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Issue Home March 7, 2007 Site Home

HEADLINES:
Local Sports Scene
NASCAR Racing

2007 Preseason Trout Stocking Schedule


Mountain View Reaches State Tournament

The Mountain View boys’ basketball team extended a successful season by qualifying for the state Class AA tournament.

The Eagles are the last winter sports team standing from Susquehanna County after finishing second in the District 2 tournament.

Amir Bey scored 22 points Friday night as unbeaten Bishop Hoban defeated Mountain View, 61-54, in the district final in Scranton.

Robbie Johnson scored 21 points for Mountain View, which had leads in the first three quarters.

The Eagles (20-5) were still within two points in the final minute before the Argents sealed the win with strong free throw shooting.

Mountain View was also hurt by a four-point play off a technical foul on coach Patrick Heaton in the fourth quarter. Heaton argued a possible goaltending that was not called.

Earlier in the week, Mountain View reached the final and qualified for the state tournament when it defeated Hanover Area, 66-51.

Johnson scored 21 points in the semifinal win while Joe Scanlon added 19, with the help of three 3-pointers. Chad Lasher chipped in with 10 points for the Eagles, who outscored the Hawkeyes in every quarter to gradually pull away.

Josh Pstrak scored 26 points for Hanover Area.

WEEK IN REVIEW

The girls' basketball season came to an end for the last of the county teams when Montrose and Elk Lake lost in the District 2 Class AA quarterfinals.

Montrose had a lead get away in the fourth quarter while losing to Wilkes-Barre GAR, 55-49.

Paige Venson scored 18 points and had three of GAR's eight 3-pointers. Mahogany Spencer added 15 and Kaitlyn Swales had 12 for the Lady Grenadiers, who rallied from a 37-33 deficit in the fourth quarter.

Jessica Franklin led Montrose with 16 points and 10 rebounds. Monica Turner added 14 points and Brittany Ely had 10.

The Lady Meteors finished 17-9.

Elk Lake jumped out to a quick lead before being overwhelmed by unbeaten and top-seeded Carbondale, 64-33.

Amanda Jennings grabbed three offensive rebounds and turned two of them into baskets. She also made a pass to Jaclyn Vaow, who had the other four points during an 8-2 start.

After holding Carbondale to 1-for-12 shooting in the first 5:15, the Lady Warriors allowed several easy baskets off steals by the Chargerettes.

Carbondale scored the last 13 points of the first quarter and the first five of the second to start a stretch in which it outscored Elk Lake, 47-6. By the time the outburst was over, Carbondale had pulled all its starters for good and was leading, 49-14, with 2 1⁄2 minutes left in the third quarter.

Joya Whittington had 19 points and 11 rebounds to lead the Chargerettes. Ashley Catanzaro came off the bench for 11 points and four assists.

Vaow led Elk Lake with 14 points. Kenzie Forkal grabbed eight rebounds.

In high school wrestling, Rich Harvey posted the only win by a county wrestler in the Class AA Northeast Regionals at Williamsport.

Four Elk Lake wrestlers and two from Blue Ridge had their seasons wrap up in the event.

Harvey bounced back from losing a 34-second pin to Line Mountain’s Nick Lansberry. He decisioned Joe Baranoski of Wilkes-Barre Meyers, 6-3, before being eliminated with a 10-3 loss to Troy’s Devon Weed in the consolation semifinals at 152 pounds.

Blue Ridge’s Alex Stanton had the closest combination of matches. He fell to Wyalusing’s Andrew Lewis, 4-2, and Midd-West’s Ty Knepp, 7-4, at 135 pounds. Lewis has family in the Blue Ridge School District.

Elk Lake’s Derek Noldy also lost a pair of decisions at 160. Noldy lost to Garrett Morgan of Athens, 3-2, and Eric Solomon of Warrior Run, 9-4.

Anthony Juser (145) lost a technical fall and a two-point decision while Derek Green (145) was pinned twice for Elk Lake.

Blue Ridge’s Tim Esposito (103) lost by a pin and a decision.

In boys’ swimming, Jehiel Boner finished the 50 yard freestyle in 24.49 seconds for Elk Lake’s best performance in the District 2 Championships at the Wilkes-Barre CYC.

Boner also finished 10th in the 100 freestyle and was part of two seventh-place relay teams.

Ben Phillips was ninth in the 100 breaststroke, was 10th in the 200 individual medley and was on the 200 freestyle and 400 freestyle relay teams with Boner.

Tom DiMichele was 11th in the 200 freestyle, was 12th in the 500 freestyle and was also on both of the seventh-place relay teams.

Jeremy Vaksas was seventh in diving and was on the 10th-place 200 medley relay team.

Chris Wilmarth was the other member of the two seventh-place relay teams.

Randy Alden, Ben Copes and Josh Aten joined Vaskas on the 200 medley relay team.

Elk Lake was ninth out of 11 in the team standings with 65 points. Bishop Hoban won the title with 272 points, followed by Scranton Prep with 213.

In girls’ swimming, the 200 freestyle relay team of Ashley Wilson, Maureen Manning, Sarah Jayne and Katelynn Chambers finished 10th to score the team’s only two points in the District 2 Class AA Championships.

Elk Lake finished last in the 16-team field. Scranton Prep outscored second-place Bishop Hoban, 299 1⁄2-268 for the team title.

In professional hockey, the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins and Binghamton Senators went through an eventful week, including a game against each other.

The Penguins went through a roster makeover at the National Hockey League trading deadline and the American Hockey League playoff roster deadline, then named a new captain.

They used the changes to win three more games and extend their winning streak to five games.

The Penguins lost Noah Welch, who was named to start on defense in the last two AHL All-Star Classics, and Daniel Carcillo, their second-leading scorer, in NHL trades. Andrew Penner, the team leader in goaltending wins, was sent to Wheeling of the lower-level ECHL the day playoff rosters were set and was not included.

Penner was replaced by Nolan Schaefer, who was picked up in a trade. Schaefer stopped 17 of 19 shots, including a penalty shot, to get a 3-2 overtime winner over Albany in his team debut Saturday.

Robert Nilsson, a former number-one draft pick, also was added this week and had six assists in his first three games. Nilsson went from the New York Islanders to the Edmonton Oilers in a trade. The Oilers have been assigning about six players at a time to Wilkes-Barre/Scranton this season.

Defensemen Reagan Rome and Peter Ratchuk were also obtained in time for the playoff roster. Rome had three assists Saturday in his second game with the team.

Defenseman Micki DuPont was named captain Friday and went out that night to score the game-tying and game-winning goals less than two minutes apart in the third period of a 5-3 win over the Bridgeport Sound Tigers.

The Penguins started the week with a 3-2 win over the Senators as Rob Schremp had two goals and an assist.

The win was the fifth in 19 days by Wilkes-Barre/Scranton over Binghamton. The Penguins have remained in contention for the East Division and overall league leads because of going 5-0-0-0 against the Senators while going just 9-9-0-2 against the rest of the league since the New Year.

Binghamton might otherwise have had a chance to climb out of last place overall. The Senators were 7-7-1-3 against the rest of the league from New Year’s Eve through Wednesday’s game that left them 0-5-0-0 against the Penguins.

COLLEGE CORNER

Tim Robinson improved the Keystone College record in the 55 meter hurdles five times during the indoor track and field season.

The Blue Ridge graduate set the latest record February 11 with a time of 8.55 seconds in the Susquehanna University Invitational. Robinson also high jumped 5-11 1⁄2 in the event.

THE WEEK AHEAD

Mountain View will play Loyalsock, the District 4 Class AA runner-up, Saturday in a first-round game of the Pennsylvania Interscholastic Athletic Association boys’ basketball tournament.

At press time, the site was not known, but it will be somewhere within District 2.

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

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NASCAR Racing
By Gerald Hodges

The Racing Reporter

Will MARTIN Run For The Championship? Mark Martin is off to the best start of his racing career and for the first time since September 22, 2002, he is the Nextel Cup points leader.

His original plans were to run a partial Cup schedule this season (22 total Cup races), plus some truck races.

Mark Martin

The driver of the No. 01 U.S. Army Chevy had a top-five finish at California Speedway, plus a dramatic second-place run in the season-opening Daytona 500.

However, there is speculation that if he is still the leader after Atlanta, he will run the entire Cup season.

“I don't have any plans to run the full schedule,” said Martin. “I'm thrilled with what I'm doing and I certainly wouldn't want to spoil it by tampering with the formula. The formula is real good right now. I'll let y'all have fun with it but you know I haven't changed my mind.”

Martin leads by five over former teammate Jeff Burton. It is also the first time ever a Ginn Racing (formerly MB2 Motorsports) driver has led the points.

When informed that he was the points leader after the California race, a happy Martin said, “That’s really cool. This team is awesome. It’s just great working with the guys on the U.S. Army Team and the guys at Ginn Racing. We’ve had cars good enough to win in both of the first two races and that really says a lot about this organization and where it is going. We still have a long way to go, but we sure are off to a great start.

“It’s really just been an awesome experience. I’m rolling and I’m having the time of my life.”

Many were skeptical when Martin announced last fall that after 19 years he was leaving Roush Racing for Ginn Racing. Some even went as far as to question his motives and his desire to compete.

“I wouldn’t come out here and race if I didn’t think I could be competitive,” continued Martin. “What Bobby Ginn (team owner) and Jay Frye (CEO, GM) did was give me that opportunity and I think that we are making the most of it. It’s really been a blast and I can’t wait to get to Vegas and see what we have for them.”

Martin plans to run the next two races at Las Vegas and Atlanta, and then turn the 01 car over to rookie Regan Smith at the Bristol Race.

“I’m just having the time of my life,” said Martin. “We’ve had good cars and we’ve shown that we are capable of winning races and running competitively. There is still a lot of work to do here at Ginn Racing, but I think that we have shown that this is for real and that we are up to the challenge.”

Team owner, Bobby Ginn has said Martin will have a car available should he decide to make another run for the championship.

“I’d bet almost anybody, right now, today, that Mark Martin runs all 38 races,” said former teammate and long-time friend Jeff Burton. “Matt (Kenseth) and I told him that before the year started and I believe it even more today.”

I guess we will have to wait and see.

Put CARL EDWARDS To Work – “There are a lot of people who can drive racecars, but few who can do it professionally,” said Carl Edwards, driver of the No. 99 Roush Fenway Ford. “There are a lot of folks who are talented, but not a lot who get a shot. The way the world works, somebody has to help you out, no matter what you’re doing.”

For the third year, Edwards’ sponsor, Office Depot, is running the “Small Business of NASCAR” program, giving small businesses the potential for big exposure. A new element in this year’s promotion brings Edwards and the Office Depot show car to the winning business where the small business owner may even decide to put Edwards to work for the day!

What most fans might not realize is that in addition to racing for a living, Edwards is a small business owner and entrepreneur behind a new record label, Back 40 Records (www.back40records.com).

The Columbia, Missouri native and his friends make up the creative forces behind the race car driver’s recently launched record label. Edwards publicly announced the start of the label in November, but the studio started up a year and a half ago in the basement of his childhood home.

Edwards bought the equipment for the studio after seeing how his friends, including Aaron Naeger, who serves as chief of operations, struggled to record and put out their music.

Edwards found he was in a position to help by providing the equipment they needed to bypass paying for studio time. Practically overnight, Naeger and other musician friends were laying out acoustic foam in a studio where they would soon be able to lay down their own tracks.

“He saw me plugging away, and he was like, ‘You know if you had a little bit of help, this might be way easier for you,’” said Naeger in an interview with the Columbia (MO) Tribune.

Edwards said he can relate with the struggle he sees his musician friends face, particularly in the Midwest hip-hop and rap scenes, which often are under the radar and underrepresented.

“It’s the American dream to start a business and grow it and make it work,” continued Edwards. “And there are so many small businesses out there. I think it’s really neat that Office Depot is allowing one of them to get national recognition, be the official small business of NASCAR, come to the races, and have a decal on the back of our race car.”

MONTOYA Wins Mexican Busch Race – Rookie Juan Pablo Montoya won Sunday’s NASCAR Busch race in Mexico City after spinning out his teammate, Scott Pruitt with four laps remaining. There was no other NASCAR racing this past weekend.

Top-10 Busch Series leaders after 3 of 35: 1. Edwards-495, 2. Hamlin-455, 3. Blaney-433, 4. Greg Biffle-397, 5. Harvick-345, 6. Ambrose-345, 7. Kenseth-327, 8. Reutimann-324, 9. Wood-322, 10. Sherman-310.

Top-10 Nextel Cup drivers after 2 of 36; 1. Martin-335, 2. J. Burton-330, 3. J. Gordon-309, 4. Harvick-307, 5. Ragan-270, 6. Bowyer-264, 7. Nemechek-259, 8. Yeley-251, 9. Kyle Busch-239, 10. Stremme-236.

Top-10 Craftsman Truck Series leaders after 2 of 25: 1. Sprague-355, 2. Skinner-355, 3. Benson-330, 4. Hornaday-321, 5. Bodine-306, 6. Musgrave-298, 7. Kvapil-290, 8. Crawford-277, 9. Crafton-272, 10. Darnell-256.

WEEKEND RACING

The Nextel Cup and Busch teams are at the newly renovated 1.5-mile Las Vegas track. The Craftsman Trucks do not race again until March 16.

Saturday, March 10, Busch Series Sam’s Town 300, race 4 of 35, 200 laps, 3 p.m. TV: ESPN2.

Sunday, March 11 UAW DAIMLERCHRYSLER 400, race 3 of 36, 267 laps, 4 p.m. TV: Fox.

Racing Trivia Question: Which Cup team is Brian Vickers driving for in 2007?

Last Week’s Question: Where is the hometown of part time Nextel Cup driver Boris Said? Answer. New York City.

You may contact the Racing Reporter at hodgesnews@earthlink.net.

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2007 Preseason Trout Stocking Schedule

Date / Time         Water Area         Meeting Place         Species Trout

3/15, 12:45         Tuscarora Creek         Laceyville Int. Rts 6 & 367         Brown/ Rainbow

3/19, 2:00         Canawacta Creek         Lanesboro Post Office         Brown Rainbow

                  Starrucca Creek                  Brown Rainbow

3/20, 1:30         Salt Lick Creek         Trail Diner Rt. 11 New Milford         Brook Brown

3/23, 1:30         N. Branch Wyalusing Creek         Basil Leaf Rest/ Montrose         Brook Brown

3/30, 1:30         Snake Creek         Basil Leaf Rest. / Montrose         Brook Brown

4/4, 1:30         E. Branch Wyalusing Creek         Basil Leaf Rest. / Montrose         Brook Brown

4/12, 1:30         Fall Brook         Basil Leaf Rest. / Montrose         Brook Brown Rainbow

                  Silver Creek                  Brook Brown

4/13, 12:00         Wysox Creek         Wysox/ Int. Rts. 6 & 187         Brook Brown

Opening day is April 14 at 8:00 a.m., creel limit of five trout.

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