Seniors Jordan DePetres and Zachary Mitrano each scored a hat trick, but Hilton saw their 9-1 third quarter lead evaporate into an 11-10 loss to visiting Penfield with the winning goal coming with two seconds remaining in regulation.
DePetres staked the Cadets to a 1-0 off an assist from Matthew Gouger a little over three minutes into the contest, but the Patriots tied it 1-1 on an empty-net goal following a turnover.
Hilton rebounded though, scoring eight unanswered goals.
Using a patient offensive set, the Cadets held for one late in the first quarter before junior Justin Mosher found classmate Brenden Howell, who rifled the ball from the right flank with 20 seconds left.
Sophomore Benjamin Mitrano then took the draw and drove toward the net before finding the upper right corner with .4 seconds on the clock for a 3-1 Hilton lead.
The Cadets owned possession and the scoreboard in the second quarter with four more tallies. Zachary Mitrano scored three times, the last with an assist from Howell while Gouger found the back of the net after a pass from DePetres at 5:30 as the Cadets led 7-1 at halftime.
DePetres opened the second half as he cut to the middle and scored 1:57 in and Benjamin Mitrano followed 34 seconds later with a man-up goal assisted by Howell to make it 9-1.
Penfield then stepped up their defensive zone pressure to create several turnovers and went on an offensive rampage with four goals in less than seven minutes in the third quarter with only DePetres’ hat trick goal coming off the right wing to interrupt the run.
The Patriots scored four more times over the first nine minutes of the fourth, including three within a 43 second span, to tie the game 10-10 leading to the late game-winner.
Hilton has yet to defeat Penfield in the 16-game history of the series that started in 2003 and fell to 1-3 on the young season with their only victory 13-5 over Rush-Henrietta.
