PITTSBURGH— Freeport played loose. And Freeport plays on.

Goaltender Tim Zahumensky stopped 40 of 41 shots as the Yellowjackets stunned defending PIHLClass Astate champion Quaker Valley, 4-1, to win the Penguins Cup Saturday night at Mellon Arena.

The loss ended a 35-game unbeaten streak dating back to last year for the Quakers (21-1-1), who entered Saturday's game riding a 21-game winning streak.

"Nobody gave us any chance to win this game,"Freeport center and leading scorer Beau Zack said. "We weren't expected to do anything. Coach told us to just relax, go out there and have fun."

Freeport (18-3-2) won its 13th straight game — and first-ever Penguins Cup.

"We've never even been here before,"Freeport coach Dave Hepler said. "Our kids are really enjoying this. And they deserve it.

"Yeah, I played the underdog thing up pretty heavy. They have four scoring lines to our one, nobody can beat them, blah, blah, blah. It calmed our kids. Just go on the ice and play your game. No expectations."

The Yellowjackets won only six of 22 games three years ago. Now they will face West Chester Henderson — winner of the Class AFlyers Cup — for the state championship April 7 in Philadelphia.

Beau Zack had a goal and assist for Freeport and needs one more goal to reach 40 for the season. Two of the Yellowjackets' goals came from unlikely sources:Zach King opened the scoring with only his second goal of the year while Jeremy Gent netted his fourth of the season.

"A lot of people think we're only a two-person team in terms of scoring goals,"Zack said, referring to himself and 35-goal scoring teammate Patrick Spangler. "Somebody should send them this scoresheet."

Fourteen of Freeport's 25 shots on goal occurred during the first period, when it took a 2-0 lead. Spangler had a potential breakaway thwarted when Quakers goalie Zachary Zinger poke-checked the puck off his stick.

The puck bounced behind Zinger, however, and Zach King fired it toward the net. A defenseman slid across the goal crease to deny that shot, but King lifted the rebound over the prone defender and into the net.

"I still can't believe that shot went in,"King said. "I'll be talking about that goal forever. I'll be telling my kids about it someday. That's the greatest moment in my life so far."

King's goal occurred less than five minutes into the game. Quaker Valley played shorthanded three times during the opening period, Zack netting a power play goal on a rebound of teammate Shane Gallagher's shot.

"Taking all those penalties early hurt us,"Quaker Valley winger Greg Dyer said. "We never got started. We never built any momentum. We're not used to being behind."

Quaker Valley outscored its opposition 149-23 during the regular season. The Quakers had not surrendered four goals in a game all season. They entered Saturday's game having allowed four goals total in their previous six games.

But Freeport made it 3-0 with 11:33 left in the second period when Zack slid a pass over to Gent during a 2-on-1 break, Gent one-timing a shot into the right corner of the net.

From there, Zahumensky took over.

Freeport took three consecutive penalties while holding that three-goal lead in the second period. Quaker Valley had two-man advantages of 1:17 and 43 seconds and was on the power play for four consecutive minutes.

But the Quakers failed to score.

"My defensemen were incredible,"Zahumensky said. "I had clear vision of the puck all night. There was never anybody in front of the net."

"That stretch wasn't all Timmy,"Hepler agreed. "Our defensive corps ... Those guys were selling themselves out, sliding in front of shots, clearing the slot.

"Our defensive effort as a team tonight was as good as I've seen."

When Quaker Valley failed to get on the board at that point, the issue was all but decided.

"To have stacked two-man penalties against a team like that and come out of it unscathed? That's crazy,"Zack said. "No way were we losing after that."

Zahumensky lost his shutout when Colin South beat him over the shoulder with a high wrist shot early in the third period. Zahumensky denied Quaker Valley any further momentum a minute later, however, when he made a sliding skate save on a Mikael Lemieux shot from point-blank range during a Quakers' power play.

Lemieux is the nephew of Penguins great Mario Lemieux, but Zahumensky denied him three times from close range Saturday night.

Zach Hepler sealed the deal for Freeport when he scored off a 2-on-0 break with 7:43 left in the game.

Quaker Valley went 0-for-5 on the power play Saturday in being held to a single goal for the only time this season.

"We lost two games in two years and to only get one Penguins Cup and one state title out of that is disappointing," Dyer said. "This is a game we could have won. But we never showed up."

FREEPORT4, QUAKERVALLEY1Freeport 2 1 1 - 4Quaker Valley 0 0 1 - 1First PeriodFreeport-Zach King (unassisted) 4:57;

Freeport-Beau Zack PP (Patrick Spangler, Jeremy Hepler) 10:05

Second PeriodFreeport-Jeremy Gent (Zack) 4:27

Third PeriodQuaker Valley-Colin South (George Jackson, Mikael Lemieux) 3:08;

Freeport-Zach Hepler (John Reichenbaugh) 7:17

Shots on goal:Freeport 14-7-4-25, Quaker Valley-13-16-12-41

Power play opportunities:Freeport 1-for-4, Quaker Valley 0-for-5