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Issue Home February 10, 2010 Site Home

HEADLINES:
Local Sports Scene
NASCAR Racing

Colby Major Is January’s Athlete Of The Month

Elk Lake Eliminated In Semifinals Of District Dual Meet Wrestling
By Tom Robinson

LEHMAN - Elk Lake advanced to the semifinals then fell short of repeating in the District 2 Class AA Dual Meet Wrestling Championships when it lost to Wyoming Valley Conference Division II champion Hanover Area, 48-29, Friday night.

Devin Fiorentino had two pins in the tournament while Tyler McCauley had a pin and a technical fall. Jacob Eastman and Devon Moye were the other Warriors to go 2-0, each with a pin and a forfeit.

Elk Lake got off to a strong start, winning the first four bouts to open a 22-point lead in its 50-30 quarterfinal victory over Meyers.

Fiorentino and Derrick Smith had back-to-back pins at 135 and 140 to produce the 22-0 lead.

Meyers responded with three straight pins to close within four, but Tyler McCauley and Jacob Eastman sandwiched pins around a forfeit victory to build the lead back to 40-18.

Hanover Area and Elk Lake traded comebacks in the first two bouts of their semifinal.

Hanover Area’s Paul Rakowski trailed, 5-1, before pinning Dan Daly with 9.3 seconds left in the second period of the 130-pound bout that began the match.

Fiorentino was behind Matt Mullery, 4-3, until scoring the go-ahead reversal with 43 seconds left. He then added the bonus team points on a pin with 12.5 seconds left.

Forfeits at 215 and 285 allowed Elk Lake to close within 33-23, but Hanover Area’s Shane Elick and Justin Elick had back-to-back pins at 103 and 112 to clinch the win with two bouts to go.

Devon Moye then had a first-period pin for the Warriors.

“I expected a little closer match,” Hanover Area coach Mike Ropietski said. “We were firing on all cylinders.”

WEEK IN REVIEW

Dallas Ely broke loose for 25 points Thursday night when Montrose defeated Western Wayne, 51-32, in a rematch of the first-half Lackawanna League Division 3 championship game that the Lady Meteors also won.

Katelyn Spellman added 15 points.

Courtney Kromko scored 15 to lead Western Wayne.

In boys’ basketball, the week ended with four teams sharing first place.

Luke Jenkins and Peter Hartman scored 13 points each as Mountain View handed Elk Lake its first loss, 53-34, to create the four-way tie.

The Eagles and Warriors were each 3-1, along with first-half champion Montrose and Lackawanna Trail.

In wrestling, Western Wayne ended Elk Lake’s run as Lackawanna League Division 2 champions while Delaware Valley won Division 1.

The final Division 2 standings: Western Wayne 8-0, Elk Lake 7-1, Valley View 6-2, Scranton Prep 5-3, Lackawanna Trail 4-4, Montrose 3-5, Blue Ridge 2-6, Susquehanna 1-7 and Mountain View 0-8.

LOOKING BACK

Jack Beamer rolled two 300 games January 25 while in the process of setting a Riverside Lanes record with an 838 series.

Beamer, 30, broke the record he set January 13, 2002 when he rolled 279-268-288 for a series of 835.

While bowling in the Lou Parrillo Memorial League, Beamer opened and closed with perfect games and rolled a 238 in between.

Beamer threw 32 strikes. He converted four spares - a 4 pin, a 7 pin, a 10 pin and a 4-7 in the second game.

Jack Beamer averages 227 in the league while bowling on a team with his father, Chuck Beamer, his brother, Mike Beamer, Mike Gall and Dave Passetti. Tim Cook was subbing for Chuck Beamer on the record-setting night.

Jack Beamer has 13 career perfect games and six series of 800 or more to continue his family's success in the sport. Chuck Beamer has 10 perfect games and three 800 series. Mike Beamer has a perfect game and once bowled back-to-back 299s at Riverside.

The pair of 300 games in one series is believed to be a first at Riverside. The last time two 300s were bowled in the same league on the same night came in October, 2005 when Passetti and Mike Kuiper accomplished it.

COLLEGE CORNER

Brittany Ely, a 5-foot-7 junior from Montrose, has been forced to spend more time at forward on a small and struggling Wilkes University team.

Ely, who is listed on the roster as a guard/forward, leads the team with 30 steals. She also is third on the team in free throw percentage, rebounds and assists.

Wilkes is 3-16. Ely has played in all 19 of those games, starting 15.

Ely averages 3.8 points while shooting 24-for-75 (32 percent) from the floor, 1-for-8 (12.5 percent) from 3-point range and 24-for-34 (70.6 percent) from the line. She also averages 3.9 rebounds and 1.8 assists.

THE WEEK AHEAD

Forest City is at Montrose Thursday in a meeting between the two teams that were tied for the Lackawanna League Division 3 girls’ basketball second-half lead going into Monday night with 4-0 records.

Forest City is the defending champion. Montrose already won the first-half title.

In boys’ basketball, Lackawanna Trail is at Elk Lake Friday in a meeting between teams that were part of the four-way tie for first place in Division 3 at the start of the week.

In professional hockey, the Binghamton Senators are at the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins Friday night in an American Hockey League game.

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

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. - Saturday night’s Budweiser Shootout lived up to its name. It was a no-holds-barred, shootout up until the last lap, and the type finish fans always hope for.

After a caution fell with just six laps remaining in the 75-lap event, Michael Waltrip was turned sideways by Ryan Newman, setting up for the exciting finish.

Kevin Harvick, sidelined with the flu for a week, won the race, taking the lead with just two laps remaining.

2010 Bud Shootout winner, Kevin Harvick.

The race actually ended under caution when Greg Biffle's car had a flat tire to trigger an eight-car pileup behind winner Harvick, runner-up Kasey Kahne and third-place finisher Jamie McMurray.

Just before the race, Harvick, who had never run a lap in his car before strapping in for the race, told a national network television audience, “I'll earn my paycheck tonight.”

And that he did. Harvick ran in front or close to it the entire final 50 laps of the 75-lap race and held off some real challenges by Tony Stewart and McMurray, as well as a pack of other hungry drivers, who bumped and banged each other all night. The night might have been a chilly one but the action was hot and heated.

“I think the biggest thing that we learned for us is our handling package is fairly good,” said Harvick. “Obviously it will change a little bit as we go through the week because everything is going to shift to daytime temperatures for the Daytona 500.

“Our basic package of car is really good. And tonight, that was what was able to keep us up front. I wasn't pinned to one groove. I could run the top, bottom or middle. Didn't have to be picky about who I followed. I could go wherever I want. That's nice from a driver standpoint to have options like that.”

The win for Harvick and his Richard Childress Chevrolet team was his second in as many years and was worth $200,000.

Carl Edwards appeared to be the car to beat, dominating the first 25 laps, but he was shuffled out of line with about 30 laps to go and was eventually involved in the crash at the end.

Rounding out the top 10 behind Harvick, Kahne and McMurray were Kyle Busch, Denny Hamlin, Jeff Gordon, Joey Logano, Brian Vickers, Stewart and Montoya.

In other racing news, Danica Patrick finished sixth in her stock-car debut.

Patrick, racing a part-time schedule in the Nationwide Series this season, passed several cars in the closing laps of Saturday’s ARCA season opener at Daytona, and was running with three laps left, but didn’t have enough to catch the leaders. Still, it was a good start for her.

Patrick spent much of the race among the top 10, but she bumped fenders with Nelson Piquet and spun through the infield grass on Lap 54. She dropped to 17th, but worked her way through most of the field.

On a positive note, Daytona International Speedway announced this year’s advance ticket sales were ahead of last year.

Fox Television said their ad sales for the rest of the network’s 13-race schedule are 8 to 10 percent ahead of last year’s.

Fox is seeing advertising sales slowly rebound across virtually all sports. These early returns represent a big relief for the sport and the network considering that last year’s TV ratings were the lowest in a decade.

“We’re definitely going to be in a much better situation than we were last year,” said Neil Mulcahy, Fox Sports’ executive vice president of advertising sales.

Emblematic of the rebounding economy is the automotive category, which Fox said is tripling its revenue commitment from last year. Fox expects to double the amount of auto sponsors that buy into the regular season. Last year, just two autos - Toyota and Ford - bought regular-season schedules.

WEEKEND RACING

The efforts of Hendrick Motorsports paid big dividends as Mark Martin won the pole for the Daytona 500 and Dale Earnhardt Jr. was second. The pair will start on the front row for the Sunday’s race.

These are the first teammates to sweep the front row for the Daytona 500 since 2007, when David Gilliland and Ricky Rudd did it for Yates Racing.

Martin, who has never won the Daytona 500, qualified at 191.188 mph while Earnhardt’s speed was 190.913.

Maybe Dale Earnhardt’s fortune has changed. It’s the first time in his career that he has been on the front row for a restrictor-plate race, where seven of his 18 career wins have come.

Only the front starting row is locked in for next Sunday’s Daytona 500. The rest of the field must race their way in or use provisionals from last year

Martin Truex Jr., winner of the 2009 Daytona 500 will be with a new team this season. He left Dale Earnhardt Inc. and moved to Michael Waltrip Racing. Truex had several good practice sessions this past week, and looks like he can stay with the leaders in the Sunday race.

“It’s a new start for me,” said the driver of the No. 56 NAPA Toyota. “I have had a couple tough seasons in the last two years, so I’m looking forward to some change. There are a lot of things I have seen going on during the off season that shows me it’s going to be a great deal.

“All the testing has gone really well. We have a lot of good guys and a lot of ambition. The opportunity is here to succeed. We just have to do every thing we can to take advantage of opportunities as they come our way. It’s a great team and we’ve got a lot of great stuff.”

TV SCHEDULE: Thursday’s Gatorade Duel features two 150-mile qualifying races that determine positions 3-35 for the Daytona 500. Provisionals and a complicated process will determine the remaining eight positions. Both races will be televised on Speed, beginning at 2 p.m. (EDT).

Friday, Feb. 12, Nationwide Series 250, Starting time: 8 p.m. (EDT). TV: ESPN2.

Sat., Feb. 13, Camping World Truck Series 300, Starting time: 1 p.m. (EDT). TV: ESPN2.

Sun., Feb. 14, Sprint Cup Daytona 500, Starting time: 1 p.m. (EDT); TV: Fox; Defending champion: Matt Kenseth.

Racing Trivia Question: How many Daytona 500s did Dale Earnhardt Sr. win?

Last Week’s Question: Name Mark Martin’s three teammates that race with him in the Cup Series. Answer. Jeff Gordon, Jimmie Johnson, and Dale Earnhardt Jr.

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

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Colby Major Is January’s Athlete Of The Month
By Tom Robinson

Sophomore Colby Major knows one of the things that makes his Montrose boys’ basketball special.

“We’re a good team altogether,” he said. “Not many teams have five players who can all score.”

When the Meteors needed baskets most in January, however, it was Major who produced them.

Major hit the game-winning basket in both playoff victories that the Meteors needed to claim the first-half Lackawanna League Division 3 title.

For his efforts in the two playoff games and throughout January, Major has been selected as the latest Susquehanna County Transcript Athlete of the Month.

Major spent most of the 39-38 playoff victory over at Elk Lake at point guard to fill in for Jeff Liddick, who missed the game with an injury. He went to the low post in the final 10 seconds for the move that produced the win.

Then, in a 47-43 victory over Lackawanna Trail for the title, he scored on a drive and short pull-up jumper from the right baseline.

“Any one of our players could have taken the last shot,” Major said. “I just took my guy to the hole.”

The ability to move around the floor helped Major average more than 12 points per game during Montrose’s 10-2 month. He is at 13 for the season to lead the team.

“In junior high, I played all the positions except center,” Major said. “I’m probably best as a small forward or shooting guard.

“When I was younger, I was always one of the biggest guys, so I still have some post moves.”

The 6-foot sophomore was one of the first two players off the bench on the varsity throughout his freshman season after playing one grade up and leading eighth-grade and freshmen teams to titles in consecutive seasons.

Major continues to work on his game year-round. He concentrates on basketball, playing in a summer league with other Montrose players at the Jewish Community Center in Vestal, N.Y., playing in the spring and fall with the Southern Tier Rage AAU team and getting in additional fall playing time at Riverfront Sports in Scranton.

Colby is the son of Steve and Debbie Major of Montrose.

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