HARRISON TOWNSHIP -- Pat Mitch, welcome to the club.
Mitch, Leechburg's junior center had only two points Tuesday night, but was awarded a "Chairman of the Boards" T-shirt by his coaches after collecting 10 rebounds for the first time in a game this season.
Mitch couldn't have picked a better time to get initiated.
Leechburg posted a 57-47 victory over Sewickley Academy in a WPIAL Class A first-round playoff game at Highlands, marking the first postseason win for Leechburg (15-6) since 1987 -- before some of the current players were even born. And the latest playoff win came against the defending WPIAL champions and PIAA runners-up.
"Finally," Mitch said, referring to both getting 10 rebounds and winning a playoff game. "I've always gotten seven or eight, I even got nine once, but never 10. I didn't think it would happen in a playoff game.
"This is very gratifying. We all came to play. The win is a nice reward."
Leechburg will play the winner of the Serra Catholic/Union game, which is set for 8 tonight at Cornell.
The quarterfinal game will be either Friday or Saturday at a time and site to be determined.
Junior guard Nick Matviko led the Blue Devils with 18 points, junior backcourt mate Andy Tressler added 16, and sophomore forward Steve Predebon had 14 and 10 rebounds.
Predebon had already earned a T-shirt earlier in the season.
Matviko had 12 points in the second half.
"We can't ask for anything better than this win," Matviko said. "Our head coach is awesome. He has come in here and turned this program around."
Mitch also was lauded by Leechburg first-year head coach Damian Davies for his defensive effort, particularly late in the game against the Panthers' George Raftis.
A 6-foot-5 senior center, Raftis scored 10 of his game-high 22 points in the third quarter, but was held to only two in the fourth.
It was evident that the Panthers were missing the three big-name scorers who transferred this year. Ryann Bradford and Amir Johnson went to Quaker Valley -- the team that played West Shamokin in the second game Tuesday at Highlands -- and Antonio DiMaria went to Canevin.
All three would have likely been starters.
Leechburg senior forward Nate Whitlinger also helped to contain Raftis, and helped the Blue Devils hold on to a lead they had since going up 6-5 on a Matviko basket.
"It was a big-man show tonight, if you ask me," Davies said. "We talked about denying Raftis and stopping their penetration, but (the Panthers) played hard. Pat Mitch had a herculean effort tonight. He was trapping guards and taking on big guys down low."
Sewickley Academy (11-13) cut the margin to two five times in the final 10 minutes, but Leechburg held its own and fended off the Panthers.
"Sewickley knows how to win and they didn't give up," Davies said.
"I thought we had control of the game the entire time," Mitch said.
Leechburg seemed to be at its best when it was driving hard to the basket.
"They couldn't stop our penetration," Matviko said.
The Blue Devils went up by nine (32-23) midway through the third quarter on a Matviko lay-up following a charge on Raftis.
After the Panthers got to within 38-36 in the fourth, Predebon, a sophomore forward, and Matviko made back-to-back driving lay-ups to push the lead back to seven at 45-38.
Sewickley's Matt Palmer scored five straight points to make it 45-43, but a jumper and two free throws by Predebon, and a lay-in by junior guard Andy Tressler gave the Blue Devils a cushion with 1:04 left.
After two missed 3-point tries by the Panthers, Matviko converted an unconventional three-point play to make it 55-45.
"I felt we kind of wore them down as the game went on," Davies said.
