Despite posting 20 wins this season and advancing to the PIHL Penguins Cup finals, there were a lot of sad faces in the Franklin Regional locker room last night.

The Panthers had just dropped a 3-2 decision to Latrobe in overtime, which brought Franklin Regional's season to a close and ended the high school careers of six seniors.

Coach Jim Daugherty offered a heartfelt post-game speech where he talked about the team's success throughout the season.

"We had a good season," he said. "You go down in overtime in the Penguins Cup -- only one team wins it."

The emotional group of players was awarded the Class AA runner up trophy but had to watch top-seeded Latrobe accept the Penguins Cup and advance to the state championship later this month.

Franklin Regional finished the season 20-4-1 and nearly left the Mellon Arena victorious.

The Panthers got on the board first just 6:01 into the game when junior defenseman Chad White blocked a shot and jumped on the loose puck near center ice. He skated into the Latrobe zone on a 2-on-0 break and found junior Eugene Mack on the doorstep for the tap in goal.

Latrobe, however, responded with two quick goals to take the lead. Just two minutes later, Wildcat senior Jeff Rossi controlled a rebound from a Alex Stahl shot that hit the boards behind Franklin Regional senior goalie Anthony Livecchi and bounced back in front of the net. Rossi slid the puck past Livecchi to tie the game.

Then with 6:03 left in the first period, Latrobe sniper Jeffjoe Regula stole the puck in his own zone and raced past the FR defense to convert a breakaway on the backhand and give the Wildcats a 2-1 advantage.

"We got a little loose out there, and they got two quick goals because of it," Daugherty said.

Franklin Regional came out motivated in the second period and peppered Latrobe netminder Nick Loyacona with 13 shots, but the energy turned into penalties as the Panthers were shorthanded three times in the period.

Despite the setbacks in the period, senior Johnny Cecere managed several scoring chances but was denied on each as the score remained 2-1 in favor of Latrobe after two periods.

Franklin Regional returned to the fundamentals in the third period and with strong skating and precision passing looked like a different team.

"I didn't like the way we played early. It wasn't until the third period that we really started bearing down and playing well," Daugherty said.

Franklin Regional's hard work resulted in the tying goal with 6:29 to play.

Junior defenseman Adam Baumgardner dumped the puck into the Latrobe zone where Mack won a battle on the boards to find a cutting Ryan Crossey. The sophomore forward buried a one-timer to knot the score at two.

"We wanted them to dump all game long, but for one reason or another it didn't work out. They held the puck too long or there was some reaching by the other team and they got some sticks on pucks," the coach said.

The Panthers took all the momentum into the sudden victory overtime period, but the excitement was short lived.

Latrobe (22-3-1) sealed the win when Rossi got his own rebound from a slap shot and beat Livecchi top shelf on the glove side to send the Wildcats to the state championship and bring the Panthers' season to a close.