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HEADLINES: Maile’s Alumni Game Effort Helps Forest City Honor Julius Prezelski FOREST CITY - The game was played on an early August night and the gymnasium was only about half-full. With coach Julius Prezelski in his familiar seat on the bench, Jason Maile helped put on a show worthy of the Forest City basketball tradition that they got together to celebrate. Billy Jones, who is preparing for his first season as coach of a program that slipped to consecutive 2-12 seasons in Division 3 of the Lackawanna League, thought one step would be to try to connect the current team with some of the school’s impressive boys’ basketball tradition. Prezelski and Maile were two of the prominent figures in helping Forest City extend a lengthy stretch when Montrose and Elk Lake made Susquehanna County the home of some of the finest small school basketball in Pennsylvania. They were part of an Alumni Game that fit into Old Home Week celebrations in Forest City Wednesday night. Prezelski was named Associated Press Small School Coach of the Year in 1991 and retired in 1993 with what was then a state-record 757 victories. Maile gained AP’s attention the next year when he was named Small School Player of the Year after finishing his career with a school-record 2,473 points. Maile and Prezelski formed a winning combination one more time in a contest that was fun and part of a ceremony, but turned competitive in the end. Prezelski’s coaching expertise was not called on much in the game, but before it started, there was no trouble getting the long-time coach to offer astute observations on the best ways to teach the proper skill set to a developing team. The Alumni Game served as a fundraiser for both Old Home Week and the boys’ basketball program. Pregame ceremonies also served as the ideal setting for unveiling more recognition of Prezelski in the gym that bears his name. “Julius J. Prezelski Gymnasium ‘757’” was printed on the gym floor in two spots. The players who returned for the game were split into two teams. “This was a lot of fun,” Maile said. “I enjoyed coming back. “Coach was here. I’m still friends with a lot of the guys, the younger players that I used to play against when I’d come back from playing overseas.” Taking the court for the first time in a year, Maile did not show any of the rust. Instead, he showed off some of the abilities that led to a 40-point effort for Pittsburgh against Villanova in the Big East Tournament and a professional career in four countries. Maile led the Gold, which was coached by Prezelski, to a 62-61 victory over the Purple by scoring 20 points with the help of eight 3-pointers. The last of those 3-pointers was an off-balance, game-winner with 38 seconds left. “I’m here to support the program,” said Maile, who was selected as his team’s Most Valuable Player. “We’ve had a great tradition here. We’re trying to build that back up. “I thought it would be a great opportunity to help the coach and play with some of the guys I’m familiar with.” Others felt the same way. Aaron Trusky, an all-star and 1,000-point scorer, had 13 points for the Gold. The 2002 graduate also blocked one shot and defended against another in the final five seconds to help preserve the one-point victory. Joey Franceski, a 2000 graduate, added 10 points. Kevin McGraw, a four-year starter and 1,000-point scorer who graduated in 2000, had eight points. He scored four during the 8-1 run to erase a six-point deficit in the final 3 1/2 minutes. Neither team led by more than seven points the entire game. The winning Gold team also featured Paul Prezelski, Dave Shollock, Luke Pisarcik, Chris Nebzydoski and Eric Torres. Prezelski, the coach’s son, is the school’s second-leading scorer with 2,113 points in a career that ended in 1985 before the addition of the shot clock. Shollock was a 1,000-point scorer. Pisarcik is the current assistant coach. Nebzydoski was a team captain. Jack Pisarcik, another former head coach at Forest City, coached the Purple team. Ryan Ogozaly, who played on Forest City’s last championship team in 2004 and joined the 1,000-point club before graduating in 2006, was the Purple MVP. He led the team with 14 points. Jesse Walsh, a four-time, all-star, 1,000-point scorer and 2009 graduate, added 10 points. Steve Zawisky, Julius Prezelski Jr., Dave Kowalewski, Matt Pisarcik, Mike Fitzsimmons, Andrew Delabar and Bob Korty were also on the Purple team. Zawisky, a fifth-team, all-state choice and conference Player of the Year, was also a fourth-place finisher in the state long jump despite the school not having a track team. Prezelski Jr. followed his father into coaching and runs the Julius Prezelski Basketball School in the Baltimore/Washington area. Kowalewski, the school’s fifth- and sixth-grade coach, was a 1,000-point scorer. Pisarcik also scored more than 1,000 points. Fitzsimmons, a 1975 graduate, was the oldest player in the game. THE WEEK AHEAD Practice for the fall high school sports season begins Monday. County teams will begin preparation in football, boys’ and girls’ soccer, boys’ and girls’ cross country, golf, girls’ tennis, field hockey and girls’ volleyball. TOM ROBINSON writes a weekly local sports column for the Susquehanna County Transcript. He can be reached online at RobbyTR@aol.com. NASCAR Racing Keselowski Gets Gutsy Win At Pocono POCONO, Penn. - Brad Keselowski showed he is a gutsy driver, as he drove to victory in Sunday’s Sprint Cup race at Pocono while nursing a broken ankle sustained in a crash last week. Keselowski caught and passed his teammate Kurt Busch on a restart during lap 182 of the 200-lap race, then held off a determined Kyle Busch, who had to settle for second.
Brad Keselowski celebrates his Sunday Cup win at Pocono. Furnished by NASCAR. “Getting through this weekend was only possible because of the inspiration of my team,” said Keselowski. Keselowski did not compete in this weekend’s Nationwide Series race at Iowa Speedway in light of a chipped left ankle while testing Wednesday at Road Atlanta, after the brakes failed on his car and he hit the wall. “I gave it my all,” said Kyle Busch. “If I had it to do all over again, I don’t know if I could do anything different.” Kurt Busch, one of the early leaders of the race finished third. He and Jimmie Johnson, the fourth-place finisher raced each other hard, bumping a couple times, and after the race, Johnson approached Busch’s car on pit road and told him a thing or two. “I was racing flat-out,” said Busch. “Nobody told me I was supposed to pull over with five-to go.” Johnson was clearly upset as he walked back several times to make his point with Busch. “I raced him hard and clean for 10-15 laps,” said Johnson. “Then as soon as I passed him, he started banging on me.” Ryan Newman, Jeff Gordon, Carl Edwards, Greg Biffle, Dale Earnhardt Jr., and Paul Menard were the remaining top-10 finishers. The race was red-flagged for over two hours due to rain. Polesitter Joey Logano came home 26th. Top-12 Chase contenders after 21 of 36: 1. Edwards-720, 2. Johnson-711, 3. Kyle Busch-709, 4. Kurt Busch-706, 5. Harvick-700, 6. Kenseth-694, 7. J. Gordon-668, 8. Newman-658, 9. Stewart-642, 10. Earnhardt-641, 11. Hamlin-618, 12. Bowyer-600. EDWARDS PUSHES STENHOUSE TO WIN Ricky Stenhouse and Carl Edwards combined to produce the wildest one-two finish in team history Saturday night at Iowa Speedway, with Ricky Stenhouse Jr. posting his second career Nationwide win, while Edwards finished second Stenhouse looked as if he would cruise to the win, but a blown engine forced him to almost stop just before the finish line on the final lap. Edwards, who was running second was unable to maneuver through the thick smoke, and slammed into the back of Stenhouse just short of the finish line, and pushed him sideways across the stripe. “I don’t think anyone’s finished one-two with two torn up race cars like that,” said Edwards. “I hoped he would be out of the way when I got there and I would drive around him. It was a huge day. It’s fun to come here and race in front of this crowd and a great race for Ricky even with his problem there at the end.” Elliot Sadler, Josh Wise, Aric Almirola, Reed Sorenson, Kenny Wallace, Steven Wallace, Michael McDowell, and David Mayhew were the remaining top-10 finishers. With the victory, Stenhouse increased his Nationwide Series points lead to 12 points. Stenhouse and Edwards finished both Iowa races first and second this season. Top-10 leaders after 22 of 34: 1. Stenhouse-787, 2. Sorenson-775, 3. Sadler-758, 4. Almirola-710, 5. Allgaier-704, 6. Leffler-677, 7. K. Wallace-674, 8. S. Wallace-608, 9. Annett-598, 10. Scott-596. RAIN-DELAYED TRUCK RACE GOES TO HARVICK had enough gas to survive a green-white-checkered finish in Sunday's rain-delayed Camping World Truck Series race at Pocono Raceway. Kyle Busch finished second, followed by James Buescher, Johnny Sauter, Austin Dillon, Joey Coulter, Mark Martin, Matt Crafton, Ron Hornaday, and Timothy Peters. Top-10 points leaders after 13 of 24: 1. Sauter-493, 2. Dillon-488, 3. Buescher-474, 4. Peters-465, 5. Whitt-453, 6. Crafton-451, 7. Coulter-441, 8. Kligerman-439, 9. Hornaday-436, 10. Bodine-415. NASHVILLE SPEEDWAY SHUTTING DOWN The Nashville Superspeedway is going out of business. Dover Motorsports Inc. announced last week it won’t hold NASCAR races at the track in 2012 and may put the superspeedway up for sale. The company has been trying unsuccessfully to secure a NASCAR Sprint Cup race since 2001. Kentucky hosted its first Sprint Cup race in July, and Dover decided it couldn’t continue without getting onto NASCAR’s top schedule. “But the reality is after 10 years of effort we have to face the fact that without a Spring Cup race and/or a significant change in the operating model for other events, we simply cannot continue,” general manager Cliff Hawks said in a statement. Dover opened the 1.33-mile track 10 years ago. The superspeedway has hosted NASCAR trucks and Nationwide races with two dates on each series this year and also had a slot on the Indy Racing League schedule before losing that after the 2008 season. Dover Motorsports president Denis McGlynn said they had years of support from local, county and state officials and fans. “We are, however, at a juncture where we must evaluate all of our options for this track, including its possible sale,” McGlynn said in a statement. Dover unveiled ambitious plans for the superspeedway with the ability to expand to up to 150,000 seats along with a dirt track, a short track and a drag strip. Lights were installed along with 25,000 permanent grandstand seats for night racing. But landing a Sprint Cup race was the target all along, and Dover never got Nashville squeezed into NASCAR’s top schedule. The superspeedway faced competition from too many tracks just a short drive away in Bristol, Talladega and now Kentucky. PATRICK CLOSE TO 2012 DEAL Danica Patrick is in the final stages of putting together her full-time NASCAR plan. She is apparently going to run a full Nationwide schedule with JR Motorsports in 2012, and a limited Sprint Cup schedule with Tony Stewart, plus running the Indy-500 in preparation for an eventual full Cup schedule. When asked at Pocono if he had any comments about furnishing a car for Patrick in 2012, Stewart refused to talk about it. Patrick is ranked as the third highest paid female athlete with earnings at $12 million. Her fourth place finish in the Sam’s Town 300 in March was the highest finish ever by a woman in a Nascar race. A permanent move to Nascar would certainly boost her income All that remains now is for Patrick is to make her decision known. Weekend Racing: The Sprint Cup and Nationwide teams are at the 11-turn, 2.45-mile road course at Watkins Glen, N.Y. The truck teams have an off weekend. Sat., Aug. 13, Nationwide Series Zippo 200, race 23 of 34, Starting time: 2 p.m.: TV: ESPN. Sun., Aug 14, Sprint Cup Sour Cream Dip at The Glen, race 22 of 36, Starting time: 1 p.m.: TV: ESPN. All times are Eastern. Racing Trivia Question: Jimmie Johnson has one 2012 Cup win this season. Which track did it come at? Last Week’s Question: What are the names of Richard Childress’s two grandsons who are starting to make a name for themselves in racing? They are Austin and Ty Dillon. You may contact the Racing Reporter at hodges@race500.com. Nick Marco Is July’s Athlete Of The Month
Nick Marco needed exactly one play to make his presence known in the 77th annual Dream Game. When the County’s James Fruehan threatened to break into the secondary, it was Marco who ran down the all-stater from Abington Heights with a crunching hit just short of the first down marker. Marco, a linebacker from Susquehanna, assisted on the next tackle and continued to help the City defense which allowed just one touchdown in an 18-7 victory at Scranton Memorial Stadium. For his efforts, Marco has been selected Susquehanna County Transcript Athlete of the Month. The linebacker led a strong contribution from a record-high four Sabers, who took part in the Scranton Lions Club-sponsored, all-star game for football players who graduated this year from Lackawanna Football Conference schools. “Our coaches were happy there were four of us in the game,” said Marco, who was joined by Dan Kempa, Rob Hubal and Steve Skurski. “It’s a reflection that people are starting to respect Susquehanna football again for some of the success we have had lately.” That success included an LFC Division 3 championship last season in Marco’s second year as a starting running back and linebacker. Marco finished the Dream Game with three tackles and two assists. One of the tackles was for a loss. He also broke up a pass. The all-star game helped prepare Marco for the start of college. He was recruited by Carnegie-Melon where he plans to play while studying engineering. Marco chose Carnegie-Melon, where he is likely to move from inside to outside linebacker, after also receiving recruiting interest from Wilkes, King’s and RPI. Marco, the son of Nick and Kim Marco of Susquehanna, was a member of the football team at Susquehanna for three years. He also played four years of baseball where he was a three-year starter in the outfield. Local Athlete Wins National Award John Lawson, from Montrose Area High School, has won a National Leadership Grant sponsored by NCSA Athletic Recruiting and the NFLPA. Receiving this prestigious award is not only an honor but one that is only given to a select number of student athletes throughout the country in all sports from football to track. The Leadership Grant is awarded to student athletes who qualify based on leadership in their community, academic achievement, athletics and a required essay written by the student athlete. "We are very pleased to be involved with NCSA in assisting in the recognition and the selection of young qualified student athletes to receive scholarship opportunities," said DeMaurice Smith, Executive Director of the NFLPA. "Anytime you can identify, help and reward future leaders to further their education and athletic pursuits it's a win-win and we are pleased to contribute to this worthy effort with NCSA." Following the selection of John to be the recipient of this Leadership Grant, NCSA will work with him and his family throughout his high school career and assist him to find a collegiate institution that best matches his academic and athletic achievements. NCSA is the nation’s premier “athletic recruiting network” and leadership platform for student athletes to get connected with collegiate scholarships, internships and careers.
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