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Kempa Could Have Varied Role For City Offense In Dream Game
By Tom Robinson

SCRANTON - Nick Donato is faced with one of those problems that can come up when rosters are put together for a high school football all-star game.

Scranton Prep’s Donato has just one player with nearly full-time experience at tailback on the roster of the City team that will take on the County July 27 at Scranton Memorial Stadium in the 77th annual Scranton Lions Club-sponsored Dream Game.

Donato, however, has an uncommon solution.

The City roster features a pair of quarterbacks, Susquehanna’s Dan Kempa and West Scranton’s Tyler Hughes, who each ran for more than 1,000 yards as a senior.

“We have Kempa and Tyler Hughes, so we’re going to just let it go,” Donato said. “I think we’re going to be in the gun a little bit.”

Kempa was the top running threat as the quarterback in a veer option game at Susquehanna. His third straight 1,000-yard season, when he ran for 1,190 yards and 17 touchdowns, helped the Sabers to the 2010 Lackawanna Football Conference Division 3 championship.

“I heard a lot about him,” Donato said of Kempa, who played on one of the few teams he did not go against when Scranton Prep was an LFC Division 2 team in 2009 and an LFC Division 1 team in 2010. “We’ll run a little option with him.”

Hughes made the use of two running backs irrelevant when he threw for 2,320 yards and 23 touchdowns while running for 1,406 yards and 20 touchdowns from the spread offense to lead West Scranton into the District 2 Class AAA championship game.

“I’m going to let Tyler operate out of the gun,” Donato said. “I talked to Kempa. He’s going to play a little tailback for us and a little quarterback and we’ll see what happens from there.

“It’s a multiple offense. I wouldn’t say it’s a spread, but we’re going to be in the gun and one back quite a bit. I’m going to try to make Tyler as comfortable as I can.

“I want to be able to use Kempa’s ability as much as I can, too, so he might be under center a little bit.”

Hughes and Kempa are just two of three quarterbacks in the game, who rushed for 1,000-plus yards last season.

When Lackawanna Trail’s Steve Jervis made up his roster for Thursday’s Media Night, he omitted Riverside’s Corey Talerico, who he thought was going to have to drop from the game. Jervis learned before the gathering, however, that the West Chester recruit is going to be available.

Talerico was named state Class A Player of the Year after leading District 2 champion Riverside to an appearance in the state Class A championship game. Talerico passed for 1,995 yards and 30 touchdowns while running for 1,044 yards and 16 scores.

Jervis said he will stick with the offense his staff coaches at Lackawanna Trail.

“We’re going to run exactly what we run at Lackawanna Trail, a version of the wing-T, something we believe in,” Jervis said. “I think the one positive about it is the series approach. You can run a decent number of plays as long as the kids understand the series.”

All-star game rules generally limit blitzing and require one defensive approach in order to make it possible for teams to teach offensive plays, with limiting adjustments in the two weeks of available practice.

The coaches have agreed to switch from years of a 5-2 defensive approach to 4-3 alignments this year.

Tolerico is able to play but both teams had several adjustments to make when players were removed from the roster for a variety of reasons, including injuries, work commitments and other schedule conflicts.

Among the County losses was Matt Boyarsky, a second-team Class AA all-state defensive lineman for his role in Lakeland’s LFC Division 2 championship.

Montrose’s Mason Griffiths attended the team meeting, but was unable to work out schedule issues and was dropped from the roster.

The loss of Griffiths leaves two Montrose players on the City team along with four from Susquehanna, the most for the team since it returned to the list of those that are eligible for the Dream Game.

Defensive lineman Rob Hubal, fullback/linebacker Nick Marco and two-way end Steve Skurski will also represent the Sabers.

Fullback/linebacker Ethan Jones and guard/linebacker Josh Oliver are the Montrose players.

WEEK IN REVIEW

By the time the 24th Triple-A All-Star Game came around Wednesday night, the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre Yankees had just one representative.

Right-handed pitcher Adam Warren made sure the Yankees still had a significant impact on the game.

Warren was one of just two pitchers to throw two innings during a combined three-hit shutout that helped the International League to a 3-0 victory over the Pacific Coast League in Salt Lake City.

Hazleton Area graduate Russ Canzler accounted for all the scoring with a three-run homer in the second inning and was named IL Top Star.

All three runs were unearned in an inning that started with Charlotte’s Dayan Viciedo reaching on an error by Salt Lake third baseman Jeff Baisley.

Canzler, a third baseman for the Durham Bulls, hit a two-out shot to left-center field.

The IL pitching staff dominated to the point where David Cooper was named PCL Top Star for getting a single and a walk.

Columbus pitcher Zach McAllister got it started, allowing just a hit in the first two innings.

Warren overcame an error to hold the PCL scoreless in the third and fourth innings. He threw 22 of 30 pitches for strikes and had one strikeout.

Seven pitchers followed Warren, combining to hold the PCL to one hit over the final five innings.

The Yankees originally had three players selected for the game - catcher Jesus Montero, first baseman Jorge Vazquez and relief pitcher Kevin Whelan. When injuries led to them being among the players who were unavailable, Warren was in the list of players added to the IL roster.

In the Eastern League All-Star Game, two Binghamton Mets infielders were held hitless when the Eastern Division dropped an 8-3 decision to the Western Division.

Jordany Valdespin led off and was 0-for-2. Josh Satin was 0-for-1.

In Mixed Martial Arts, the sport made its debut at the Mohegan Sun Arena in Wilkes-Barre Saturday night with Swoyersville’s Jimy Hettes stopping Jacob Kirwan late in the second round of the main event to improve to 8-0 as a pro.

James Cianci of Clarks Summit scored a one-punch knockout 55 seconds into his fight to improve to 3-0.

In American Legion baseball, the FMS Generals lost two straight games and were eliminated from the Pennsylvania Region 5 Tournament.

The FMS Generals, made up of players from the Susquehanna, Mountain View and Lackawanna Trail School Districts, won their district title to qualify for the tournament.

Danville defeated FMS, 14-13, Saturday then Jersey Shore downed FMS, 16-6, Sunday.

THE WEEK AHEAD

The UNICO Scranton Soccer All-Star Game is scheduled for Friday night at the University of Scranton’s Fitzpatrick Field.

Blue Ridge’s Taylor Carlsen, Eric Giangrieco, Greg Stonier and Nick Vales; Elk Lake’s Bo Bushnell, Tony Nwhart and Joey Woolcock; Forest City’s Adam Dix and Kevin Swartz; and Montrose’s Danny Simonds, Matthew Hohn and Mike Marz are on the North boys’ roster.

Blue Ridge’s Morgan Clapper and Hayley Rupakus; Forest City’s Alysa Borick and Rebecca Keller; Montrose’s Amelia DiPhillips, Alex Lewis and Katelyn Spellman; and Mountain View’s Taylor Brainard, Megan Walker and Olivia Zick are on the North girls’ roster.

TOM ROBINSON writes a weekly local sports column for the Susquehanna County Transcript. He can be reached at RobbyTR@aol.com.

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NASCAR Racing
By Gerald Hodges

“Rocket” Ryan Is Back

By Gerald Hodges; The Racing Reporter

LOUDON, N.H. - Polesittter, Ryan Newman and his teammate Tony Stewart managed to stretch their fuel in the closing laps to finish 1-2 in Sunday’s Lenox Tools 301 Cup race.

“We did what we had to do,” said Newman. “It was a total team effort. We’ve been close to winning several times, and to have Tony finish second is really sweet.”

"Rocket" Ryan Newman, winner of New Hampshire Cup race.

It was the first win for either Newman or Stewart this year. Newman had not won since April, 2010.

“This was a perfect weekend,” said Stewart. “For Ryan to be on the pole and for us to finish like this is great.”

Denny Hamlin came from a lap down to finish third.

“This goes to show our team never gives up,” said Hamlin. “We were kind of out of it, but we made an adjustment late in the race and it allowed us to move to the front.”

Joey Logano, Jimmie Johnson, Kasey Kahne, Bobby Labonte, Martin Truex, Marcos Ambrose, and Kurt Busch were the remaining top-10 finishers.

Dale Earnhardt Jr. was never able to stay with the leaders and finished 15th.

Kyle Busch, winner of Saturday’s Nationwide race hit the wall after the right front tire blew out on his No. 18 Toyota. He finished 36th.

Carl Edwards finished 13th, but regained the points lead.

Top-10 Chase contenders after 19 of 36: 1. Edwards-652, 2. Johnson-645, 3. Kurt Busch-645, 4. Harvick-637, 5. Kyle Busch-632, 6. Kenseth-626, 7. J. Gordon-587, 8. Newman-586, 9. Earnhardt-577, 10. Hamlin-570, 11. Stewart-570, 12. Bowyer-542.

KYLE BUSCH TIES MARTIN’S RECORD

Kyle Busch tied Mark Martin's record for career victories in the Nationwide Series after Saturday's win in the New England 200 at New Hampshire Motor Speedway.

The victory was Busch's sixth of the season in 15 starts and the 49th of his career, tying Martin. At the same time, the win was his 100th victory in NASCAR's three national stock-car series.

“That’s awesome,” said Busch. “For myself to be mentioned in the same category as a Mark Martin or a Sam Ard - (Rob) Moroso was really good, from what I understand. Never really got to see him race, but there were also a few other guys - (Tommy) Houston, I can’t remember them all off the top of my head right now - that made the Nationwide Series and made it exciting in its heyday through the 80s and early 90s, and Mark (Martin) was going at it for a long time through the 90s and 2000s. It’s fun to look back on those and see that my name is atop the list with the rest of those guys. There’s many more to go, hopefully. We can certainly make it a large number one day and we’ll see how that all tallies up in the end.”

Top-10 leaders after 19 of 34: 1. Sadler-673, 2. Sorenson-666, 3. Stenhouse-655, 4. Allgaier-632, 5. Almirola-592, 6. Leffler-582, 7. K. Wallace-571, 8. S. Wallace-525, 9. Annett-520, 10. Scott-510.

CRAFTON WINS IOWA TRUCK RACE

NEWTON, Iowa - Matt Crafton won Saturday night's Coca-Cola 200 at Iowa Speedway, holding off a determined Austin Dillon in the closing laps for his second career win in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series.

Top-10 leaders after 10 of 24; 1. Sauter-388, 2. Dillon-366, 3. Whitt-362, 4. Buescher-352, 5. Crafton-352, 6. Peters-341, 7. Hornaday-335, 8. Kligerman-334, 9. Coulter-331, 10. Gaughan-315

DON’T BLAME US; BRUTON SMITH

An unapologetic Bruton Smith let it be known he was not going to shoulder the blame for the traffic and parking debacle at Kentucky Speedway on Saturday, July 9.

“Whatever part we played in this, we played, but it was not all us - we don’t control the highways,” said Smith.

“The people that came early had no problem,” Smith said. “But those that waited a little bit late, those were the ones that had a problem. … I am sincerely sorry that all the fans did not get in there.”

Smith even blasted the governor of Kentucky for traffic woes although he never mentioned that there were not enough parking spaces for cars, causing Interstate 71 to back up for miles in both directions.

Smith said he will not refund any tickets, but will honor them at his other tracks.

According to estimates, there was a sellout crowd of 107,000. Speedway officials said about 15,000 ticket-holders were unable to attend. Some ticket-holders were turned away by the police because the track’s parking lots were full.

This brings up another question. Did the track oversell some general admission and standing room only seats?

At some point, track workers stopped scanning tickets, so track officials don’t know how many ticket holders missed the race.

During a press conference prior to the New Hampshire race, NASCAR Pres. Mike Helton said he didn’t know why the track’s plans went awry.

“I'll remind everybody that NASCAR had been racing at Kentucky Speedway for several years with Nationwide and Truck, so it's not like a brand-new construction or a brand-new location in general, but it was the inaugural Sprint Cup race, which in some regards takes it to a different level. There were a lot of planning meetings, a lot of sessions that took place,” said Helton.

“What was happening was a lot of construction, a lot of new work, some of which took place after the ownership change before we went back for Nationwide and Truck races last year. But a lot happened between last races and this inaugural race for the Sprint Cup. We tracked those along the way.

“There was a lot of planning that was exhibited to us and to fans. I know on one trip up there myself, in the lobby of the office complex, there was material there that showed very well thought out, very nice, presentable piece, full color page of the traffic ingress, and then there was another page of traffic egress that was, according to the track folks, being mailed to the ticket buyers and was available to everybody to pick up.

“I think part of what we want to know now is, was that plan followed correctly or what might have interfered with the preparation that went into the event that caused what happened.

“Those are the kind of questions we'll have to get to the bottom of to figure out the solution. NASCAR will find the right answers so this doesn’t happen again.”

Weekend Racing: The Cup teams have an off weekend. The Nationwide cars and Camping World trucks are at the 1.33-mile Nashville Superspeedway.

Fri., July 22, Camping World Trucks Lucas 200, race 12 of 25, Starting time: 8 p.m.; TV: SPEED.

Sat., July 23, Nationwide Series Federated Auto Parts 300, race 20 of 34, Starting time: 7:30 p.m.; TV: ESPN.

All times are Eastern.

Racing Trivia Question: Mark Martin has said he will continue to race in the Cup Series until at least the end of the 2012 season. Where is his hometown?

Last Week’s Question: What was the nickname of early racer Edward G. Roberts? Answer. It was “Fireball” Roberts.

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

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