take a 4-1 lead into the final period.
Aiden Delfin ended any chance of an Avonworth comeback with a goal just moments into the final period to go up by four scores. Stott and Walton scored another goal each to pad the lead in the final period.
“Every shift, our defense is very strong," Charbonneau said. "It’s tough to match against us. When we decide to skate, we can go pretty hard on people.”
Key stats
Jaguars goalie Garrett Stoops was dominant throughout the game. The goalie allowed a goal midway through the first period and another with less than five minutes to play in the game, but was otherwise perfect. He stopped 24 of Avonworth’s 26 shots.
Five different Jaguars players scored during the contest.
Quotable
“The locker room that we have this year is just absolutely unbelievable. Everybody here are brothers. We would all do anything for each other and every time we go out there we know that. … It’s a great group of guys. I wouldn't trade it for the world.” — Stott
Class 2A
North Penn 4, Cathedral Prep 1: The North Penn Knights earned their first PIHL state championship in team history Saturday afternoon with a 4-1 victory over the Erie Cathedral Ramblers at Robert Morris University Island Sports Complex.
The Knights offense struggled through the first two periods before breaking through with four goals in the final period to steal the state title.
Trailing by a goal three minutes into the third period, North Penn’s Samuel Norton scored on a power play to level the score. James Boyle pushed the Knights ahead with 3:36 remaining in the game, Danial Cabrales scored 19 seconds later and Nolan Shingle scored an empty net goal in the final minute of play to put the game out of reach.
Norton had two assists to go along with his game-tying goal early in the third period to lead the Knights’ offense.
First Published: March 22, 2025, 10:07 p.m.
