Business Directory Now Online!!!

Look Here For Future Specials

Please visit our kind sponsor

HEADLINES:
Local Sports Scene
NASCAR Racing

Montrose Girls Top Forest City In Overtime Championship Game
By Tom Robinson

CARBONDALE - Montrose and Forest City were clearly the best teams in Lackawanna League Division 3 girls’ basketball this season.

Far less clear was which of the two was number one.

After splitting the first two contests in games decided by three points or less, the Lady Meteors and Lady Foresters added even more suspense to their third contest, which decided the all-season division championship.

Montrose overcame 24 points by Forest City's Katie Yale and a five-point, fourth-quarter deficit Thursday night to claim the title with a 45-43 overtime victory.

Both teams went 13-1 in league play with Montrose going unbeaten in the first half and Forest City doing the same in the second half. They were five games ahead of third place Lakeland.

Dallas Ely and Sara Krupinski scored baskets for Montrose in overtime of the championship game while Yale had Forest City's only two points.

Forest City took a 32-27 lead into the fourth quarter.

Ely, the division's top scorer who was scoreless to that point, had six points in the fourth quarter while freshman reserve Myra Lattimore had four of her 10.

Yale had six of her points in the fourth for Forest City, but Cassie Erdmann, with three of her 10, was the only other Lady Forester to score.

Forest City jumped to an 8-0 lead on four points each by Yale and Kiersten Collins.

Lattimore came off the bench and scored on an offensive rebound with 2:59 left in the first quarter to break Montrose out of an 0-for-7 start.

Sam Abbott's 17-footer in the final minute allowed Montrose to close back to within 11-6 after one quarter.

Erdmann hit one of her two 3-pointers in the opening seconds of the second quarter for a 14-6 lead, but Montrose came back to force a 19-19 tie at halftime.

Yale had eight points in the third quarter to help Forest City to a 13-8 advantage.

The Montrose boys were not as successful in the second game of the all-season championship doubleheader.

Lyle Sweppenheiser scored 18 points and Steve Miller led Lackawanna Trail down the stretch for a 49-48 victory.

The defending champion Meteors had won the division’s second-half title by going 7-0. The Lions, who won three of four meetings with the Meteors this season, including one- and two-point games, survived a three-way playoff win the first-half title then slumped to 3-4 in the second half.

Montrose had Lackawanna Trail in a 33-28 hole heading into the fourth quarter of the championship game.

Colby Major hit two 3-pointers and Cole Wheaton one during the fourth quarter, but the Meteors could not contain Miller, a 7-foot-1 junior center.

Miller scored 13 of his 16 points in the quarter and hit a late free throw to give the Lions a four-point lead that made Montrose’s last 3-pointer irrelevant.

Miller sat out much of the first half in foul trouble.

Matt Lochen kept the Lions in the game in the first quarter with eight of his 10 points as Montrose took a 13-10 lead.

Major had seven of his 20 points in the quarter for Montrose.

Sweppenheiser had 13 of Lackawanna Trail’s 17 points in the middle two quarters to keep the Lions within five.

“Steve’s our best player,” Lions coach Andrew Kettel said. “There’s no doubt about that, but our guys kept fighting.

“Lyle Sweppenheiser stepped up and had an outstanding game.”

Wheaton finished with 10 points for the Meteors.

WEEK IN REVIEW

Elk Lake’s Devin Fiorentino finished second at 130 pounds when he lost a major decision to repeat champion Ryan Smith of Honesdale in the 130-pound final of the Lackawanna League Wrestling Championships Saturday at Scranton High School.

Fiorentino was the only finalist from Susquehanna County.

Blue Ridge’s Zach Edwards (112) and Dalton Church (130) and Montrose’s Zach Thorne (160) all won low-scoring decisions in the consolation finals to take third place.

Susquehanna’s Thomas Maby took fourth at 140 when he lost a 3-2 decision to Lucas Karnick from team champion Western Wayne.

Elk Lake’s Dan Daly (135) and Montrose’s Nick Moore (285) took fifth.

Blue Ridge’s Edward Gorick (103) was sixth.

The county teams occupied the bottom four spots in the team standings.

Western Wayne outscored Delaware Valley, 196.5-188, for the title.

Blue Ridge was 11th with 40 points, followed by Montrose with 32, Elk Lake with 28 and Susquehanna in last with 10.

In boys’ basketball, Montrose bounced back strong from its all-season championship game loss.

The Meteors fell into the Lackawanna League’s qualifying tournament for the District 2 Class AA tournament where they won their quarterfinal game, 75-25, over Mountain View.

Montrose led, 43-7, at halftime.

Elk Lake and Blue Ridge were eliminated with quarterfinal losses.

Mid Valley beat Elk Lake, 51-33, and Carbondale knocked off Blue Ridge, 63-51.

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

The all-season, second-half standings: Montrose 13-1, Blue Ridge 12-2, Lackawanna Trail 9-5, Elk Lake 9-5, Lakeland 6-8, Susquehanna 4-10, Forest City 2-12, Mountain View 1-13.

In girls’ basketball, Holy Cross defeated Mountain View, 42-35, and Riverside ripped Elk Lake, 61-19, in Lackawanna League qualifying tournament games for the District 2 Class AA playoffs.

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

The all-season, second-half standings in Division 3: Forest City 13-1, Montrose 13-1, Lakeland 8-6, Mountain View 7-7, Lackawanna Trail 7-7, Elk Lake 6-8, Blue Ridge 2-12, Susquehanna 0-14.

COLLEGE CORNER

Sophomore Ryne Carney and freshman Tyler Williams, both Elk Lake graduates, are runners on the Bucknell University men’s indoor track team.

Carney handles distance events while Williams runs middle distance races.

Carney competed in the 3000 meters twice and the mile and 5000 meters once each this season.

Williams ran the mile twice and the 3000 once.

Carney’s better time in the 5000 was 15:57.2. He ran a 4:49.31 mile and 16:09.72 in the 5000.

Williams ran a 4:36.60 for his better mile time and also posted a 9:28.63 in the 3000.

THE WEEK AHEAD

Montrose opens District 2 Class AA girls’ basketball tournament play with a quarterfinal game Friday night.

The matchup depends on how the Lady Meteors did in a playoff/seeding game with Dunmore that was scheduled for Tuesday.

A Montrose loss would mean a quarterfinal against Hanover Area at Scranton High School at 6 p.m. A win would mean a game against the Riverside-Holy Cross loser at Marywood University at 6.

Susquehanna and Blue Ridge are scheduled to meet in the only Class A quarterfinal Saturday at Carbondale at 1. The winner advances to face Forest City, which is the top seed and has a bye, March 2.

In boys’ basketball, Montrose was still trying to get into the District 2 Class AA tournament when the week started.

If the Meteors land the league’s fourth seed in the tournament, they would face Meyers Saturday at Wyoming Area at 2:30. A fifth seed would mean a game against the Riverside/Lackawanna Trail winner Saturday at Scranton Prep at 2:30.

Forest City plays St. Michael’s in the only Class A quarterfinal Friday at Pittston Area at 6. A win would mean a game against Old Forge March 1. Susquehanna is scheduled to face Freeland MMI in the March 1 semifinals.

In wrestling, the District 2 Class AA tournament is scheduled for Friday and Saturday at Lake-Lehman.

Friday’s action is scheduled to start with preliminaries at 5 p.m., followed by quarterfinals and the first two rounds of consolations.

The Saturday action starts with semifinals at 11 a.m., followed by two rounds of consolations. The third- through sixth-place matches are tentatively set for 4 p.m. with the finals at 6:30.

In swimming and diving, the diving portion of the District 2 championships is set for Saturday at the Wilkes-Barre CYC, a week ahead of the swimming events.

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

Bayne Brings Wood Brothers Back

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. - Unbelievable!

Trevor Bayne, the 20-year-old driver of the No. 21 Wood Brothers Ford won the 53rd Daytona 500 in a double green/white/checkered finish.

“I keep thinking I’m dreaming,” Bayne said in victory lane. “We expected a lot of things, but this is incredible. Wow, it’s unbelievable.”

Trevor Bayne in victory lane after winning the Daytona 500.

It was the first Daytona 500 win for the Wood Bros. since David Pearson drove a white/gold and red Mercury to victory in 1976. Their last regular season win came at Bristol in 2001 with Elliott Sadler.

“I guess this is what you pray for,” said Glen Wood, who founded the team 59 years ago. “It also goes to show that hard work and persistence pays off. The Lord knows we’ve put in an awful amount of hard work. Not only for this race, but for years. You just have to keep on believing in what you do.”

A wreck on lap 196 of the 200-lap race involved, Regan Smith, Denny Hamlin, and Clint Bowyer.

The first green/white checkered restart came on lap 200. Roush driver, David Ragan was on the outside, with Bayne on the inside. Ragan, who chose the outside position for the restart, cut down in front of Bayne before he reached the starting line. This is a no-no with NASCAR, and after another wreck involving Ryan Newman, Dale Earnhardt Jr. and Martin Truex, Ragan was black-flagged and had to drive through the pits.

On the second and final restart, Bayne jumped out front with a push from Bobby Labonte. The pair completed the next lap in that order. As the field headed down the backstretch on the final lap, Carl Edwards was able to squeeze under Labonte, but Bayne stayed in front of Edwards all the way to the checkered flag.

Bayne became the youngest driver to win the Daytona 500 in only his second Cup start.

“I thought David (Gilliland) and I had enough steam to get it done, but we couldn’t get around Trevor,” said Edwards.

David Gilliland, Bobby Labonte, Kurt Busch, Juan Montoya, Regan Smith, Kyle Busch, Paul Menard, and Mark Martin were the remaining top-10 finishers.

Dale Earnhardt Jr. finished 24th.

“We ran good,” said Junior. “The car was fun to drive. We just got hit in the rear quarter-panel trying to get by a wreck.”

During Lap 29, Michael Waltrip, who was pushing David Reutimann, got misaligned and spun Reutimann, triggering a wreck that took out literally one-third of the field. Jimmie Johnson, Jeff Gordon, Brian Vickers, Greg Biffle, Marcos Ambrose, Greg Biffle, and Brian Keselowski were among those collected in the wreck.

"It wasn't Mike's fault," Reutimann said.

But other drivers didn’t agree.

“The first four, five, six rows, guys are pushing hard to maintain position,” said Jeff Gordon, who finished 28th. “You expect a little more patience further back, and that's not what I'm seeing now. Guys are so adamant about getting with their drafting partner and getting that push and getting up there into that top 6, 8 cars, some guys are getting in such trouble because of it.”

Two of the Richard Childress cars driven by Jeff Burton and Kevin Harvick had blown engines.

Roush Racing’s Greg Biffle and Matt Kenseth had DNF’s because of wrecks.

Jimmie Johnson, the 2010 Cup champion wound up 27th.

There were a record 64 driver lead changes and 16 cautions.

STEWART CLAIMS NATIONWIDE OPENER

With drafting help from Landon Cassill, Tony Stewart blew past Clint Bowyer at the finish line to win Saturday's Nationwide opener at Daytona International by about a foot.

“It was close,” said Stewart. “I don't know how far we won it by. I know what the margin of victory was, but I don't know what that equates to in inches. It was enough that I felt like, when we got to the line, I called on the radio and I told them I thought we won it just off where the positions of the car were. I thought we were ahead. If not, I was going to look really stupid saying, I won, I won.”

Bowyer ran second behind Stewart.

“I looked in the mirror, I saw Junior, the only Chevrolet up there, I knew that he was going to work with me. He shoved me all the way to the last lap,” said Bowyer.

“Coming off of four, what do you do? They had a good run. I tried to block the 4's (Stewart’s car) momentum. About that time Junior ducked under me, I had to block him. All hell broke loose.

“Awesome ending. That's what's so much fun about this place. No matter what the race is, the ending's always great.”

Cassill finished third, followed by Dale Earnhardt Jr., Reed Sorenson, Jason Leffler, Kyle Busch, Ricky Stenhouse, Michael Waltrip, and Trevor Bayne rounded out the top-10.

Danica Patrick finished 14th, one lap down. It was her best finish in 14 Nationwide starts.

WALTRIP GETS EMOTIONAL TRUCK WIN

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. - Ten years to the day from his first victory in the Daytona 500, Michael Waltrip made a slingshot pass of Elliott Sadler at the end of a green-white-checkered-flag finish Friday night to win the Camping World Truck Series race.

It also was the 10th anniversary of the death of Dale Earnhardt Sr., who owned the car Waltrip drove to his 2001 Daytona 500 victory. Waltrip is racing in all three of NASCAR’s top three touring series this weekend, and he decaled his truck and cars to honor Earnhardt.

“I came here to celebrate his life with my black truck and my No. 15 car,” an emotional Waltrip said after the race. “I didn’t come here to celebrate a win.”

Eliott Sadler came in second, followed by Clay Rogers, Miguel Paludo and Kyle Busch.

Jennifer Jo Cob, who finished sixth, became the first woman to finish in the top-10 in any of the top three divisions at Daytona.

Jeffrey Earnhardt, Ricky Carmichael, James Buescher and Matt Crafton were the remaining top-10 finishers.

COMMENTARY: Much has been said about how NASCAR’s popularity has slipped in the past few years. While the gigantic crowds might not be the same, Daytona Beach was packed the past week. Hotels were sold out and campers and motor homes were being parked as far as thirty miles from the track.

Despite NASCAR’s movement toward youth, in almost every restaurant, bar and gathering, the name that I heard the most was Dale Earnhardt.

Ten years ago, NASCAR lost Dale Earnhardt, a man who practically owned Daytona International Speedway’s high banks.

“Dale helped build this sport and make it what it is today and his legacy lives on,” said Brian France, NASCAR chairman of the board and chief executive officer.

Earnhardt, who posted a track record 34 victories over 21 seasons, was without question Daytona’s dominant driver of the 1980s and 1990s.

He won at least once a season for 10 consecutive years from 1990 and 1999, including the 1998 Daytona 500, and spent nearly as much time in Victory Lane as behind the wheel of his Richard Childress-owned black No. 3 Chevrolet.

Earnhardt, who died at age 49 following a final lap accident in the Feb. 18, 2001 Daytona 500, was seemingly luckless in the “Great American Race,” finishing second four times before finally winning the 500. Sure victories slipped away due to bizarre circumstances, ranging from a seagull-damaged front fender to a last-lap flat tire.

Still, the seven-time NASCAR Sprint Cup Series champion was hands-down the favorite every time the green flag waved in Daytona.

Weekend Racing: Phoenix International Raceway is the second stop of the season for all three of NASCAR’s major touring series.

Fri., Feb. 25, Camping World Truck series race, 2 of 25: Starting time: 8 p.m.; TV: Speed.

Sat., Feb. 26, Nationwide series race, 2 of 34: Starting time: 5:30 p.m.; TV: ESPN2.

Sun., Feb. 27, Sprint Cup series race, 2 of 36: Starting time: 7 p.m.; TV: Fox.

All times are Eastern.

Racing Trivia Question: Who is Kurt Busch’s teammate in the Cup series?

Last Week’s Question: Lee Petty won the first Daytona 500. How many times did he win the series driving championship? Answer. Three; 1954, ’58, ’59.

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

Back to Top

©