The bounce of the puck proved fickle for Freeport.

Sophomore forward Billy Latta scored a pair of shorthanded goals in the second period to break a scoreless tie Saturday and led West Chester Henderson to a 4-1 victory in the Class APennsylvania Cup championship game.

The game was played at the Ice Works in Aston, near Philadelphia.

Both goals occurred only 15 seconds into Yellowjacket power plays.

"The power play is our bread and butter. We feed off it,"Freeport coach Dave Hepler said. "The puck just didn't bounce our way on those plays.

"On both goals, we had two guys going after the puck off faceoffs and it bounced right to (Latta) in stride, going the other way."

Latta wound up with a hat trick Saturday. He led his league in scoring during the regular season with 29 goals and 57 points. He added seven goals during postseason play.

"He's an exceptional player,"Hepler said."Once he had the puck on his stick in full stride, we couldn't catch him.

"Just like every bounce of the puck seemed to go our way at Mellon Arena (in Penguins Cup finale win over Quaker Valley), every bounce seemed to go against us Saturday."

Freeport (18-4-2) had a 13-game winning streak snapped. West Chester Henderson finished the season at 19-5-2 and with its first state championship since 1982.

Hepler said his team had the better of the play in the first period, but couldn't convert scoring opportunities.

Patrick Spangler, a 35-goal scorer in the regular season, was stopped on a breakaway by Henderson goaltender Rob Mattern midway through the period.

The Yellowjackets had two power play chances in the first 15 minutes — including a brief two-man advantage — but couldn't convert.

Freeport hada 31-25 advantage in shots on goal overall. T.J. Wallace scored Henderson's other goal and the West Chester squad built a 4-0 lead in the third period.

"They had 18 to 20 players dressed, we had our usual 14,"Hepler said. "Once we fell behind, we had to press the issue offensively and we got a little winded late in the game.

"With eight minutes left in the game, it was only 2-0. We were hanging in there."

The Yellowjackets avoided the shutout with 49 seconds remaining in the contest when Jeremy Hepler scored a goal, assisted by John Reichenbaugh and Shane Gallagher.

Normally a defenseman, Hepler scored while playing a wing position.

"The wrong guy came off the ice for us when Jeremy went on,"Coach Hepler said. "So we just had him play wing for that shift. We were a bit out of synch like that the whole game."

Freeport netminder Tim Zahumensky allowed as many as four goals in a game for only the fifth time all season. He finished the year with a 15-3-2 record and entered the finale with a 2.19 goals against average.

Despite the loss, Freeport closed out its most successful season in the program's history.

"I told the kids, this is going to sting today,"Hepler said. "But once a few days pass, they'll releaize they were PIHL(Penguins Cup) champions andnobody can take that away.

"For only having 14 players, two of those being freshmen, we had a great season."

The Flyers Cup champion won the state title for the fourth time in five years. The Penguins Cup champion had won it 10 consecutive years before that, Bishop McCort claiming five of those titles.