The Freeport hockey team continues navigating through unchartered waters Saturday when it plays for the Class A state championship.

Not to worry. The Yellowjackets' opponent, West Chester Henderson, is doing the same thing.

Just like Freeport won its first Penguins Cup championship, the Warriors recently gained their first Flyers Cup crown.

"We've never gotten this far, though I believe we deserve to be here,"Henderson coach Art Marcellus said. "Everything just fell together for us late."

Game time is 11 a.m. Saturday at the Ice Works Skating Complex in Aston, Pa, a 30-minute drive from West Chester.

The Yellowjackets, whose coaches and players were guests of the Pittsburgh Penguins during their game against Buffalo Tuesday night at Mellon Arena, is looking at a nearly six-hour drive.

"I'd say that constitutes a home ice advantage for us, for whatever it's worth,"Marcellus said. "We do get a lot of support from the community out here. We'll have a big following in the stands."

The road trip doesn't faze Freeport coach Dave Hepler, who is bringing his team east on Friday morning. The Yellowjackets have a 4:15 p.m. practice scheduled at Ice Works Friday, then will attend a dinner sponsored by the Flyers Cup organizers.

The travel time is OKbecause we're not playing the same day, so we won't have to worry about car legs,"Hepler said. "This is better than the regular season, when we face a two-hour drive to Johnstown right after school, then go right on the ice and play."

Neither team was expected to be in this game. Freeport upset defending state champion Quaker Valley 4-1 in the Penguins Cup final, ending the Quakers' 35-game unbeaten streak dating back to last year.

West Chester Henderson surprised Kennett, the team it finished second to in the ICSHLregular season and playoffs, 4-2 in the Flyers Cup finale.

"We expected to see Quaker Valley coming out here — and Quaker Valley expected to play Kennett when they got here,"Marcellus said. "Then again, we were the only team to defeat or tie Kennett all season."

West Chester Henderson had the top two scorers in the ICSHLthis year. Billy Latta, a sophomore, has 33 goals and 30 assists and was the league scoring champion as a freshman. Alex Cottle, a junior linemate, has 14 goals and 40 assists.

Senior Rob Katich has 13 goals, with senior Christian Beren and junior T.J. Wallace finding the net 10 times each.

Goaltender Rob Mattern has a 2.96 goals against average and an 88.11 save percentage.

"Our teams are similar in a lot of ways,"Hepler said. "We both have two big scorers, good goaltending — even our records are close to the same."

The Warriors are 18-5-2 while the Yellowjackets are 18-3-2 and take a 13-game winning streak into the state final.

Seniors Beau Zack and Patrick Spangler each scored 35 goals during the regular season and are headed to Indiana (Pa.) and California (Pa.) to play college hockey. Senior defenseman Zach Hepler (10 goals, 23 points) is weighing various offers to play Junior A hockey next year.

Braden McQueen is the other senior on the team.

Zack scored a goal in all but five of Freeport's regular season games. Spangler found the net in all but three of them.

"Those two are great players and they're consistent,"Hepler said. "What's helped us in the playoffs is the contributions we're getting from our support players."

Zach King and Jeremy Gent scored goals against Quaker Valley in the Penguins Cup final. That duo combined for only four goals all year before that game.

"Contributions like that are huge,"Hepler said.

Freeport goaltender Tim Zahumensky has a 2.19 goals against average and a .910 save percentage. He had 40 saves against Quaker Valley.

"We've heard that kid's really good,"Marcellus said. "You need a great goalie to get this far."