SPORTS

Main News
County Living
Sports
Schools
Church Announcements
Classifieds
Dated Events
Military News
Columnists
Editorials/Opinions
Obituaries
Archives
Subscribe to the Transcript

 

Veterans Special Running November 8th

Call Today To Place Your Ad

 

 

 

Please visit our kind sponsor

Issue Home October 25, 2006 Site Home

HEADLINES:
Local Sports Scene
NASCAR Racing

Blue Ridge Triplets Host Homecoming



Mountain View Boys Take Soccer Title
By Tom Robinson

Mountain View has made an impression in recent years with its ability to be competitive against larger schools while playing up in Division I of the Lackawanna Soccer League.

The Eagles did more than compete this season.

They came away with the championship for the first time with a 3-2 victory over Delaware Valley Saturday night in a home game played under portable lights.

Mountain View needed two tries to take the division title away from defending champion Abington Heights.

The Comets kept themselves in contention with a 2-1 win Wednesday night at Mountain View.

The Eagles, however, had given themselves room for error with a strong finish in the balanced division. They made the most of their second chance to clinch, completing the division schedule with an 11-2-1 record, including 6-1-1 in the last eight games.

Joe Scanlon scored two first-half goals and Adam Walker broke a 2-2 tie to give Mountain View the win and the title.

WEEK IN REVIEW

The Susquehanna girls' volleyball team, Forest City boys' soccer team and Elk Lake girls' cross country team all completed unbeaten regular seasons while winning championships.

Susquehanna and Elk Lake were Lackawanna League champions.

Forest City took the Lackawanna Division III title.

In Lackawanna Football Conference play, Montrose and Susquehanna each lost Division III games.

Montrose was competitive early in a 33-6 loss to defending champion and current division leader Lackawanna Trail.

Susquehanna was never in the game during a 35-0 loss to Bishop O'Hara.

Lackawanna Trail and host Montrose combined for three straight scoring drives to end the first quarter with the Lions on top, 14-6.

Jared Fowler, who moved to tailback because of an injury to Taylor Smith, scored for Montrose on a four-yard run. Fowler finished the game with 144 yards rushing.

Trail intercepted two passes inside the 20 and forced an incompletion on the final play of the half to maintain its lead.

The Lions then dominated the second half while scoring three more times.

Bishop O'Hara did not need any second-half points against visiting Susquehanna. The second half was played in the Mercy Rule after the Bruins scored on their first four possessions and added a fifth score before halftime.

The Bruins converted four straight third-down situations in the first quarter and added a touchdown on the first play of the second quarter for a 20-0 lead. The third score was set up by a bad snap by the Sabers in punt formation.

Bishop O'Hara out-gained Susquehanna, 155-15, in the first quarter. The Bruins escaped trouble by recovering their own fumbles on the opening kickoff, the first play from scrimmage and the second play of their second drive.

Susquehanna forced third-and-nine and third-and-10 situations to start each of the first two Bishop O'Hara drives but gave up pass completions to convert both.

In junior high cross country, Elk Lake ran away with the District 2 Class AA boys' championship, 42-70, over Scranton Prep.

The Warriors had all seven runners in the top 23 - top 21 among full teams - while no other school was able to even place five in the top 35.

Montrose was ninth out of 14 full teams.

County runners swept the individual Class AA titles.

Bryan Grosvenor led Elk Lake to its title by finishing first in 10:07.

Blue Ridge's Allison Hall won the girls' race in 11:50.

Tyler Williams finished third for Elk Lake in 10:19, followed by Michael Bedell in seventh, Sean Carney in 15th, Will Bennett in 19th, Jeff Horvath in 22nd and Keaton Bennett in 23rd.

Five County girls finished in the top 16.

Forest City's Alyssa Corey was ninth, Montrose's Samantha Abbott was 12th, Elk Lake's Maria Trowbridge was 13th and Susquehanna's Kelsey Carmody was 16th.

COLLEGE CORNER

Ryan Place, a junior from Elk Lake, has led Allegheny College in Meadville into the national rankings among National Collegiate Athletic Association Division III cross country teams.

Place is consistently the top runner for the Gators.

Place finished second in the 10-team University of Rochester Invitational.

A week earlier, Place was 21st at the Penn State Invitational where Allegheny finished eighth out of 16 teams and came in ahead of Lock Haven, the 13th-ranked team in the national in Division II.

Place had a win and two second-place finishes in his first three meets of the season. He finished eight seconds head of the next-best runner in the NCAA Division III Pre-Regional Meet at Waynesburg College, completing the 8,000-meter course in 26:06.84.

THE WEEK AHEAD

Montrose (1-2 in the division and 4-4 overall) is at Bishop O'Hara (2-1, 5-2) Friday night and Carbondale (1-2, 4-4) is at Susquehanna (0-3, 1-7) Saturday in Lackawanna Football Conference Division III games.

Our predictions last week included hitting an exact score in picking Delaware Valley to beat Scranton, 23-7. For the week, we were 9-1, bringing our season record to 68-19 (78.1 percent).

This week's predictions, with home teams in CAPS:  Montrose 16, BISHOP O'HARA 13; Carbondale 33, SUSQUEHANNA 12; DELAWARE VALLEY 35, North Pocono 6; Valley View 21, WEST SCRANTON 15; Wallenpaupack 21, HONESDALE 20; Dunmore 34, MID VALLEY 0; Lakeland 20, RIVERSIDE 7; SCRANTON PREP 46, Western Wayne 20; LACKAWANNA TRAIL 27, Old Forge 13; ABINGTON HEIGHTS 27, Scranton 6.

In cross country, the District 2 championships are scheduled for Wednesday at Scranton Municipal Golf Course.

The Class AA girls' race is scheduled for noon. The Class AA boys' race is set for 2:15.

District 2 sends three teams and the next 15 individuals to the state meet in both races.

In girls' volleyball, Susquehanna will host the District 2 Class A semifinals Tuesday, October 31.

TOM ROBINSON writes a weekly local sports column for the Susquehanna County Transcript. He can be reached online at RobbyTR@aol.com.

Back to Top

 

NASCAR Racing
By Gerald Hodges

The Racing Reporter

JOHNSON Wins Subway 500 At Martinsville, Martinsville, VA – Jimmy Johnson took the lead for the last time on lap 445 of the 500-lap Subway 500, Sunday at Martinsville, and then held off Denny Hamlin for his 23rd career win.

Jimmie Johnson gets congratulations from his wife Chandra, after winning the Subway 500.

The 18th and final race caution came on lap 486. When the field took the green on lap 495, the leaders were: Johnson, Hamlin, Bobby Labonte, Jeff Gordon, and Tony Stewart.

Hamlin was able to get the nose of his No. 11 Fed-Ex Chevrolet under Johnson going into turn-3 and gave him a small tap, just enough to move Johnson’s No. 48 up the track. But Hamlin was not able to complete the pass, and fell a couple car lengths back.

“It was short track racing at its best,” said Johnson. “I knew that he (Hamlin) was going to give me a shot. If he had gotten by me, I would have done the same to him.

“We’ve been down and out, but luck is a strange thing. Luck is a deal that you can never predict.”

Johnson’s win moved him up four spots, from seventh to third in Chase points.

“He had a better car than we did on the long runs,” said Hamlin. “I only had one chance to get him. Our car was running on seven cylinders all day long. Jimmie did a great job of hanging on.”

Hamlin moved up two spots, to fourth.

The third-place finish for Bobby Labonte, who drives Richard Petty’s No. 43, was his best of the season.

Tony Stewart was fourth, followed by Jeff Gordon, Casey Mears, Kasey Kahne, Jeff Green, Kevin Harvick, and Kyle Petty.

Even though Matt Kenseth finished 11th, he is now the Chase leader.

Dale Earnhardt Jr. ran up front for most of the race, but during lap 476, a car spun out in front of him and he locked up his brakes. He pitted for fresh tires and finished 22nd, but lost one points position.

“I got into the brakes and the car started wheel-hopping down in the corner and just spun out,” he said. “I just made a mistake.”

Previous points leader, Jeff Burton had several bad racing incidents, including an engine that went south in his No. 31. He finished 42nd, and dropped from first to fifth in points. His teammate Kevin Harvick also had problems, but finished ninth and moved up to second in points.

Unofficial top ten results of Subway 500: 1. Jimmie Johnson, 2. Denny Hamlin, 3. Bobby Labonte, 4. Tony Stewart, 5. Jeff Gordon, 6. Casey Mears, 7. Kasey Kahne, 8. Jeff Green, 9. Kevin Harvick, 10. Kyle Petty.

Chase for the Nextel Cup Contenders after 6 of 10 races: 1. Kenseth-5848, 2. Harvick-5812, 3. Johnson-5807, 4. Hamlin-5801, 5. J. Burton-5800, 6. Earnhardt-5754, 7. Martin-5752, 8. Kahne-5749, 9. J. Gordon-5707, 10. Kyle Busch-5677.

700 And Counting For SCHRADER – Ken Schrader made his 700th Cup start Sunday at Martinsville.

He was running tenth At Martinsville, but wound up 41 after being spun out by David Ragan early in the race.

“I moved him earlier at Dover,” said Schrader. “But I didn’t wreck him. He just paid me back. That’s all there was to it. No problem.”

At one point in his career, Schrader competed in more than 100 races a year. Besides driving a full Cup slate every year since 1985, Schrader has also operated his own teams in the Busch and Craftsman Truck series.

In 2005 he ran 10 Truck races, and also drives his self-owned teams in the NASCAR Grand National West Division, the NASCAR Auto Zone Elite Southwest Series and the ARCA Series. He's also known to show up at a dirt track throughout the year in his native Midwest.

But the laps are winding down for the 51-year-old driver of the Wood Bros. No. 21. In 2007, third-generation driver Jon Wood will share driving duties with Schrader.

It was on the dirt tracks where Schrader's career began. He started out driving mostly open-wheel cars and won in every division he raced, including two USAC championships – 1982 Silver Crown and '83 Sprint Car.

Wanting to drive a stock car, Schrader got his wish when in 1984 he started five Cup races for owner Elmo Langley He twice finished in the top-20, including a 17th-place run at North Wilkesboro.

The following year Schrader was in a full-time Cup ride for owner Junie Donlavey. He scored three top-10s to become the top rookie of 1985.

Schrader moved to Hendrick Motorsports in 1988 and for the next nine years finished in the top-10 in the final point standings six times. His first career victory came in July 1988 at Talladega.

During his tenure with Hendrick, Schrader posted all four of his career victories, 54 top-fives and 110 top-10s. In '94 he finished a career-best fourth in points.

After spending the past three seasons with BAM Motorsports, Schrader moved to the Wood Bros. No. 21, at the beginning of the 2006 season.

Schrader has two career Busch victories and one in the Truck Series as driver-owner. Schrader has 25 victories in varying series since Schrader Racing was formed in 1987.

In addition to being an owner and driver, Schrader for the past 10 years has been co-promoter of I-55 Raceway, a three-eighths-mile dirt track in Pevely, Mo.

SPRAGUE Wins Martinsville Truck Race – Top-10 Craftsman Truck Series leaders: 1. Bodine-3197, 2. Benson-3118, 3. Reutimann-2930, 4. Musgrave-2923, 5. Crawford-2846, 6. Starr-2814, 7. Hornaday-2789, 8. Sprague-2728, 9. Cook-2693, 10. Setzer-2671.

WEEKEND RACING

With only four race weekends left in the 2006 season, the Cup and Truck teams will be at the 1.5-mile Atlanta Motor Speedway, while the Busch Series travels to the .75-mile Memphis Motorsports Park. Television viewers will have to make a choice on Saturday between the Busch and Truck race, because starting time for both is 2 p.m.

Saturday, October 28, Craftsman Truck Series Easy Care 200, race 22 of 25, 134 laps, 2 p.m. TV: Speed Channel.

Saturday, October 28, Busch Series Sam’s Town 250, race 32 of 35, 250 laps, 2 p.m. TV: NBC.

Racing Trivia Question: How many Toyota teams will Michael Waltrip Racing field in 2007?

Last Week’s Question: How much money will Nextel Cup’s eleventh-place finisher receive at this year’s banquet? Answer. His share of the Nextel Cup point’s fund will be $1-million.

If you have any NASCAR questions, e-mail them to: hodgesnews@earthlink.net.

 

Back to Top

 

Blue Ridge Triplets Host Homecoming

The Blue Ridge Triplets’ season looked grim immediately after the June, 2006 flooding. Many wondered if there would even be a Pee Wee Football program for the Triplets this year, after the flood waters carried the three buildings that housed all the equipment, the concession stand, and the announcer’s booth downstream. The high waters even eroded a good chunk of the field, requiring a six-foot fence to be put up for safety. Thanks to generous help from the local community, other local football programs, and the Triplets’ officers, parents, and players, the season began on time, with plenty of eager cheerleaders and football players to fill the rosters.

Pictured are Taylor Guinan and Ashley Aldrich being escorted around the field after being crowned the Blue Ridge Triplets’ 2007 Homecoming King and Queen.

The Triplets’ regular season ended on October 7, with a beautiful Homecoming celebration. After recognizing all the cheerleaders and football players who are moving up to the next age level, those that are too old to play next year were honored. The ceremony ended with the crowning of the Triplets’ 2006 Homecoming King and Queen. Congratulations to Taylor Guinan and Ashley Aldrich for earning the honor.

Back to Top

 


 

News  |  Living  |  Sports  |  Schools  |  Churches  |  Ads  |  Events
Military  |  Columns  |  Ed/Op  |  Obits  | Archive  |  Subscribe