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BALLWIN • Andrew Herweck issued a challenge just minutes after his Kirkwood High hockey team knocked off Edwardsville 4-2 on Monday night.

The sophomore winger was basking in the afterglow of the Pioneers' biggest win of the young season.

"Soon we'll show those catholic schools that we're championship material too," Herweck said, referring to perennial powers CBC and St. Louis U. High.

The Pioneers might not be ready for the upper echelon of the Mid-States Club Hockey Association just yet.

But the huge triumph at Queeny Park is a step in the right direction.

Kirkwood (3-2) reeled off four unanswered goals to stun the Tigers, who reached the final four last season.

"Sometimes it's a confidence thing with our guys," Kirkwood coach Mark Fischer said. "Tonight, they showed up to the front door with the right attitude and they got the win."

The Pioneers have the pieces in place to take a run at the big dogs. They will face SLUH, which reached the Challenge Cup championship game each of the last three years, on Dec. 2. Two weeks later comes a showdown with four-time defending champion CBC.

Herweck, for one, is ready to take that final step.

"We have a lot of confidence," he said. "A lot."

Added sophomore goaltender Mitchell Day, "At the start of the year, we didn't really know what to expect. But this shows us just how good we can be."

Herweck scored two goals, including the game-winner, and Day turned in a masterful performance by stopping 31 of 33 shots. He gave up a pair of first-period goals and then shut the door the rest of the way with 24 successive stops. Day was strong down the stretch, holding off the Tigers when they pulled their goalie and had a 6-on-4 advantage during crunch time.

"He let up two and then he found his way back into the game," Fischer said. "He was mentally engaged for the entire game. Kudos to him."

James Reilly and Jack Wess also scored for the winners.

"When you have a peaks-and-valleys game like this, it's a mental battle," Fischer said. "We got down 2-0, but we believed in the process and ultimately it worked for us in the end."

Herweck broke a 2-2 tie with a gritty goal midway through the second period. He came from behind the net and muscled the puck past goaltender Matthew Griffin from the side of the cage.

The tally capped off a three-goal blitz in 7 minutes and 52 seconds that turned the game around.

Edwardsville (2-4-1) jumped to a 2-0 lead on goals by William Schuster and Stanley Lucas in the first 12:50.

Herweck started the comeback by scoring a power-play goal off a wicked wrist shot from the slot late in the opening period.

Reilly tied the contest early in the second period with another power-play goal, this one came off a slapper from inside the blue line. That set the stage for Herweck's partial wrap-around that put the Pioneers ahead to stay 3-2.

Wess pumped the lead to 4-2 with a shorthanded breakaway tally with 78 seconds left in the second period.

Day took over from there with a trio of highlight-reel saves over the final nine minutes.

The Tigers, who lost several key players from last year's 20-8-1 team, controlled play for long stretches during the first and third periods.

"Second period cost us the game," Edwardsville coach Jason Walker said. "We got in a little penalty trouble and we just didn't respond like we should have."