By Michael Horan | Special to The Michigan Catholic

Orchard Lake -- After letting in two early goals senior goaltender Jake Theut was determined to stop anything that would come his way.

Forty-one saves later, Theut and four unanswered goals from Warren De La Salle led them to a 5-3 victory over Novi Detroit Catholic Central and to the Division I Catholic League Championship.

“It’s called Jake Theut,” Dan Barry, De La Salle head coach said. “Jake played great for us and Jake’s been in a zone lately and been playing really well for us. I even told him after the game, he’s the one who won the game for us, he kept us in there.”

Catholic Central took the lead after a pass from senior defenseman Mike Neal was intercepted by junior forward Joe Steele who wristed a shot that deflected off a Pilot defenseman past Theut for a 1-0 lead with 4:26 left in the first.

Another Pilot turnover with 1:44 left led to a backhanded goal from senior forward Ryan Keller, giving Catholic Central a commanding two-goal lead.

“We knew CC was going to come out strong, they’re just a great team and we had to weather the storm for the first five seven, minutes we told them,” Barry said. “They started slowing up a little. We gave them two giveaways in our zone and they capitalized on them which CC does.”

De La Salle was able to get a late goal with 1:28 remaining when senior forward Zander Tu redirected senior defenseman Brad Annas’ shot, cutting the lead to 2-1.

“We told them we’ve been here before, we’ve been down two goals, we’ve been down three goals and just keep moving your feet, just relax and we’ll get them in the second period,” Barry said.

The Pilots put the pressure on in the second period, scoring three goals, two in a span of 35 seconds.

Senior forward Aaron Yaden scored with 14:57 remaining with a wrist shot, tying the game 2-2. Senior forward Shane McKenna added another Pilot goal after tapping in a rebound from junior forward Brian Feldpausch’s shot, putting De La Salle up 3-2.

Feldpausch got a tap-in goal of his own with 11:21 remaining, after McKenna’s shot was redirected out front by Catholic Central’s senior goaltender Alex Nork, extending the Pilots lead to 4-2.

Catholic Central was able to get back within one when sophomore Michael Babcock scored with 8:20 remaining, ending the second period 4-3.

De La Salle got an insurance goal early in the third period with 10:14 remaining when Annas took a 3-on-1 break by himself and scored, putting the Pilots up for good, 5-3.

Catholic Central pulled their goalie with 1:37 remaining, but Theut again came up big.

“My defense threw the puck in front of the net so I could see every shot. The team played really good, the offense, the defense, all-around,” Theut said. “Just hard work and dedication at practice, we’ve been down before, we knew we could come back and we did.”

Annas ended the game with a goal and two assists and Feldpausch had a goal and an assist for De La Salle (19-3-1, 4-0 Catholic League). Steele, Keller and Babcock each had a goal for Catholic Central.

“It’s huge,” Theut said. “…To bounce back now, man we’re on a roll now, no one’s stopping us.