OBSERVER Staff Report

FALCONER — The Pine Valley Panthers won their fourth consecutive game on Wednesday, defeating Cassadaga Valley/Falconer in thrilling fashion 6-5.

Senior Chance White took a pass from Ryan Snyder in the 78th minute in a 5-5 tie and buried it to give the Panthers the 6-5 victory.

“Chance has actually never score in his career,” said Pine Valley head coach Dave Pihlblad. “He actually forgot his spikes so I gave him mine and told him to go score me a goal. He ended up scoring two and the game winner for us.”

Pine Valley started out the game hot, getting goals from Ryan Snyder and Bayley Finch to give them an early 2-0 lead.

Then came the Golden Cougars. Cassadaga Valley/Falconer scored four goals in four minutes to storm ahead of the Panthers. The Golden Cougars got goals from Jaydon Johns, Gavin Pavlock and two from Jacob Thierfeldt to take a commanding 4-2 lead all of the sudden.

“We started out well going up 2-0 and typically our defense is pretty solid so that’s enough,” said Philblad. “But credit to Cassadaga Valley and Falconer they played really well and scored some nice goals.

The Panthers were able to settle down after the quick burst of goals from the Golden Cougars, as they scored three goals before half, getting two from Ryan Snyder and the first goal from White.

“The nice thing with this team is that we have a lot of seniors and veteran players so they can settle each other down,” said Philblad.

Cassadaga Valley/Falconer would tie the game on another Jayden Johns goal in the 70th minute, but that would set the table for White to bury the winner in the 78th minute.

“Chance works his butt off so I’m happy he could score a couple goals tonight,” said Philblad.

Makiah Snyder made five saves in goal for Pine Valley while Matt Brokelbank made ten saves for the Golden Cougars.

Pine Valley (11-4) will look to ride their win streak into their final regular season game against Frewsburg on Friday. Cassadaga Valley/Falconer (3-12) played their last game of the season.