It took five close games, but the Elora Mohawks downed the Six Nations Rebels to win their OLA lacrosse playoff series Sunday night.
The Mohawks won the first two games in the series, but Six Nations came back to win the next two, setting up a fifth game showdown in Ohsweken Sunday night.
Despite a seven-goal barrage in the second and third periods by Six Nations, the Elora Mohawks tied the game, and then pulled ahead in the final minutes of the third period, taking a 10-9 victory and the best of five series.
The score was tied 2-2 late in the first when Kyle Dobbie's powerplay goal at 19:35 gave the Mohawks the lead - and Elora went on to score four unanswered goals in the first 15 minutes of the second period.
Elora was up 7-2 with about five minutes left in the second when Six Nations scored, followed only 20 seconds later by an answering goal from the Mohawks.
Six Nations cut the Elora lead to 8-4 by the end of the second period, and then came out flying in the third, beating goalie Ricky McGarr five times in the first 9:30 of the period and taking a 9-8 lead.
That's how things stayed until Six Nations' Carney Johnson was called for interference at 16:05. Twenty seconds later Brady Heseltine scored the tying goal (assists to Matt Hummel and Dobbie).
Heseltine, fed by Jake Weidner and Dobbie, scored the game winner with less than two minutes remaining in the period.
There were only four penalties called in the game - two on each team. Elora capitalized on both Six Nations penalties, while the Rebels scored on one of two Elora penalties. Six Nations outshot Elora 54-45.
Scoring for the Mohawks: Jordan Denny (1 goal, 1 assist), Matt Hummel (1 goal, 3 assists), Jordan Godin (1 goal, 1 assist), Brady Heseltine (3 goals), Jake Weidner (1 goal, 2 assists), Dan Keane (1 goal, 2 assists), Kyle Dobbie (1 goal, 3 assists), Steve Hutchison (1 goal)  and Mark Pfohl, Todd Scarrow, Alex Gleeson, Kyle Goss (1 assist).
Mohawks fans endured a heartbreaker Saturday night at the Elora Community Centre, as Six Nations came from behind to tie their Game 4 matchup 6-6 after three periods.
The Mohawks were leading 3-2 after the first and 6-5 after two when the Rebels' Chris Attwood scored the only goal in the third to tie the game.
Six Nations scored first in OT, but Kyle Dobbie from Matt Hummel and Todd Scarrow evened the score at 7-7 by the end of the first overtime period. Six Nations' Torrey VanEvery gave the game to the Rebels less than a minute into the second OT.
Scoring for Elora: Matt Hummel (2 goals, 2 assists), Mark Pfohl (1 goal, 2 assists), Brady Heseltine (2 goals), Todd Scarrow (2 assists), Kyle Dobbie (2 goals), Ricky McGarr (2 assists), and Jordan Denny, Dan Keane and Evan Benham (1 assist).
In Game 3, Elora were ahead 2-1 early in the game, but Six Nations came on strong in the second period and were leading 7-4 in the second. Elora fought back but couldn't come closer than two goals down; the final score was 8-6.
Scoring for the Mohawks: Mark Pfohl (1 goal, 3 assists), Jake Weidner (1, 2), Kyle Dobbie (1, 1), Brady Heseltine and Dan Keane (2 assists each), Kyle Goss and Jordan Godin (1 goal each), Shane MacDonald and Todd Scarrow (1 assist each).