UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa.-- Throughout his long and highly successful career at Serra Catholic, head basketball coach Bob Rozanski's season had often times ended with the disappointment of a devastating loss in either the WPIAL or PIAA boys' basketball playoffs ... up until now.

"It seemed that the further we went in the playoffs, the harder it kept getting to pull the plug on the season and be able to put it all behind me and be able to move forward," Rozanski said.

But, he should have realized that this season might be different after Serra won its first WPIAL boys' basketball championship last month. This was the year that Rozanski and his Eagles would just flat out refuse to have "the plug pulled" on their season.

Serra (30-2) capped a sometimes incredible PIAA Class A playoff run with a stunning come-from-behind 67-66 win over District 12 champion Freire Charter of Philadelphia in the title game Friday at Penn State's Bryce Jordan Center.

Several times along the road to the title, the Eagles' hopes seemed to be teetering on life support.

In the second round of the PIAA tournament, they trailed Bishop Guilfoyle by eight points entering the fourth quarter but rallied to win, 50-46.

In the PIAA semifinals, Serra trailed five-time state champion Kennedy Catholic by six points, 71-65, with 43 seconds remaining, rallied to force overtime, then prevailed, 78-76.

Against Freire Charter in the championship game, Serra found itself in a familiar spot -- trailing late in the game.

The Eagles were down 60-48 with 4:59 left before going on a 19-6 scoring run to close the contest and give them their first PIAA championship in school history. Pat Grubbs, a 6-foot-8 center, was the driving force in the comeback. Grubbs scored 17 of his game-high 31 in the fourth quarter on 7 of 9 shooting from the field.

"T.J. [Heatherington] has the ability to get to the hoop and be creative and that really opened things up for me," said Grubbs, who will play next year at Pitt-Johnstown. "Their athleticism gave us trouble early, but we just kept battling them and were able to stay within range."

Rozanski, who earlier this season won his 500th career game at Serra, couldn't help but marvel at the way in which his team just refused to quit at any time.

"I have to admit that it did look bleak, but once we got it down to six, I thought that maybe we had a chance," Rozanski said. "They were starting to crack a little bit.

"I've been on the other side enough to know that sometimes there is just nothing you can do as a coach to stop it once it begins to happen. This team has just so much tenacity and toughness and together with talent, they have made for a combination that doesn't happen often."

"I told our guys during the game that it had to come from our hearts," Grubbs said. "There was no way we weren't going to do all that was in our power to pull this out for ourselves and coach [Rozanski]."

The Eagles did not get the numbers they were accustomed to from Heatherington and senior Anthony Epolito against Freire Charter, but the pair did make big plays at key times and the Eagles received a strong effort off the bench from junior Dave Menzies, who scored nine points and had four rebounds in just nine minutes of action.

Junior forward Alex Matta pitched in with six points and eight rebounds.

Heatherington scored just six points and Epolito had only nine. After averaging 17.5 and 16.7, respectively, for the season going into the game. The duo was a combined 4 of 24 from the field in the game. They both made key contributions, however, at crucial times. Heatherington's coming on the defensive end of the floor and Epolito's by connecting on a 3-pointer with 1:27 to go to tie the game at 63-63.

Grubbs said that despite Epolito's struggles he was still one of the major reasons he was able to assert himself in the fourth quarter while Serra rallied.

"They knew that he could break out and start hitting at any time and they had to respect that. Just the threat of Anthony's 3s helped open me up inside," Grubbs said.

Rozanski, who admitted to thinking of retiring from coaching following the previous season, didn't want to even consider his future after Serra became the first WPIAL school since Sewickley Academy in 1997 to capture a PIAA Class A title.

"I'll do the same as I always do. I'll take some time and then see how I feel, " said Rozanski, who has been at Serra for 31 seasons. "I do know one thing though, we don't have to pull the plug on this year and start over this time."