Franklin senior faceoff specialist Zach Alt won 15 of 22 faceoffs and his teammates scored on five extra-man opportunities to lift the Indians (6-7) to a 12-6 victory over host Catonsville (6-8) in the second round of the regional playoffs.
The Indians (6-7) advance to play at Mervo, Monday, May 16, in the Class 4A-3A South Region Section II semifinals.
Catonsville High coach Bucky Belford could only praise the Franklin senior.
"Tip you hat off to no. 9 (Alt), he won that game for those kids." Belford said. "They dominated the X and they beat us on ground balls and that is pretty much the name of the game."
Alt won nine of 10 faceoffs in the second and third quarters and helped the Indians build an 8-5 lead going into the final quarter.
"That was 100 percent Zach. He knew he had to play better than the last time," said Franklin coach Joe Madigan, whose Indians lost 8-7 in overtime at home to the Comets during the regular season. "He gave it his all, he limited his mistakes and he was able to minimize some of his weaknesses. He was a big part of the difference today."
Alt used the regular-season loss as fuel.
"We lost on our senior night and we came out fired up and ready to play this game," Alt said. "We came off the bus with the motivation to win today."
Several of his faceoff wins came after the Comets gained some momentum and it stalled that right away.
"I kind of got control of the refs cadence and I just kind of took control of that from there," Alt said.
Franklin junior Jeremy Witzler (game-high 4 goals) took control of the scoring early for the Indians with an unassisted goal and conversion of a feed from Timmy Jones to give the Indians a 2-0 lead.
The Comets crept back and tied it by the end of the quarter on goals by Bryce Spinato (2 goals) and Luke Palmisano.
Spinato's goal was set up by outstanding hustle from Palmisano who saved a ball heading out of bounds with a backhand flip.
An assist by Reid Merlo (1 goal, 2 assists) to Brody Unkart (2 goals, 3 assists) made it 3-2 49 seconds into the second quarter and they upped the margin to 4-2 with 6:36 left on a goal by Jones off an Unkart assist.
That score started when the Indians took possession after an excellent double team from Jack Clements and Barazani Chiwengo forced a turnover.
Following a Franklin timeout, goalie Alex Khadra started a sweet clear to Chase Goldstein and he found Unkart who delivered the feed.
The Comets cut the lead in half following a Franklin slash as Andrew Peabody scored off Ray Rada's assist with 3:49 left until halftime and the game remained that way into the third quarter.
With three seconds left on a 30-second penalty, Witzler scored to give the Indians a 5-3 lead with 9:11 left in the third quarter.
Less than a minute later, the Comets got a ground ball win by Rada and that led to a goal by Colin Burk off Palmisano's feed, making it 5-4 with 8:22 left.
The Comets regained possession with the chance to tie, but Franklin capitalized on a one minute penalty with a goal by Jack Silcott, making it 6-4 with 7:36 left.
The extra-man goals were a surprise to Franklin coach Madigan.
"Our extra man has really been hurting. We haven't had that rhythm and we haven't had that flow and we haven't had all of our guys on the same page and anticipating what is going to happen two passes ahead, but we did today," he said. "The man up was just placing shots and stepping into the lanes. It was excellent."
Silcott's unassisted goal made it 7-4 with 6:40 left in the third, but the Comets responded with a goal by Spinato, off Burk's assist, with 4:08 left.
The Comets couldn't cut the lead to one despite a man advantage for 30 seconds because Aman Speed made a fine defensive stop and clear and that led to Jones' goal off Unkart's assist for an 8-5 led with 43 seconds left in the quarter.
The Indians dominated the time of possession and outscored the Comets 4-1 the rest of the way.
Catonsville's only goal in the fourth quarter came from sophomore Charlie Krause who was called up from the junior varsity.
Another promoted junior varsity player, freshman Jack Lowe, also made an impact on defense.
"Our future looks good, our jayvee went 10-4 and we've got some good young players that are on the come, they've just got to develop and work hard in the offseason and we will be fine in the future years," Belford said.
But the coach will surely miss the seven seniors that played in their final game for the Comets.
They included: Deven Roberts, Danny Manley, Colin Burk, Andrew Peabody, Evan Stuart-Paul, Ray Rada and Luke Weinkam.
"I'm proud of these kids this year. They fought hard and they battled as hard as they could," Belford said. "I can't fault them for the effort they gave me."
The regular season win over the Indians also gave the younger players some confidence.
"We hadn't beat them in four or five years and they were defending county champs and that was like our first signature win," Belford said. "We knew we could play with them and now these kids have confidence and next year when we see them again we can step on the field and they can play with anybody."
Fortunately for Franklin, that loss also made an impact.
"When we lost, right away we knew we were going to see them again and in practice it was just doing as much as we could to improve and minimize mistakes and get everybody on the same page," Madigan said.
Scoring
Franklin 12
Goals: Jeremy Witzler 4, Brody Unkart 2, Timmy Jones 2, Jack Silcott 2, Peid Merlo 1, Jack Clements 1
Assists: Unkart 3, Jones 2, Merlo 2
Saves: Alex Khadra 8
Shots: 33
Catonsville 6
Goals: Bryce Spinato 2, Luke Palmisano 1, Andrew Peabody 1, Colin Burk 1, Charlie Krause 1
Assists: Palmisano 1, Burk 1, Drew Bateman 1
Saves: Trenton Lazorchak 6
Shots: 25