KITTANNING — They have perhaps the two best defensemen in the Pennsylvania Interscholastic Hockey League, one of the best young goalies and a scorer who can skate.

It seems nothing can stop the Freeport High hockey team.

With a 3-1 win over Sewickley Academy Thursday night at the Belmont Arena, the Yellowjackets improved to 13-4-1 a year after making the playoffs, winning a postseason game before bowing out with a loss to Deer Lakes.

"We lost four seniors from that team, but this is a very talented group," said Freeport coach Dave Hepler. "I thought this would be a real good year, and, not to get ahead of myself, but next year is going to be a real good year, too."

But Yellowjackets are focusing on the near future. With the playoffs around the corner, they want to get further than last year.

Things are even more urgent for senior defenseman Tom Ferrante, who missed most of last season due to a string of seven concussions.

He missed the first part of this season, but has returned to the ice for the stretch run.

"It's my senior year, my last year, and, for me, it has been the determination to go far in the playoffs and push my teammates farther," Ferrante said.

For a while this off-season, it looked like Ferrante would never return to the ice.

After his last concussion, it took him four months to recover.

He had to plead with his mother to take him to a doctor to get him cleared to play.

Eventually, he was.

"I was told I wasn't going to play again," Ferrante said. "I'm just thankful to be back."

Ferrante teams with Zach Hepler to form one of the most dominant defenseman tandems in the league, and their effort helps to open things up on the offensive end.

Patrick Spangler leads the team with 29 goals, and Zach Hepler is second with 19 goals and 17 assists.

"(Spangler) has a lot of skill," Dave Hepler said. "As soon as he sees we have the puck, he jumps out and we've got (Ferrante and Zach Hepler) who can get him the puck. He can get one-on-one with the goalie, and that's what we want."

Spangler scored two goals in the span of two minutes in the second period against Sewickley Academy to erase a 1-0 deficit.

Freeport has given up an average of 2.5 goals per game and sophomore goalie Tim Zahemensy, who has been playing the position for only three years, has recorded 435 saves this season.

Zahemensy made several spectacular saves against Sewickley, making a glove save on a shot through traffic to thwart a prime scoring chance during a power play in the first period.

The goalie is helped by a strong, defensive-minded unit around him.

"Our defensive play is definitely our strength," Zach Hepler said. "We can always get the puck out of our zone when we have to. We're able to stay high to finish the period so we don't have to work so hard."

Freeport showed this off at the end of the second period Thursday when Sewickley was pushing hard to tie the score. The Yellowjackets were able to clear the puck several times to turn Sewickley away.

The Yellowjackets hope this will lead to happy days in the playoffs.

"We have a lot of chemistry," Ferrante said. "We have a lot of fun out there. But when the puck drops, we get serious."