Nolan Murphy’s second goal of the night proved the difference in overtime, as South Fayette edged host Franklin Regional 6-5 in a back-and-forth contest at the Palmer Imaging Arena in Delmont. The game featured six lead changes and five ties.

As a result of the outcome, the Panthers drop to 1-2-2, with four points in Class AA, while the Lions improve to 2-1-1, with five points.

South Fayette opened the scoring less than two minutes into the game, as Nathaniel Keller put the Lions in the early lead. FR responded with a pair of goals, though, courtesy of Nick Matus and Brendan Yohe, the first of his three markers. Murphy deadlocked the score just seconds later, though, and Trevor Dalessandro scored late in the period to put SF back in front.

Franklin Regional’s leading scorer, Max Rutkowski, struck just 37 seconds into the second period, but a power play marker by Tyler Brandebura put the Lions back in front, 4-3, after two periods.

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Yohe delivered back-to-back goals near the midway point of the third to give the Panthers the lead, the second of which came on a feed from Rutkowski on a two-on-one with 7:17 left. Just more than a minute later, however, the Lions pulled even again, as Dalessandro tallied his second goal of the game.

In the three-on-three overtime, Murphy’s shot from the point found the back of the net with 57 seconds remaining to give South Fayette the victory.

In addition to Yohe’s hat trick, Rutkowski also provided a multi-point effort for Franklin Regional, with one goal and one helper, while David Valentino made 27 saves in net.

Dalessandro, Tyler Brandebura, and Robert Chiappetta each posted three points for South Fayette, while Zachary Bender made 13 saves between the pipes.

Franklin Regional returns to action next Tuesday, hosting Norwin at 8 p.m. at the Palmer Imaging Arena.