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HEADLINES: Montrose Sneaks Past Forest City For Girls’ Basketball Division Lead FOREST CITY - With the Lackawanna League’s only unbeaten overall girls’ basketball record on the line and sole possession of the Division 3 lead at stake, Montrose turned to two players - one expected and one surprising - to get past Forest City. Dallas Ely, one of the league’s top scorers, was joined by Myra Lattimore, a seldom-used freshman. Ely and Lattimore scored six points each during a 16-2 run that carried the defending champion Lady Meteors to a 39-37 victory. Montrose allowed just one field goal in the 11-minute stretch that turned a 30-22, third-quarter deficit into a 38-32 lead on Katelyn Spellman’s basket with 2:30 remaining. Dallas Ely led the way for Montrose (5-0 in the division, 10-0 overall) with 15 points, 12 rebounds and four assists. Spellman added eight points and seven rebounds. It was a boost from Lattimore, however, which put Montrose ahead. Lattimore entered the game for the first time with 1:54 left in the third quarter and finished with six points and three rebounds. "I've been looking to try to get (Lattimore) some minutes," Montrose coach Al Smith said. "She's been looking good in JVs. She's got some athleticism." And, some confidence. Lattimore drove to the basket and hit two foul shots in the final minute of the third quarter to close the gap to 30-28. After Cassie Erdmann broke a 6:42 scoreless streak to give Forest City its last lead, Lattimore hit an 18-footer with 5:55 left for a 32-32 tie. Lattimore then drove to the basket again, putting Montrose ahead to stay while drawing another foul. It was Forest City (4-1, 6-3) that did damage on drives in the first half. The Lady Foresters worked through the lane for four field goals during a 17-10 second quarter it used to produce a 25-21 halftime lead. The Lady Meteors then switched to a 1-3-1 defense, changing the type of shots that were available for the Lady Foresters. "When we switched up defenses, I thought we caught them off guard," Smith said. Forest City coach Carl Urbas did not mind the shots his team took against the zone. "We just didn't hit our outside shots," Urbas said. "I don't know if we took more than two or three bad shots." Lattimore made one last contribution, extending a Montrose possession with a one-point lead in the final 30 seconds when she tied up a rebound with the possession arrow in the Lady Meteors' favor after a missed free throw. “We missed a key rebound at the end,” Urbas said. Erdmann led Forest City with 15 points. Katie Yale added 10 points and eight assists. Kiersten Collins grabbed 10 rebounds and had five blocked shots, including four in the first 4:25, in the loss. “Our girls were resilient,” Smith said. “We got down, but I’m very proud of the way we came back against a very good team.” WEEK IN REVIEW Dwindling roster numbers hurt Elk Lake and Blue Ridge, relegating them to the bottom two spots in the Zurn-Bush Memorial Dual Meet Tournament Saturday at Elk Lake. Elk Lake took fifth place in the six-team event when it beat Blue Ridge, 24-21, in a match that featured just one bout wrestled, seven forfeits and six no contests. The Warriors finished 1-4 while the Raiders were 0-5. Lake-Lehman won on a tiebreaker over Nanticoke after both teams went 4-1. Valley View and Sayre each went 3-2. In boys’ basketball, Blue Ridge and Montrose each won twice to improve to 4-1 and remain within a game of first-place Lackawanna Trail. Blue Ridge won Jan. 11 at Lakeland, 69-64, in overtime in a game between teams that had entered the night in a three-way tie for second place. COLLEGE CORNER Robbie Johnson scored the 1,000th point of his Misericordia University career Saturday in a 72-58, home-court, men’s basketball victory over Manhattanville. Johnson, a senior guard, finished with 21 points in the win. The Mountain View graduate hit nine of his 10 shots from the floor. Johnson was held to three points three days earlier against DeSales and came in needing 11 more for his milestone. He got there by scoring 14 points in the first half. A drive to the basket for a 35-17 lead with 2:12 left in the half put Johnson at 1,001 for his career. Misericordia is 3-2 in the Freedom Conference and 10-6 overall. Johnson was coming off a Wendy’s Misericordia Male Athlete of the Month award for December. He averaged 17.0 points, 5.8 assists, 3.0 rebounds and 2.1 steals while shooting 48.2 percent in six games. On the season, Johnson is second in the team in scoring with 16.1 points per game while leading in assists (4.1) and steals (2.2). THE WEEK AHEAD The first half of the Lackawanna League basketball seasons come to a close with girls’ games Wednesday and boys’ games Thursday. Any playoffs needed to determine first-half champions are likely to be scheduled on the weekend. TOM ROBINSON writes a weekly local sports column for the Susquehanna County Transcript. He can be reached online at RobbyTR@aol.com.
NASCAR Racing IHOF Names 2011 Inductees By Gerald Hodges; The Racing Reporter HOOVER, Ala - Rex White headlines the 2011 Class of Inductees of the International Motor Sports Hall of Fame, located at Talladega Superspeedway. “When I raced we didn’t talk much about how we raced,” White said. “All we concentrated on was winning races. Usually when it was a reporter in the area I tried to dodge him.” White is one of NASCAR’s 50 Greatest Drivers. He won the 1960 Sprint Cup Championship and was one of the original members of Chevrolet’s NASCAR team.
Rex White, the 1960 NASCAR Champion. White said his scariest moment in a car didn’t happen when he was driving on a racetrack. “Going off a cliff in Mexico,” White said. “That was my scariest moment in a car. When I got out of racing in 1965, I went to Mexico and built some Chevelles to race there. “I went off a cliff down there. On one side of the road they don’t even come get you. They just put a candle out where you went off. On the right side of the road, it’s about 90 feet down. “I was riding with the owner of the Chevelles. He was trying to play a little bit of race car driving and maybe trying to impress me a little bit. We came up on two cows in the middle of the road. In trying to miss the cows, he lost control. I tried to grab the steering wheel, but it was too late. We went over. “I broke my back, was pinned in the car and it was about 24 hours before I got to the hospital. It happened about one in the evening and at five o-clock the next day I got to the hospital.” In White’s 233 starts, he won 28 races; recorded 163 top 10 finishes and qualified in 36 poles. “I don’t have any idea what it cost to run a season, but it was more than I had,” said White. “Remembering all those figures 40-something years ago is kind of tough for me. I probably didn’t keep up with the costs even back then. “I kept books in my left, rear pocket. When there wasn’t any money there, I wasn’t taking in enough. We didn’t write down anything. We had no bookkeeping system. But it got the job done.” When White was asked which driver in NASCAR reminds him of himself, he said Mark Martin. “I never did like to take a guy out to win a race,” White said. NASCAR car owner John Holman was also inducted. Holman partnered with Ralph Moody to form one of the most successful teams, Holman-Moody. They won two NASCAR Championships, and 96 races with over 30 drivers. The third inductee was Sprint Car driver Jan Opperman. He was known as the original “outlaw” driver before the development of the World of Outlaw series. He raced Indianapolis 500 twice in 1974 and 1976.
Jan Opperman, Sprint car driver. Furnished by Terry Broadus. Maurice Petty, of the famed Petty family was the fourth inductee. Petty was the chief engines builder for Petty Enterprise. Petty competed in 24 NASCAR races in 1960 and 1964. Brian Redman was the fifth and final inductee of 2011. He drove both Formula One and CAN-AM during his Hall of Fame career. He drove in 15 points races in Formula One as well as numerous races at the 24 Hours of LeMans. The drivers will be enshrined on April 14. PRESEASON THUNDER STARTING TO RUMBLE DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. - Next week’s three-day NASCAR Sprint Cup Series test at Daytona International Speedway brings the first official engine firings of 2011. Don’t think for a second that it represents the new year’s first official work. “I don’t ever remember being this busy in my life,” said Alan Gustafson, crew chief for Jeff Gordon. “We are so full-speed ahead already.” Wide-open shops mean wide-open anticipation. Teams participating in the 2011 edition of NASCAR Preseason Thunder at Daytona will use the time to prepare for both the 53rd Daytona 500 on Sunday, Feb. 20 and the track’s new asphalt surface. The test - scheduled for Thursday, Jan. 20 through Saturday, Jan. 22 - runs from 9 a.m. until 5 p.m. ET daily, weather permitting, with a noon-1 p.m. lunch break each day. “It’s a very demanding time of the year,” Gustafson continued, “but it’s very gratifying because you see projects get started and you see them come to fruition.” A successful Goodyear tire test on Dec. 15-16 set the stage for next week’s session. Last year’s repave - only the second at 2.5-mile Daytona and the first since 1978 - began after the NASCAR Sprint Cup event on July 3 and ended in early December. During the tire test (open to all series teams), those attending validated Goodyear’s compound selection for the Daytona 500, the series’ traditional season-opener, plus drivers and crew chiefs provided the sport’s first on-track feedback about the new pavement to track and NASCAR officials. “It’s a huge race for everyone,” Gustafson said of the Daytona 500. “It’s a race that everybody wants to win; the biggest race of the year. Everybody had some reservations, so going down there with the tire test and coming back, it just confirms that Daytona is Daytona - it’s the track we all love. That’s wonderful to know. So going back there now, it’s trying to exploit what little nuances of speed we can.” Racing Trivia Question: Which driver has the most Daytona 500 wins? Last Week’s Question: Who won the first Daytona 500? Answer: Lee Petty. You may contact the Racing Reporter at: hodges@race500.com.
Dan Kempa Named 2010 Athlete Of The Year
Dan Kempa had heard stories about the glory days of Susquehanna Sabers football. Kempa’s role in helping the Sabers return to a level of many of their past teams helped him gain honors as the Susquehanna County Transcript Athlete of the Year. The senior, who also was part of three record-setting track and field efforts at Blue Ridge where he attends school, claimed the award by the slightest of margins over the county’s top female athlete, 2009 Athlete of the Year winner Julia Koloski of Montrose. Koloski completed her climb to the top of the state medal stand, winning a Pennsylvania Interscholastic Athletic Association Class AA championship in the triple jump in her final high school season last spring. Kempa, with his play at quarterback and defensive back, brought Susquehanna to a regular-season championship and a playoff appearance on the football field. Although he attends a rival school, it was wearing the blue and white Susquehanna uniform where Kempa gained attention from college recruiters while landing recognition as the Lackawanna Football Conference Division 3 Offensive Player of the Year from northeastpafootball.com. Kempa was also one of just two players from the division to make the Web site’s all-star team for all of District 2. “It’s kind of weird because we’re still rivals in other sports,” Kempa said, “but it’s getting better over the years. Everyone gets along. “With coach (Dick) Bagnall, and really all the coaches, it’s not like if you’re from Blue Ridge you won’t get a chance to play.” Kempa, who played quarterback at times along with running back and wide receiver while coming up through the Blue Ridge Triplets pee wee football program, took over the Sabers offense in time for the first game of his sophomore year. He went on to have three straight 1,000-yard seasons running the ball in the option attack and improved his passing numbers this season. “I worked on my throwing and with Austin (Cowperthwait), Sean Stanley and Cole (Mallery), I could throw to anybody and know they would catch it,” Kempa said. “It gave our offense a ton of new options.” Kempa finished 35-for-86 passing for 779 yards and 13 touchdowns with six interceptions passing. He put up even bigger numbers on the ground, including long touchdown runs on the first play of each of the first two games. “I think it just set the mood the games,” Kempa said of opening the games with 77- and 87-yard runs. “It gets everyone going.” Kempa finished with 1,190 yards and 17 touchdowns rushing on 170 carries. With a deep line controlling things up front and a veteran defense producing its own series of big plays, the Sabers went 9-1 in the regular season, which they concluded by stopping Old Forge’s attempt at a third straight title. “I thought we were capable of that, but I was not sure we were going to make it,” Kempa said. Kempa is being recruited up to the Division I Football Championship Series level as a defensive back and by smaller colleges as a quarterback. He has visited Colgate and plans to visit King’s, Lycoming, Susquehanna and possibly Bucknell while still considering a few other schools. He said he is not close to a final decision yet. The senior still has his final track season ahead. He set the Blue Ridge record in the javelin while running on record-setting 400 and 1600 relay teams. He was fourth in the District 2 Class AA meet in the javelin and 400 relay and six in the 1600 relay. Dan is the son of Joe and Charlene Kempa of Jackson. The Misericordia University men’s soccer team has placed student-athlete Joe Scanlon, of Harford, on the 2010 NSCAA Scholar All-East Region team. Scanlon, a Mountain View graduate, was selected for the third team. Scanlon, a senior midfielder, earns his second consecutive Scholar All-Region honors. He is an education major and was also chosen for the All-Freedom Conference team this year. Scanlon was one of only four MAC student-athletes to be featured on one of the top three teams.
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