KITTANNING — With a Section 3 crown under its belt, the Freeport hockey team had a regular season worth celebrating.

Kittanning spoiled the postseason party.

The Wildcats built a 2-0 lead in the first period and never relinquished the advantage during a 5-2 victory over the Yellowjackets in the Penguins Cup Class A quarterfinals on Thursday at Belmont Ice Complex.

Christian Miller tallied four goals for Kittanning — the final into an empty net with three seconds remaining — while goalie Cam Langham recorded 23 saves to pace the Wildcats to the upset.

Freeport tied and defeated Kittanning in two meetings during the regular season.

“That's something we've been talking about a lot to the kids, 'Hey look, we're the underdog now,'” said Kittanning coach Jamie King. “We just had to commit to playing as a team and I think we did that tonight.”

Freeport had a 25-23 edge in shots on goal, but Langham managed to consistently turn away the Yellowjackets and proved to be the difference.

“We rely on him. He's awesome,” said King. “It is what it is. It's not like that's a secret. He's the best goalie in single-A, we think, and most coaches do, too.”

It was a tough loss to swallow for Freeport (16-6-1), which finished six points ahead of second-place Kittanning (14-8-1) in the Section 3 standings this year.

“I don't think we should have lost to that team,” said Freeport coach Dave Hepler. “The shots were even. Cam out-goaltended us. That's what it comes down to.”

Kittanning took control when Elijah Johns supplied a power-play goal with 10:17 to play in the first period, before Miller followed up with his first score just over a minute later.

The Yellowjackets appeared to be out of rhythm in the opening frame and the early deficit was costly.

“No one was willing to commit to play the game the way it should be played at the beginning,” said Hepler. “Everybody is just trying to get the nerves off — get the first hit, get the first shot.”

Freeport quickly bounced back in the second period, though.

Only 56 seconds into the frame, Stone Haberstroh cut the lead in half with a shot from the left side and gave the Yellowjackets some momentum.

“I'm not happy that we spotted them a 2-0 lead, but we did respond,” noted Hepler.

Freeport drew two power plays later in the second, but Kittanning killed them off and retained a 2-1 edge heading into the final period.

“I thought we had a couple of really good kills,” said King. “We really went over that a lot this week. The penalty kill was huge for us tonight.”

After Kittanning's defense held, Miller — who had 45 goals in the regular season — ignited the offense.

He went five-hole on Freeport goalie Matt Huston to supply the Wildcats with an all-important two-goal cushion with 10:36 remaining.

“The third one was huge,” said King. “It's just that extra little breathing room.”

Cole Hepler beat Langham to give the Yellowjackets hope, trailing 3-2 with 3:10 remaining, but the optimism was short-lived.

Miller broke loose for a breakaway goal just 28 seconds later.

“We're going to pull the goalie and try to really put that last one in to get it into overtime, or who knows, even get two if we get them reeling,” said Hepler. “The next shift, we give one right back. That pretty much takes the wind out of everybody's sails.”

Huston, a freshman, was put in some tough situations and stopped 19 shots for the Yellowjackets.

“We left Matt hanging out there for that last breakaway. That can't happen,” said Hepler. “How do you let Miller walk in two or three times one-on-one with the goalie? He's a scorer. You can't let that happen.”

The loss marked the final PIHL game for Freeport's five seniors: Greg Newman, Devin Christy, John Bird, Justin Drzemiecki and Tyler Bonitsky.

“They've been great. Ever since seventh grade, Coach (Donald) Zack or myself have coached them. I think they won the championship when they were freshmen,” said Hepler. “It's sad to see them come out and not have a good playoff game here. They were good team leaders.”