North Pocono’s Amanda Reach shot a 2-over-par, 74 at Scranton Municipal Golf Course Sept. 27 to lead Lackawanna League qualifying for the District 2 Girls' Golf Championships.
District 2 has changed the date and site of the girls' tournament. It will now be played Wednesday at Elmhurst Country Club, along with the boys' championship.
Selena Cerra of Holy Cross was second in qualifying with a 75, followed by Forest City’s Katie Zefran, who shot an 80.
A total of 16 girls from the league qualified by meeting the dual standards of finishing in the top half of the field and shooting 105 or better.
Danielle Dalessandro of Scranton Prep finished fourth with an 82. Montrose’s Katie Clark tied for fifth with Wallenpaupack’s Julia Santo by shooting an 86.
In boys’ team play, Montrose was the lone Northern Division team to join Southern Division powers Scranton Prep, Abington Heights and North Pocono in the Lackawanna League semifinals.
Montrose defeated Holy Cross, 8 1/2- 1/2, Friday. Holy Cross had topped Western Wayne, 6-3, in the first round when Montrose was one of four teams with a bye.
Scranton Prep beat Wallenpaupack and Lackawanna Trail by 8 1/2- 1/2 scores to reach the league semifinals.
North Pocono, which was scheduled to face Montrose in Monday’s semifinals, and Abington Heights each received a bye then won in the league quarterfinals.
WEEK IN REVIEW
Susquehanna churned out more than 300 yards rushing Friday night to move back above the .500 mark with a 29-7 non-league football victory over host Carbondale.
Sean Stanley returned at quarterback after missing all but two plays of the previous week’s loss to Lakeland.
Stanley ran for one touchdown and passed for another and Greg Price ran for two scores. Both rushed for more than 100 yards.
Carbondale led after one quarter.
Quarterback Joey Gigliotti’s 1-yard run put the Chargers in front, 7-0, after one quarter.
Stanley passed 19 yards to Austin Cowperthwait and Jesse Pruitt ran for the go-ahead, two-point conversion and an 8-7 halftime lead.
Price scored from 1 yard out and Stanley scored from the 10 in the third quarter. Stanley then hit Cooper Quick for the two-pointer and a 22-7 lead going into the fourth quarter.
Price ran 28 yards for a touchdown in the first minute of the fourth quarter and C.J. Monks kicked the extra point to close the scoring.
In another game, Honesdale handled Montrose, 35-6, in a meeting of teams that entered the weekend winless.
The Hornets put the game in the Mercy Rule in the third quarter and led, 35-0, until the Meteors scored late.
In girls’ tennis, Elk Lake finished in a tie for first place in Division 3 of the Lackawanna League.
Elk Lake and Riverside went 6-5 while Dunmore was 3-8 and Holy Cross 1-10.
In girls’ volleyball, Susquehanna had a busy week, playing three of the top four Division 1 teams in crossover matches.
The Lady Sabers made a huge rally and pulled out three straight close games to beat Abington Heights, 14-25, 17-25, 27-25, 26-24, 15-13, Sept. 26.
Dunmore then beat Susquehanna, 25-13, 25-13, 25-9, in a meeting of division leaders.
Susquehanna completed the week with Friday’s 27-25, 25-21, 23-25, 25-16 win over Forest City.
The Lady Sabers finished the week 6-2, two full matches ahead of second-place Mountain View in Division 2.
In cross country, the Honesdale boys and unbeaten Elk Lake girls each went 6-0 in a cross country meet at Honesdale Sept. 27.
The meet was on the biggest day of the season in the league with teams being scored against their travel partners for the only time all season.
The Blue Ridge and Elk Lake teams excelled in a meet that also included Carbondale, Forest City, Western Wayne, Honesdale and Montrose.
Blue Ridge is 13-2 for sixth place out of 23 boys’ teams in the league.
Elk Lake has the only unbeaten girls’ team at 15-0.
In boys’ soccer, Forest City is 8-0 and the lone unbeaten in Division 3.
Mountain, which plays in Division 1, improved to 7-1 when Joe Jarrow converted a penalty kick with 12 minutes left for a 1-0 win over North Pocono Friday.
LOOKING BACK
Many of the state’s top cross country programs gathered at the Hershey Parkview Course Sept. 24 to get a preview of the state championships in the PIAA Foundation Invitational.
Elk Lake’s Luke Jones and the school’s girls’ team each finished fourth in Blue Races, which are for Class AA teams.
Marissa Durako won the title and teammate Rachel Sowinski finished sixth to help Holy Redeemer finish third, in front of Elk Lake, 108-133.
Quaker Valley won with 95 points, nine better than Saint Basil Academy.
The Blue girls’ race drew a field of 223 runners from 31 full and nine incomplete teams.
Freshman Jenny VanEtten finished 12th in 20:58, 1:15 behind Sowinski. Maria Trowbridge was 18th, Kirsten Hollister 20th, Lainey Bedell 39th and Abigail Zdancewicz to help the defending state champion Lady Warriors to their fourth-place finish.
Jones was fourth and teammate Will Bennett 13th in the Blue boys’ race.
Quaker Valley won the team title over North East, 106-182.
Defending District 2 champion Holy Redeemer was third with 253.
Blue Ridge was 17th and Elk Lake 21st.
The race drew a field of 40 full and one incomplete team for a total of 278 runners.
Jake Hinkley’s 45th-place finish helped lead Blue Ridge to its spot in the top half of the field.
COLLEGE CORNER
Leah Tyler, a Montrose resident who attended Ross Corners Christian Academy in New York, is a sophomore midfielder on the Roberts Wesleyan women’s soccer team.
Tyler was elevated to the varsity late in her freshman year and made two appearances. She has played in one game this season for the Rochester, N.Y. school, which is off to a 5-4 start.
THE WEEK AHEAD
Montrose and Susquehanna move into league play along with the rest of the Lackawanna Football Conference Division 3 teams this weekend.
Old Forge (3-2) is at Montrose (0-5) Friday night. Susquehanna (3-2) opens defense of its Division 3 title Saturday against Holy Cross (3-2) at St. Anthony’s Playgound in Dunmore.
Our predictions last week were 6-4 (60.0 percent), making our season record 49-17 (74.2 percent).
This week’s predictions, with home teams in CAPS: Old Forge 37, MONTROSE 0; HOLY CROSS 20, Susquehanna 19; LACKAWANNA TRAIL 29, Mid Valley 14; WALLENPAUPACK 23, Scranton Prep 13; Delaware Valley 36, NORTH POCONO 9; Scranton 19, WEST SCRANTON 6; Lakeland 37, CARBONDALE 15; DUNMORE 35, Honesdale 16; Western Wayne 40, RIVERSIDE 39; Valley View 43, ABINGTON HEIGHTS 0.
In high school golf, the District 2 individual championships are scheduled for Wednesday at Elmhurst Country Club.
The top seven boys and top four girls will advance to the PIAA East Regionals.
While Zefran and Clark compete in the girls’ tournament, Lance Nealy, Jordan Smith, Casey O’Reilly and Mason Legg of Montrose will join Tyler Salak and Chad Wescott of Mountain View in the boys’ field.
The Lackawanna League boys’ team championship will be Friday at Paupack Hills. The District 2 boys’ team final is Oct. 10 at Fox Hill Country Club.
In girls’ tennis, the District 2 singles tournament is scheduled for Thursday and Friday.
The first three rounds are set for Thursday at Kirby Park, beginning at 9 a.m.
The semifinals and finals start at 1 p.m. Friday, tentatively at Kirby Park.
In girls’ soccer, Mountain View (7-0) is at Forest City (5-1) Wednesday in a meeting of Lackawanna League Division 2’s top two teams.
TOM ROBINSON writes a weekly local sports column for the Susquehanna County Transcript. He can be reached online at RobbyTR@aol.com.
Kurt Busch Is Dover Winner
DOVER, Del. - Kurt Busch got the jump on Jimmie Johnson during the last restart of Sunday’s Sprint Cup race at Dover and held off the five-time champion for his second win of the season.
“It was a perfect execution of pit stops, changes to the car, and work by the team,” said Busch. “This is what it’s all about. I think this shows we are a championship-caliber team.”
Kurt Busch, winner at Dover. Furnished by NASCAR.
Busch moved from 9th to 4th in the Chase with seven races left.
Johnson appeared to have the dominant car, but after the last round of pit stops, Johnson allowed Busch to pull away from him on the restart and was never able to catch him.
“I just got a poor restart after that last caution,” said Johnson. “Our cars were about equal. Even though I would have liked to win, this puts us right back in the thick of things.”
Johnson moved up five spots from 10th and is now only 13 points out of first.
Carl Edwards finished third and is tied with Harvick for first place.
Kasey Kahne, Matt Kenseth, Kyle Busch, A. J. Allmendinger, Clint Bowyer, Marcos Ambrose, and Kevin Harvick rounded out the top-10.
Jeff Gordon was never a factor and finished 12th. He dropped from 5th to 9th.
Brad Keselowski came home 20th and fell three positions to 6th.
Dale Earnhardt Jr. finished two laps down and is 10th in the standings.
Tony Stewart, who led the points standings coming into the race, struggled all day and fell three laps down at one point. He finished 25th and dropped to third in the standings.
Top-12 Chase contenders after 29 of 36; 1. Harvick-2122, 2. Edwards-2122, 3. Stewart-2113, 4. Kurt Busch-2113, 5. Johnson-2109, 6. Keselowski-2108, 7. Kenseth-2108, 8. Kyle Busch-2107, 9. J. Gordon-2103, 10. Earnhardt-2088, 11. Newman-2081, 12. Hamlin-2054
EDWARDS ROLLS TO NATIONWIDE WIN
Carl Edwards pulled away from Brad Keselowski and Clint Bowyer after a restart on Lap 168 of the 200 lap Nationwide Series race at Dover International Speedway, for his seventh win of the year and 36th of his career.
“Everything went great, except my back flip, which was terrible - I was nervous about doing it on the banking,” Edwards said. “But it was just an awesome day.”
Bowyer and Keselowski were able to gain on Edwards at various stages of the race, but passing him was another matter.
“It didn’t matter who it was,” Bowyer said. “When you got up to ’em, you’d get in their wake, and it would take the air off your car, and you’d get really, really loose. I about turned it around with four or five (laps) to go right there behind Brad.
“It’s definitely not worth junking a car over passing for second. I don’t know if the tables would have been turned if I was in front of him, if he would have had the same trouble, but, certainly, as you got up to him, you got loose.”
“We weren’t as good as Carl was - that’s for sure. I thought for a minute we were going to steal one with some strategy when that yellow came out, but it wasn’t meant to be. Carl’s car was a lot faster, and he deserved to win the race.”
Kasey Kahne finished fourth, one spot ahead of series leader Ricky Stenhouse Jr., who extended his margin to 22 points over polesitter Elliott Sadler, who ran 14th. Trevor Bayne, Reed Sorenson, Ryan Truex, Mike Bliss and Justin Allgaier were the remaining top-10 finishers.
Top-10 leaders after 29 of 34: 1. Stenhouse-1025, 2. Elliott-1013, 3. Sorenson-976, 4. Almirola-951, 5. Allgaier-929, 6. Leffler-884, 7. K. Wallace-841, 8. S. Wallace-815, 9. Scott-811, 10. Annett-804
HORNADAY GETS 50th TRUCK WIN
SPARTA, Ky. - Ron Hornaday Jr. recorded his 50th Truck Series win Saturday at Kentucky Speedway.
Hornaday held off the late-race charges of runner-up and polesitter Austin Dillon during the final 10 laps. Dillon, who protected his lead in the series points standings, pulled to within two-tenths of a second of Hornaday but could get no closer.
“It will mean a lot when I sit on the front porch in the rocking chair with my grandkids and I can tell them that I won 50 races,” Hornaday said.”
James Buescher, Nelson Piquet, Brian Ickler, Ricky Carmichael, Todd Bodine, Cole Whitt, Dakoda Armstrong, and David Starr were the remaining top-10 finishers.
Top-10 leaders after 19 of 24: 1. A. Dillon-704, 2. Buescher-701, 3. Sauter-685, 4. Peters-664, 5. Hornaday-662, 6. Coulter-634, 7. Whitt-632, 8. Crafton-631, 9. Bodine-631, 10. Kligerman-608
NASCAR TV RATINGS ON RISE
While attendance continues to drop at practically all NASCAR tracks, the same cannot be said for those watching the races at home on television.
Viewership for the 2011 season is up four percent from last year.
After more than two years of steady decline, the ratings are definitely on a rebound.
Ask ten different people why this is happening and you’ll probably get ten different answers.
According to Nielsen, the television rating company, there has been a huge jump in the 18 to 34-year old males watching, along with a 20-percent increase in the male 18-49 demographic and a 33-percent upswing in viewers age 55 and older.
It’s hard for me to understand all that. I prefer to look at the overall picture, and not try to apply some kind of scientific statistic I know nothing about.
Here’s my take on it.
The actual racing hasn’t been all that exciting this season, but there have been a number of new faces in victory lane. The first race of the season, the Daytona 500, was won by young Trevor Bayne.
Who in the world would have thought the Wood Brothers with a young unknown driver like Bayne would win the prestigious event? I didn’t.
Then there was Paul Menard sweeping the field at Indianapolis. Most reporters thought Menard was only in racing because of his family’s money. But he proved that given a good car he could win races.
Tony Stewart, winner of the first two Chase races has been like a breath of fresh air.
Brad Keselowski, David Ragan, Marcos Ambrose, Ryan Newman, and Regan Smith have all added excitement to the pot, because they are drivers outside the elite teams.
This season’s turnaround is also about who hasn’t been winning.
Specifically, that means five-time champion Jimmie Johnson.
I think the fans have tired of him and crew chief Chad Knaus’ cut and dried type of racing.
It’s boring watching Johnson win.
If Carl Edwards wins everyone knows they are going to see something out of the ordinary; his backflip, which makes his wins more personable.
Whenever Dale Earnhardt Jr. moves to the front, the fans erupt with cheers. I had one fan tell me after a Talladega race, “I’m not a real Junior fan, but when he passed the leader, I had to cheer. It was just something about seeing him out front again.”
We will continue to see a drop in the number of fans at actual races because of the high costs associated with a race weekend. Many of them are choosing the TV over the race track, simply out of necessity. As long as fans don’t have to watch the same old movie, with the same actors, NASCAR TV ratings should climb. We need the actual drama of racing.
Weekend Racing: The Nationwide and Cup teams are at the 1.5-mile Kansas Speedway. The Trucks do not race until Oct. 15.
Sat., Oct. 8, Nationwide Kansas Lottery 300, race 30 of 34; Starting time: 3:30 pm; TV: ESPN2.
Sun., Oct. 9, Sprint Cup Hollywood Casino 400, race 30 of 36; Starting time: 2 pm; TV: ESPN.
All times are Eastern.
Racing Trivia Question: Which Cup team will Mark Martin drive for in 2012?
Last Week’s Question: Where is Paul Menard’s hometown? Answer. It is Eau Claire, Wisconsin.
You may contact the Racing Reporter at hodges@race500.com.
