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HEADLINES: Blue Ridge, Susquehanna Approved To Co-Sponsor Golf, Wrestling Co-sponsorship has revived the Susquehanna football program and helped Blue Ridge begin the process of building a soccer program. The schools will work together again to try to salvage struggling golf and wrestling programs. District 2 of the Pennsylvania Interscholastic Athletic Association approved the co-sponsorship for the two sports by Blue Ridge and Susquehanna at its March meeting. Blue Ridge will be the host school of both programs. Susquehanna hosts the combined football team for the two schools while Blue Ridge hosts the boys’ soccer. The schools worked together in girls’ soccer but did not have a team in 2010 after the 2009 squad was winless. Both schools were hurt by a lack of participants last season in golf and wrestling. Susquehanna got its only win over Blue Ridge in golf and the Raiders went winless to finish last in the Lackawanna League Northern Division. The two teams tied for the bottom of the Lackawanna League Division 2 wrestling standings with one win each. The co-sponsorship produced its first championship in 2010 when Susquehanna, with help from players from Blue Ridge, won the Lackawanna Football Conference Division 3 title. WEEK IN REVIEW Susquehanna changed boys’ basketball coaches when Lawrence Tompkins was appointed to replace Scott Glidden. Tompkins, a teacher at Susquehanna, has been head coach at Mountain View. He is a former Blue Ridge and Marywood University player. In high school track and field, Elk Lake is 2-0 and in the early lead in the Lackawanna Track Conference Division 3 boys’ and girls’ standings. In professional baseball, Montrose graduate Rich Thompson opened the season as the starting center fielder and leadoff hitter for the Lehigh Valley IronPigs. Thompson went 1-for-5 Thursday in a 7-2 victory over the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre Yankees in the opener, giving Lehigh Valley a winning record for the first time in franchise history. The Binghamton Mets improved their all-time record in season openers to 13-7 by beating the Akron Aeros, 1-0, in an Eastern League game Thursday. Joel Stinson allowed just two hits in five scoreless innings and Lorenzo Scott scored the only run on a wild pitch. In professional hockey, the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins finished on top of the American Hockey League overall standings with a 58-21-0-1 record. John Hynes was named Coach of the Year in his first season guiding the Penguins. The Penguins led the league defensively, giving up 183 goals in 80 games on the way to franchise records for wins and points in the standings. The win total was the second-best in league history. Brad Thiessen and John Curry formed the goaltending combination that led the league in goals against to win the Harry “Hap” Holmes Memorial Award. Thiessen also won the Aldege “Baz” Bastien Memorial Award as the top goalie in the league. Thiessen was also a first-team AHL all-star. Binghamton Senators center Corey Locke was a first-team all-star while defenseman Andre Benoit was selected to the second team. The Senators finished fifth in the East Division at 42-30-3-5 and made the playoffs by finishing above the fourth-place team in the Atlantic Division. COLLEGE CORNER Forest City graduate Amanda Collins is a two-sport athlete as a freshman at Penn State-Hazleton. Collins was one of 10 players selected to the Penn State University Athletic Conference women’s basketball all-star team after leading Hazleton to a North Division title. Hazleton went 10-3 in the PSUAC and 11-11 overall. Collins is a first baseman on the softball team, which is the defending PSUAC champion. She drove in the team’s only run during an 8-0, 10-1 doubleheader loss to the University of Scranton earlier this month. THE WEEK AHEAD The Binghamton Senators open the American Hockey League’s Calder Cup playoffs on the road with games Thursday and Friday in Manchester against the Monarchs. The best-of-seven series moves to the Broome County Arena for Games Three through Five. The third game is Sunday. The fourth is April 19. Wilkes-Barre/Scranton hosts the first two games against Norfolk Friday and Saturday. The Penguins then move to Norfolk, starting with Game Three April 19. Binghamton got a boost in time for the playoffs when the National Hockey League’s Ottawa Senators reassigned eight players. Defensemen Benoit, David Hale and Derek Smith and forwards Cody Bass, Bobby Butler, Eric Condra, Colin Greening and Zack Smith rejoined the team after combining for 27 goals and 34 assists in 184 NHL games. In professional baseball, the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre Yankees play their home opener Wednesday at 6:35 when they meet the Buffalo Bisons in an International League game. The Binghamton Mets play their home opener Thursday at 6:35 against the New Hampshire Fisher Cats. In high school softball, Elk Lake is at Blue Ridge Monday, April 18 in a meeting between the teams that finished 1-2 in the Lackawanna League Division 3 standings a year ago. TOM ROBINSON writes a weekly local spots column for the Susquehanna County Transcript. He can be reached online at RobbyTR@aol.com.
NASCAR Racing Kenseth Leads Roush Sweep Of Texas By Gerald Hodges; The Racing Reporter FT. WORTH, Tex. - Matt Kenseth came back from a 76-race winless streak to take Saturday night’s Samsung Mobile 500 at Texas Motor Speedway. “Show me where to park this thing,” Kenseth radioed to crew chief Jimmy Fennig after beating race runner-up Clint Bowyer to the checkered flag by over 8- seconds. “It’s been a while. “I’ve said it after every win, but especially after over two years, I didn’t know if I’d ever have a chance to get here again. We had a packed house tonight, and it probably wasn’t the closest finish for them, but we had great racing all night.”
Matt Kenseth in Victory Lane at TMS. Clint Bowyer ran up front for most of the race, but was no match for Kenseth near the end. “We've come on, we've had solid runs and we're clicking now,” said Bowyer. “That's what it takes in this sport. You've got to be able to get on a momentum swing, get some confidence built back up, and you have to start with that. “I got in the lead there, and got away from him once, but I was driving, you know, as hard as I possibly could to stay in front.” For Edwards, it was a good weekend. On Friday he won the Nationwide race. “Our car was really loose all night,” Edwards said. “Man, we struggled. It seemed like we put on a set of tires, made a small adjustment and the car would be way different. I don't know what adjustment was making the car change so much. “Third was about the best we could hope for, and coming out of here with the points lead and a trip to Victory Lane is a good trip to Texas for us.” The victory was Kenseth’s second at Texas and the 19th of his NASCAR SprintCup career. Kenseth’s teammate Greg Biffle came home fourth, with Paul Menard completing the top-five. Marcos Ambrose ran sixth and polesitter David Ragan seventh, as Ford drivers claimed five of the top seven positions. Jimmie Johnson, Dale Earnhardt Jr. and Kurt Busch completed the top-10. Edwards regained the series lead by nine points over Kyle Busch, who finished 16th. Kenseth moved up six spots to third. … Earnhardt climbed two positions to sixth in the standings, his highest ranking since he finished second in the 2010 season-opening Daytona 500. … The 169 laps Kenseth led were 61 more than he led all last year. Roush Fenway now leads the points in both the Nationwide (Ricky Stenhouse Jr.) and Sprint Cup Series, which heads to Talladega Superspeedway next weekend. Top-12 Chase contenders after 7 of 36: 1. Edwards-256, 2. Kyle Busch-247, 3. Kenseth-243, 4. Johnson-243, 5. Kurt Busch-240, 6. Earnhardt-235, 7. Newman-233, 8. Montoya-232, 9. Harvick-228, 10. Stewart-213, 11. Menard-209, 12. Bowyer-201. EDWARDS TAKES TEXAS NATIONWIDE RACE Carl Edwards started on the pole and never looked back, leading 169 of 200 laps in a dominating victory in Friday night's Nationwide Series race at Texas Motor Speedway. “That was big,” said Edwards. “Just an unreal race; the car was fast. It was a great effort by this team. It was Edwards' second consecutive victory in the NNS at Texas and Roush Fenway's sixth series win at the 1.5-mile track. It was Edwards' 30th career Nationwide Series win, making him just the fifth driver ever to accomplish that feat. The win was Roush Fenway's 14th overall NASCAR win at Texas. Brad Keselowski crossed the stripe .482 seconds behind Edwards. Paul Menard came home third, followed by Joey Logano, Elliott Sadler, Justin Allgaier, Reed Sorenson, Ricky Stenhouse, David Reutimann, and Brian Scott. Kyle Busch, who was gunning for his third consecutive win and fourth of the season, was chasing Edwards as the two battled for the lead on Lap 88 when the No. 52 Chevrolet of Tim Schendel blew a tire and slid up into Busch’s path. With no room to maneuver and no time to react, Busch slammed into the back of Schendel’s car, knocking Busch’s No. 18 Toyota out of the race. “We started out a little bit tight, and the track was actually coming our way a little bit,” Busch said. “It started to free up a little bit that last run right before we wrecked. We felt pretty good about it. We were just biding our time. We were just running there - we were running hard, but we were just running.” Top-10 leaders after 5 of 34: 1. Stenhouse-218, 2. Leffler-204, 3. Allgaier-194, 4. E. Sadler-188, 5. Sorenson-188, 6. Almirola-187, 7. Bayne-181, 8. Scott-173, 9. K. Wallace-164, 10. Bliss-150. KERRY EARNHARDT JR MENDS FENCES Kerry Earnhardt, the grandson of Dale Earnhardt and son of Kerry Earnhardt is back at his former employer, Ware Racing, in the Camping World Truck Series. “We hope to get sponsorship to keep running,” Earnhardt said. “It’s tough. It’s not easy to find money. It’s not the best time with the economy right now and everything. We’re just going to try to keep bringing money in, keep racing. Earnhardt was terminated after being accused of contacting other teams and trying to take the sponsor of the No. 1 truck, Fuel Doctor with him. He said earlier in the week that he only did that once he heard that Fuel Doctor wasn’t going to continue sponsorship on the No. 1 truck. Earnhardt and team owner Rick Ware reconciled Wednesday and announced that Earnhardt would drive and they would continue to look for funding. “We’ve got a good team with Joe Lax as the crew chief, all the crew guys - everybody really works hard to make it as good a program as they can,” Earnhardt said. “I don’t want to mess it up. We have something good going and I want to keep it going, keep the relationship going and keep the friendship going. “We’re going to work hard. We’re going to do whatever we can to keep racing. “It’s been a real tough week for everybody. It’s been one thing to another to another and it’s back to the start where we’re racing again. It was tough, and I guess that’s what happens when there’s not enough understanding and communication between two people.” The good thing for Earnhardt and Ware is that they have a week until the next race at Nashville Superspeedway and then three more weeks until the next race at Dover. Weekend Racing: The Cup and Nationwide teams are at the 2.66-mile Talladega Superspeedway, the largest of any NASCAR track. The Trucks do not race again until April 22. Sat., Apr. 15, Nationwide Aaron’s 312, race 7 of 36, Starting time: 3 p.m.; TV: ESPN2. Sun., Apr. 17, Sprint Cup Aaron’s 499, race 8 of 36, Starting time: 1 p.m.; TV: FOX. All times are Eastern. Racing Trivia Question: Which Cup team does Martin Truex drive for? Last Week’s Question: How many NASCAR Cup championships has Darrell Waltrip won? Answer. He was a three-time series champion (1981-82, ’85). All three crowns came while driving for Junior Johnson. You may contact the Racing Reporter at hodges@race500.com.
Adam Phillips Is March’s Athlete Of The Month
Adam Phillips headed to the Pennsylvania Interscholastic Athletic Association Swimming and Diving Championships confident in his ability to win a state medal. The Elk Lake junior came home with two. Phillips posted a pair of seventh-place finishes, in the 100 breaststroke and 200 individual medley, in Class AA during the state championships at Bucknell University, earning him recognition as the Susquehanna County Transcript Athlete of the Month for March. “In my breaststroke, I felt I might do better than I did,” Phillips said, “but I wasn’t expecting the medal in the IM. I lowered my time by about four seconds.” Phillips had already been to one state championship meet as a sophomore and is looking forward to the possibility of a third appearance a year from now. “It did help a lot,” Phillips said. “I didn’t have the first-time nerves. I was more focused on what I had to do. “I’ll take the two medals I got this year and next year, I’ll go for better times.” Phillips finished 200 IM qualifying in 1:59.40 after finishing in 2:03.54 at the District 2 championships. The personal-best qualified him sixth among the eight finalists before he posted a 2:00.21 in the final. In the breaststroke, Phillips followed up a 1:00.94 with a time of 1:00.61 in the finals. Phillips, who has played three other varsity sports at Elk Lake, hopes to continue his swimming beyond high school. “It’s always been a dream of mine to be able to swim in college,” Phillips said. “I’m starting to get some things from colleges.” Phillips is in his third season on the varsity baseball team and his second as the starting catcher. After playing soccer as a sophomore, he switched his fall sport to golf as a junior. Adam is the son of Jim and Ann Marie Phillips of Springville. Jim Phillips coaches the Elk Lake baseball team.
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