EMMAUS — In high school sports, as the final horn sounds and there are no more games to play in a season, it can be an emotional time for teammates.

For the McPartland brothers – Will, Braedon, and Owen – were together one more time. Each gave determined effort, just as they did throughout a 20-game unbeaten run that ended in the PIAA Class 2A quarterfinals on Saturday at the Emmaus High School Football Stadium.

That made an 11-9 loss to Twin Valley, the third-place team from District 3, even harder to cope with after the postgame team meeting.

Twin Valley (18-3) advanced to the semifinals and a Tuesday matchup with District 1 champion Penncrest, an 18-10 winner over Abington Heights.

Scranton Prep, the District 2 champion, finished 20-1.

“It was the best season of my life, really,” said Braedon McPartland, the team’s leading scorer with four goals and three assists. “To play with my brothers was amazing. I will never get to play with Will again, because he is a senior. I will treasure this and then have a great year next season with Owen.”

 

 

Throughout this memorable journey for Scranton Prep, the team played with poise and a fierce and fiery competitive spirit.

The Cavaliers took on the personality of their leader, Will McPartland, who returned after missing all of last season while rehabilitating a torn ACL suffered during football season. The Fairfield commit played with passion, and while the outcome was not what he hoped for, the three-year starter had plenty to reflect on after a career that finished with 59 games played, 111 goals, and 49 assists.

But none of those individual accomplishments meant more than the opportunity to play with Braedon and Owen.

“This was super special,” Will McPartland, a senior, said. “It is one of my best achievements in my life so far. Helping to bring the program from never winning a district championship to getting to the final four years in a row, winning two, and battling one of the best teams in the state this year, it’s really great.

“Unfortunately, it didn’t go our way, but to do this with my brothers and my teammates, guys who I worked with and shed blood, sweat, and tears with for four years, I am very proud.”

Scranton Prep and Twin Valley traded haymakers throughout the game.

In a frantic final 3:42 of the first quarter, Braedon McPartland scored his first goal off an assist from Owen McPartland that tied the game 1-1. Twin Valley’s Maverick Foster gave the Raiders back the lead on a goal 31 seconds later.

Scranton Prep finished fast with Braedon McPartland and Robert Hogan scoring two goals within 34 seconds of each other. The Cavaliers led 3-2.

Twin Valley’s Colin Gallagher countered Braedon McPartland’s two-goal second quarter. Still, Scranton Prep went to the half clinging to a 5-4 lead.

“I just wanted to keep playing with my brothers, so I was pushing,” Braedon McPartland said. “I wanted this really bad.”

Twin Valley regained a lead on goals by Foster and Keenan Munn. Mackey Lynett, who finished with two goals and three assists in his final game, scored off an assist from Braedon McPartland, and the two teams were locked up in a 6-6 tie.

Jack Rully came alive in the fourth quarter, starting with a goal at 10:54 that gave Scranton Prep the lead 7-6.

Twin Valley’s Drew Engle, a United States Military Academy at West Point commit, scored the first of his three fourth-quarter goals. Then, Lynett answered for Scranton Prep, which had its final lead of the season, 8-7.

“Our coaches did a great job, and we had an awesome week of practice,” Lynett said. “We knew that it was going to be tough games at the end of the season, and we had to focus.”

Midway through the final quarter, Patrick Shanahan scored off an assist from Gallagher. Foster scored his third goal to give the Raiders a 9-8 lead at 5:16.

Scranton Prep got hit with back-to-back penalties on the same play that gave Twin Valley a two-player advantage. Engle fired a goal for a 10-8 lead and only 3:38 remaining.

As they did in the District 2 championship win over Abington Heights and an overtime win over Lower Dauphin in the first round of the state tournament, Scranton Prep refused to surrender.

Rully scored off an assist from Lynett to give the Cavaliers life, 10-9, with 3 minutes remaining.

Twin Valley responded with Engle scoring the final goal to secure the win.

“This team is such a tight group,” Lynett said. “It’s emotional that it came to an end like this. We held it together for a good part of the game; we just lost a little bit down the stretch, and that is just the game sometimes. It’s part of life.

SP goals: B. McPartland 4, Lynett 2, Rully 2, Hogan 1; Assists: Lynett 3, B. McPartland 3, O. McPartland 1; Saves: James 7, Stallman 4. TV goals: Engle 4, Foster 3, Gallagher 2, Munn 1, Shanahan; Assists: Gallagher, Foster; Saves: Murphy 3.