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Lackawanna Trail Turns Back Blue Ridge To Claim First Half
By Tom Robinson

Steve Miller scored 31 points and grabbed 13 rebounds Jan. 24 to lead Lackawanna Trail to a 59-53 victory over Blue Ridge in a playoff for the Lackawanna League Division 3 boys’ basketball title at Mountain View High School.

The playoff was needed after a three-way tie between the Lions, Raiders and Montrose. Lackawanna Trail started the playoff process with a 51-49 win over Montrose Jan. 22.

Lackawanna Trail outscored Blue Ridge, 16-8, in the second quarter to take a 30-21 halftime lead.

Blue Ridge cut the gap to 41-37 after three quarters.

The Raiders were led by Sawyer Dearborn with 13 points. Dylan Pruitt and Alex Cardoza added 12 points each.

Miller, a 7-foot-1 junior center, was supported by Tanner Holmes with 11 points and three assists. Matt Lochen and Lyle Sweppenheiser had five assists each.

The final first-half standings were: Lackawanna Trail 6-1, Blue Ridge 6-1, Montrose 6-1, Elk Lake 4-3, Lakeland 3-4, Susquehanna 2-5, Mountain View 1-6 and Forest City 0-7.

WEEK IN REVIEW

BINGHAMTON, N.Y. - Bobby Butler prepared for his American Hockey League All-Star Classic appearance by scoring the game-winning goal in the final game before the all-star break.

Butler’s goal with 8:01 remaining and Robin Lehner’s 43 saves lifted the Binghamton Senators to a 2-1 victory over the league-leading Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins.

The Penguins hit the all-star break with the league’s best record at 36-12-0-0.

Lehner stopped the last 30 shots he saw.

“He’s a big kid,” Penguins coach John Hynes said of Lehner. “He moves well laterally.

“He did a nice job.”

Binghamton, which will spend the time after the all-star break trying to hold on to playoff position, is 24-20-2-3.

After being tied for nearly 32 minutes, the Senators scored after applying pressure deep in the Penguins end.

Tim Wallace tried to clear a rebound, but Butler knocked it down with his leg and got off a quick shot from the slot for the winning goal with 8:01 remaining.

In girls’ basketball, two county players surpassed the 1,000-point mark for their careers.

Dallas Ely helped keep Montrose unbeaten overall when she scored all 22 of her points in the first half Friday night while leading a 58-11 romp over Elk Lake in a Lackawanna Division 3 game.

Ely’s basket late in the first half gave her 1,000 for her career. She reached 1,002 by halftime while leading the Lady Meteors to a 38-8 lead.

Forest City’s Cassie Erdmann reached 1,000 during a 40-39 loss to Lackawanna Division 2 champion Dunmore.

Erdmann had 16 points in the game.

Montrose, the first-half champion, and Forest City finished the week tied for first at 2-0.

Friday’s girls’ games and Saturday’s boys’ games were part of a Coaches vs. Cancer weekend around the league.

In boys’ basketball, Mountain View played its game against Lackawanna Trail as part of a doubleheader at Marywood University.

Lackawanna Trail won, 49-29, behind 12 points by Tanner Holmes and 11 by Miller.

Julian Williams led Mountain View with seven points.

Blue Ridge, Montrose and Lakeland won the other games Saturday and share the division lead at 2-0.

Blue Ridge defeated Susquehanna, 63-45; Montrose topped Elk Lake, 45-28, and Lakeland pounded Forest City, 74-43.

Montrose improved its chance of defending its title by opening the second half with a 50-46 win over Lackawanna Trail.

COLLEGE CORNER

Keystone College had 38 fall athletes, including four from Susquehanna County schools, earn the status of All-Academic Team Selections.

The CSAC All-Academic Award is earned by each student-athlete that meets the NCAA Division III eligibility requirements, earns varsity status in their sport and earns a minimum semester grade point average (GPA) of 3.2.

Of the 546 student-athletes receiving the honor, 51 were first-team CSAC all-stars in their sport, 41 were selected for the second team, 44 received honorable mention and 49 received individual sportsmanship awards.

Jenna Fancher, a second-team CSAC all-star in cross country, is one of two Mountain View graduates among the selections. Leah Simko, a women’s volleyball player, is the other.

Matthew Powell, a Forest City graduate on the men’s soccer team, and Brackney Brotzman, a Montrose graduate on the field hockey team, were also selected.

THE WEEK AHEAD

Forest City is at Montrose Monday, Feb. 7 in a game between the last two Lackawanna League Division 3 girls’ basketball champions.

Montrose finished first and Forest City second in the first-half standings.

In wrestling, the District 2 Dual Meet Tournament is scheduled for Friday and Saturday.

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

No Memorial For Father By Dale Jr

Dale Earnhardt Jr. apparently has a lot of unhealed emotions regarding the death of his father during the 2002 Daytona 500.

During last week’s Charlotte Media Tour, Dale Jr. told reporters he would not be taking part in any memorial services for his dad.

Dale Jr. responds to questions during last week's Charlotte Media Tour.

“Everyone wants to reflect and honor my father at this time,” he said. “What I enjoy is hearing other people talk about him, not me.

“I'll be happy to observe everything that goes on. If it's something big, if it's something small, whatever it is. But if you don't mind I'd just rather watch it; stand on the sidelines ... I know how I feel in my heart and I don't feel the need to discuss it a lot.”

There will be many events honoring Dale Earnhardt in the coming weeks leading up to the Daytona 500 on Feb. 20.

Earnhardt Jr. finished second that day while his teammate Michael Waltrip won the race.

NASCAR will start off the 2011 season with a lot of changes.

After a disappointing year in the ratings and race attendance, NASCAR had to shake things up to try and get more fans back watching on TV and coming to the tracks.

In case you missed anything, here's the rundown.

Drivers now get 3 points for winning a race, 1 point for leading the most laps, and 1 point for leading a lap. This means the most points any driver could achieve in a race would be 48 points.

The old points system has been scrapped in favor of this new one.

The Chase will be assembled different. The top-10 in points after Richmond in September will automatically be seeded in the Chase with each driver getting 2,000 points and 3 points for each win during the regular season, but there’s more. The final two position’s, will be called “wild cards.” Drivers from position 11-20 in points with the most wins will be rewarded with a place in the Chase.

NASCAR will move from last year's standardized start times in an effort to boost sagging television ratings. Specifically NASCAR races in the last third of the season will slide back to a later green flag to avoid going head-to-head with NFL kickoffs.

While the majority of the races televised in the first half of the year as part of the FOX television package will remain in the 1 p.m. ET start range, green flags will slide back later in the year. A 2 p.m. ET beginning is the plan for most of the races in September through November with west coast venues including Texas, Phoenix, and Homestead near the tail end of the schedule, going to a 3 p.m. ET start.

“Moving the prerace show from ESPN2 to ESPN, which will then carry the subsequent broadcast in the Chase season, is just a better long-term strategy for us and the sport,” ISC President John Saunders said.

“NASCAR was down all season on all networks, not just on ESPN. We continue to believe in the long-term strategy of airing the races on ESPN. We support NASCAR and it remains a very strong property.”

Qualifying order will now be based on practice speeds, with the slowest cars going first. I suppose this is meant to create excitement in qualifying, but you and I know that the result will be the same. However, if qualifying is rained out, as happens so often, the starting field will be set based on those practice speeds. The go home teams will qualify separate from those in the top-35. If all practice is rained out, the field will be set on points as it has in the past.

Drivers can no longer run for a title in more than one series, which is a long overdue move that makes the Nationwide finally have its own identity again. Gone are the days of Kevin Harvick or Kyle Busch winning a Nationwide title while racing in the Cup series full-time. We will actually see the young NASCAR talent battle for the titles in the Nationwide and Truck series, while the Cup guys can still dabble and go for wins and money.

However, no matter how many things NASCAR changes, in hopes of improving the racing, one thing remains the same; and that is Jimmie Johnson.

Johnson isn’t worried about changes to the points or Chase.

“I don't care what races are in the Chase, the format to win the championship, I could care less,” Johnson was quoted as saying in an AP article on espn.com, “because I feel confident that my team will be able to win championships under any set of circumstances.”

And unless someone steps up and beats Johnson, it will be the same old NASCAR - 43 drivers wide open and going for it.

And don’t believe that Johnson’s team isn’t all geared up for another winning season.

Last year some of Johnson’s 48 pit road team became slack, and Rick Hendrick made a complete crew change swap with Jeff Gordon’s No. 24 crew.

This year the 48 team, will now have three total crews (18 crew members) brought to each track, to be used for the 48 car of Johnson, and the 88 car of Dale Earnhardt Jr. If one person isn’t up to par, a backup will step in.

The No. 24 of Jeff Gordon and No. 5 of Mark Martin will work similarly, with crew members available to the two cars.

Talk about being prepared. It seems more like an NFL football team. I have a feeling pit performance will improve for all Hendrick teams.

If it works, expect other teams that can afford it to follow suit.

No wonder that NASCAR racing is so expensive.

David Pearson, the three-time NASCAR champion believes that the high cost of attending races is why there are empty seats in the stands.

“I guess that they out-priced themselves, or something,” said Pearson, whose three championships came with Cotton Owens (in 1966) and Holman-Moody (in 1968 and '69). “A poor man can't hardly take his family to a race now, it costs too much. And they're the ones who got it started. I do know that they have lowered the price at times. I'm sure that's the only thing that's going to help get the crowd back.”

Racing kicks off Saturday, Feb. 12 with the Budweiser Shootout. There will be two Gatorade Shootout, qualifying races on Thursday, Feb. 17, and then the Daytona 500 on Sunday, Feb. 20.

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

Last Week’s Question: What year did the televised fight between Cale Yarborough and Bobby and Donnie Allison occur at Daytona? Answer. 1979. It was the first time a 500-mile race had been broadcast live from start to finish.

You may contact the Racing Reporter at: hodges@race500.com.

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