Susquehanna’s annual home night game under portable lights took an immediate turn for the worse when senior quarterback Sean Stanley suffered a sprained neck on the second play Friday and was unable to return.

With the Sabers struggling offensively early in the game, the Chiefs defense and special teams shortened the field by a variety of methods.

Lakeland’s offense took advantage, building a 25-point lead in less than 16 minutes without ever having to move more than 33 yards on the way to a 32-8 victory.

Lakeland used a punt return, penalty, interception and fumble recovery to set up the scores that broke open the meeting between defending Lackawanna Football Conference division champions.

Stanley was injured when Dante DeAntonio threw him for a loss a minute into the game, which was played in a constant rain.

That left sophomore Curtis Mill to try to run the Sabers’ veer option offense on a muddy field against a championship-caliber defense.

“I think the quarterback getting hurt really hurt them,” Lakeland coach Jeff Wasilchak said. “He runs their offense and it’s a very difficult offense to run.”

The Sabers did not manage a first down until the defending Division 2 champion Chiefs had opened a 19-0 lead.

After Lakeland’s first defensive stop, Ryan Nichols returned a punt 32 yards. The offense needed to move just 14 yards, covering the distance in four plays, for a 6-0 lead on Tyler Brady’s 7-yard run with 8:17 left in the quarter.

The Chiefs pinned the Sabers in their own end and Nichols returned the next punt 15 yards. Lakeland had to move just 33 yards this time - only 20 after Susquehanna roughed the punter to restart the drive - for a 12-0 lead with 4:49 left in the quarter.

Nichols ran 14 yards for the touchdown.

Lakeland broke open its third straight win since an opening loss when Alex Filarsky scored two touchdowns in a stretch of 1:39 in the second quarter.

Filarsky, a two-time, all-state defensive back, jumped in front of a slant pass and returned the interception 38 yards untouched for a score.

On the first play after forcing a Susquehanna fumble, Filarsky caught a 22-yard touchdown pass from Kyle Kiehart for a 25-0 lead with 8:20 left in the half.

Susquehanna crossed midfield just once in the first half. James Murnock ran 19 yards to the Lakeland 40, but the Sabers were pushed back 21 yards on the next three plays.

The Sabers stopped Lakeland without a first down to open the second half, then picked up 21- and 17-yard runs by Jesse Pruitt on the first two plays. The scoring threat came up two yards short on fourth down at the Chiefs 14.

Lakeland then put together its only long scoring drive.

J.J. Rojenches ran 1 yard to complete an eight-play, 85-yard drive.

Susquehanna avoided the shutout by moving 78 yards in 11 plays to score on a 1-yard sneak by Mill. Pruitt went up the middle for the two-point run with 1:57 left.

The teams combined for seven turnovers. Lakeland lost two fumbles and an interception. Susquehanna, which had eight fumbles for the second time in three weeks, lost two of the fumbles and two interceptions.

Pruitt rushed for 87 yards and Murnock for 84 on 13 carries each.

Pruitt also led Susquehanna’s defense with four tackles, including one for a loss, and four assists.

Anthony Stark had five tackles and an assist. Jagr Briar had three tackles, including one for a loss, an assist and a fumble recovery.

In another game, Montrose was shut out by unbeaten Dunmore, 42-0, to extend its losing streak to 22 games.

Austin Seamon took the second play 65 yards for a touchdown and Dunmore scored 19 points in the first 7:55 on the way to a 34-0 halftime lead.

The game reached the Mercy Rule with 1:57 left in the third quarter.

Evan Castrogiavanni led a ground attack that allowed Montrose to move the ball at times between the 20s, but the Meteors were unable to score.

WEEK IN REVIEW

Montrose advanced four players and Mountain View two to the October 5 District 2 boys’ golf championships with their efforts during qualifying Sept. 21 at Elmhurst Country Club.

Scranton Prep and Abington Heights each advanced all six players. North Pocono advanced five while Montrose matched Wallenpaupack for the fourth most out of the 24-team league.

Lance Nealy of Montrose had the best score among the advancing golfers from Susquehanna County with a 76.

Delaware Valley’s Cody Cox was the low qualifier with a 69, followed by Tony Sebastianelli and Alex Altier of Abington Heights with 70 and 71.

Nealy tied for 10th in the event, which advanced the top third of the league’s players, 48 in all, for the District 2 Tournament.

Jordan Smith (82), Casey O’Reilly (84) and Mason Legg (86) also qualified from Montrose.

Tyler Salak shot 85 and Chad Wescott 86 for Mountain View.

In golf league play, Montrose suffered its first loss against Wallenpaupack but bounced back to defeat Carbondale, 7-2, and win the Lackawanna League Northern Division title.

Nealy, Legg, O’Reilly and Cameron Dean won their singles and better-ball matches in the title-clinching victory.

The Meteors finished 10-1 in the division, just ahead of Wallenpaupack and Lakeland at 9-1-1 each.

In boys’ soccer, Forest City is the last unbeaten left in Lackawanna League Division 3 play at 6-0.

In girls’ tennis, Elk Lake and Riverside entered the final week of the season tied for the Lackawanna League Division 3 lead with 6-4 records.

In girls’ cross country, Elk Lake is the Lackawanna League’s only unbeaten at 9-0.

In girls’ soccer, Mountain View is 5-0 to lead Lackawanna Division 2.

Nicki Lewis scored a goal in each half when Montrose handed Holy Cross its first loss, 4-2.

COLLEGE CORNER

Ellen Squier got a chance to run a cross country race close to home Saturday when she finished fourth out of 56 entrants at the Keystone College Invitational.

The senior from Elk Lake helped Philadelphia Biblical University take third place out of nine teams in the race.

Squier is nearing the end of a standout career, which saw her become the first PBU runner to ever qualify for the NCAA Regional Championship. Squier was 84th out of 314 in regionals last year after leading the Crimson Eagles to the finish line in all seven regular-season races.

THE WEEK AHEAD

Susquehanna (2-2) is at Carbondale (1-3) and Montrose (0-4) is at Honesdale (0-4) in Friday night football games.

Our predictions last week were 7-3 (70.0 percent), making our season record 43-13 (76.8 percent).

This week’s predictions, with home teams in CAPS: CARBONDALE 19, Susquehanna 10; HONESDALE 42, Montrose 0; VALLEY VIEW 20, Wallenpaupack 0; WEST SCRANTON 43, North Pocono 18; LAKELAND 29, Lackawanna Trail 18; WESTERN WAYNE 40, Holy Cross 23; DUNMORE 32, Mid Valley 21; OLD FORGE 27, Riverside 12; Scranton 18, SCRANTON PREP 13; Delaware Valley 32, ABINGTON HEIGHTS 6.

In high school golf, Montrose will be part of the field for the Lackawanna League playoffs that begin this week.

The Meteors are tentatively expected to be at home in a quarterfinal match Wednesday.

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

Stewart Is Smoking

LOUDON, N.H. - Tony Stewart got his second consecutive Sprint Cup win Sunday at New Hampshire Speedway after leader, Clint Bowyer, ran out of fuel with two laps to go in the 300-lap race.

Stewart, who had remained close to Bowyer was able to duck under Bowyer’s gasless car to take the checkered flag for the second consecutive week.

Tony Stewart (R) is congratulated by his teammate Ryan Newman.

“We felt like this would be a good weekend,” said Stewart. “We’ve had a lot of problems, but this win takes a lot of weight off my shoulders.

“Clint had a good car and I hate to win a race this way, but being able to play the fuel-mileage game is part of the sport.”

Brad Keselowski finished second and moved up three positions in the Chase.

“We made some good adjustments on the car after about 110 laps, and I knew from then on we had a good car,” said Keselowski.

Greg Biffle finished fourth and Jeff Gordon, who led the most laps was fifth.

“They told me I needed to save fuel,” said Gordon. “We’re not getting the fuel mileage we should. That’s why I had to pit under green. I’m happy with where we are in the Chase, but we’re not gaining on the leaders.”

Brian Vickers, Matt Kenseth, David Ragan, Carl Edwards and Juan Montoya were the remaining top-10 finishers.

Jimmie Johnson and Kyle Busch got into some rough, close racing late in the race. For three laps Johnson tried to pass Busch underneath, but he was unable to make the pass. Finally, there was contact between the two cars and Johnson almost spun out, losing six positions.

Busch finished 11th, while Johnson was 18th.

Kurt Busch’s No. 22 Dodge did not pass prerace inspection the first time through Sunday morning, and NASCAR did not release the car until 10 minutes before the engines were fired.

Although Busch appeared upset, the team didn’t appear panicked as the car sat in the inspection bay with Penske Racing Competition Director Travis Geisler and Busch crew chief Steve Addington looking on.

“NASCAR wasn’t 100 percent happy with what they saw on one of their gauges that kind of checks where the rear end is in the car, so we had to do a little work on it. … It’s a ‘go’ or ‘no-go’ type of gauge and it didn’t go,” Geisler said.

“We needed to make sure that it went. It wasn’t like there was any gray area that NASCAR was saying maybe we were or weren’t legal. We weren’t right yet.”

There is not expected to be any penalites from NASCAR.

Busch finished 22th.

Top-12 Chase leaders with 8 to go: 1. Stewart-2094, 2. Harvick-2087, 3. Keselowski-2083, 4. Edwards-2080, 5. J. Gordon-2071, 6. Kyle Busch-2068, 7. Kenseth-2068, 8. Earnhardt-2068, 9. Kurt Busch-2066, 10. Johnson-2065, 11. Newman-2060, 12. Hamlin-2028

KYLE BUSCH WHIPS OTHER DRIVERS IN TRUCK WIN

Kyle Busch started from the pole and dominated Saturday’s Truck Series race at New Hampshire Motor Speedway, in which only six trucks finished on the lead lap.

Busch, who led 165 of 175 laps, crossed the finish line 3.816 seconds ahead of runner-up Austin Dillon to post his sixth win in 14 starts this season and the 30th victory of his career. Kevin Harvick finished third, followed by Ron Hornaday Jr. and Johnny Sauter.

Busch led the first 130 laps and didn’t surrender the top spot until he came to pit road for tires and fuel on Lap 131. That handed the lead to Dillon, who didn’t pit until Lap 135.

By the time pit stops cycled through, Busch had opened his advantage over Dillon to nearly six seconds. Harvick was running third at that point, more than 12 seconds back.

Though Dillon closed the gap over the final 30 laps, Busch was able to cruise to the win, breaking a string of five straight Chevrolet victories in the series.

“I wish we could have come out a little closer to him off pit road,” Dillon said. “I lost a little time getting onto pit road, and that hurt us. But we came out leading the points with six (races) to go. We’ll focus on that, and we’re happy with this finish.”

Matt Crafton, James Buescher, Todd Bodine, Timothy Peters, and Miguel Paludo were the remaining top-10 finishers.

Top-10 leaders after 18 of 24: 1. A. Dillon-661, 2. Buescher-659, 3. Sauter-654, 4. Peters-636, 5. Hornaday-614, 6. Crafton-610, 7. Coulter-603, 8. Whitt-595, 9. Kligerman-593, 10. Bodine-593

EARNHARDT PUTTING IT ALL OUT THERE

“There’s no excuses now,” said Dale Earnhardt Jr. after his move to Hendrick Motorsports in 2008.

His first three seasons at Hendrick has been a struggle. He went through a pair of crew chiefs (including his cousin, Tony Eury Jr.), recorded just one victory in his first 108 starts, and qualified for just one Chase for the Championship.

He has not produced the kind of results that the millions of Earnhardt fans have hoped for.

Things appeared to be on the upswing for him, but a flat right front tire in Sunday’s New Hampshire race relegated him to a 17th place finish

His fuel-strategy-aided, third-place finish two week’s ago in the opener of the 10-race Chase for the championship perked up the spirits of a lot of those fans, though it has yet to make believers out of a lot of observers.

Earnhardt himself is feeling a lot better about the situation these days.

“I think we made a pretty serious impact last week, and we just kind of need to keep that momentum going,’’ Earnhardt said.

A win is what he needs. He has not won since the 2008 race at Michigan, his first season with Hendrick.

His best career finish was third in 2003.

“These races are always real competitive and the racing always is kind of aggressive so you just kind of hope you can put together a full day, having the car run well and track position is real important. It’s difficult to pass here, but that’s no real difference than any other place,” he continued.

“I think we are in a good spot,” he continued. “I think there are 11 other guys with nothing to lose either. They have the same attitude.

“It’s time we put it all out there and see what happens.”

Two races into the Chase and Earnhardt is 8th, 26 points off the lead.

Weekend Racing: It’s on to Dover’s Monster Mile for the Nationwide and Cup teams, while the Truck Series heads to Kentucky Speedway.

Sat., Oct. 1, Nationwide ONEMAIN 200, race 29 of 34; Start: 3:30 p.m.; TV: ESPN2.

Sat., Oct. 1, Camping World Trucks Kentucky 225, race 19 of 24; Start: 8 p.m.; TV: SPEED.

Sun., Oct. 2, Sprint Cup AAA 400, race 29 of 36; Start: 2 p.m.; TV: ESPN.

All times are Eastern.

Racing Trivia Question: Where is Paul Menard’s hometown?

Last Week’s Question: How many Cup championships does Jeff Gordon have? Answer. Four.

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