Hometown hero Carter Flegner used the big stage of the Senior Class Tournament championship game to shine upon, scoring two goals and one assist in his home rink as Section 8 edged Section 3 by a score of 6-4 Sunday afternoon at the Waupun Community Center.

The Waupun senior, who scored four of his seven goals in February when it counted most, knocked in a pair of goals to lead his S8 squad to its first SCT title since 2011.

Section 8 had a few good chances in the middle of the opening period, but were denied either by the S3 defense or goalie Trevin Milbauer to keep the game scoreless.

Nicholas Quandt put S8 in the lead with just over five minutes left in the first when he grabbed a pass from Douglass Kirkhoffer at the blue line, skated a couple strides and then fired a shot from the left circle that beat the goalie to make it 1-0.

Four minutes later, S8 increased the lead to 2-0.

Defenseman Noah Blanck launched a shot from the top of the left circle through traffic that beat Milbauer with 1:14 left, with assists to Peyton Kesselhon and Flegner.

Not the be outdone, S3 scored a last-minute goal to cut the lead in half.

Andy Rothmeier grabbed a loose puck in the neutral zone, skated to the left dot and fired a shot that beat goalie Chris Clement to make it 2-1. 

The period ended with S8 holding a 12-5 shot edge.

Early in the second period, S8 had three power play chances, including nearly a minute of 5-on-3, but would wait until they were on the basic man-advantage before scoring.

Flegner worked the puck down to the lower part of the right circle and beat the S3 goalie high on the glove side to bump the S8 lead to 3-1. Blanck and Ethan Hill had helpers on the scoring play.

Just about one minute later, S3 cut the lead to 3-2.

After a shot bounced off the goalie and went behind the net, Colton Flammini grabbed the puck and snuck a wrap-around past the S8 goalie for the unassisted tally. 

The play went back-and-forth for several minutes before S8 would rebuild the lead to two goals.

A shot from the point was stopped by new goalie Kade Gerritson, but Kesselhon poked at the puck until it went across the goal line with just under four minutes left.

S3 had a couple nice chances as the clock wound down, topped off by a 2-on-1 chance that goalie Colin Fessler stopped as teammate Kade Tenneson slid head-first into the net after the whistle had blown.

S8 once again held the shot edge, 16-9.

Early in the third period, S8 made it 5-2 with a re-direct in front of the net by Hill, with assists to Connor Kruk and Kyle O'Connor just two minutes in.

S3 was relentless as they chipped into the lead six minutes later. Lochlan Siegmeier banged home a rebound from the slot to chop the lead to 5-3.

Four minutes later, S3 cut the lead to one while playing short-handed.

After a steal, Leo Knapp and Nick Norrgran came in on a 2-on-1 and after receiving a pass in the right circle, Knapp changed the scoreboard to 5-4 with 3:33 left on the clock.

But in heroic fashion, Flegner ripped a shot from the top of the right circle to account for the final goal with 2:10 left. Tenneson, recovered from his slide into the net a period earlier, got an assist on the play.

S3 pulled its goalie with 83 seconds left, but failed to score as S8 pulled off a victory for the 2019 SCT championship.

Shots were 13 each in the period. For S8, Clement (7) and Fessler (16) combined for 23 saves. On the other end, Milbauer (17) and Gerritson (17) notched 34 saves.