The Mountain View soccer teams and Elk Lake cross country teams showed the ability to excel in both boys’ and girls’ competition.

Mountain View swept the District 2 Class A championships Thursday in a doubleheader that drew one of the largest soccer crowds in district history to Scranton Memorial Stadium.

Elk Lake followed up last year’s double state title by having its girls’ team take second place and Luke Jones take second place among boys’ individuals in Class AA Saturday in the Pennsylvania Interscholastic Athletic Association Championships at the Parkview Cross Country Course in Hershey.

DISTRICT SOCCER

SCRANTON - Mountain View teams finished strong - something they needed to do - to sweep the doubleheader.

The Lady Eagles rallied with 11:01 remaining in regulation then scored 8:23 into the second overtime to pull out a victory over Forest City, 2-1.

The Eagles overcame a two-goal deficit for the first time this season and used five second-half goals to down unbeaten Holy Cross, 6-3.

The Forest City girls lost only to Mountain View’s unbeaten Lackawanna League Division 2 champions this season.

The Lady Foresters had a chance to avenge those losses until Kelly Purdy, part of a deep rotation of Lady Eagles substitutes, scored with 11:37 left in the second overtime.

“We run in 17 or 18 on a regular basis,” Mountain View coach Errol Mannick said.

Purdy, Mountain View’s top cross country runner, came to the team after training and practicing with the girls’ soccer players during the summer.

“We worked with her,” Mannick said. “We sent six girls to run with her in some league meets and districts.

“She has a lot of heart. It’s fitting that she would score the goal.”

Jenny Molenko assisted both Mountain View goals. Her throw-in from near the left corner flag skipped through the penalty area to Purdy in front of the goal.

Molenko also passed to Sarah Pulice for the tying goal.

Meagan Goben had put Forest City ahead with 30:10 left when she took advantage of hesitation between the Mountain View defenders and goalie to get to a loose ball. Goben’s first attempt hit the right post, but she also got to the rebound for the first goal.

Mountain View advanced to the first round of state play where it was scheduled to face Loyalsock Tuesday.

The Mountain View boys moved into a meeting with Schuylkill Haven by rallying after Aaron Matis of Holy Cross scored the game’s first two goals.

“We don’t like to play boom ball,” Mountain View coach Roger Thomas said. “That’s not our game, but Aaron and Niko Amity put you under a lot of pressure.”

Freshman Zeb Cross scored the first of his two goals with 3:03 left in the half to cut the deficit to 2-1.

Colby Thomas scored four of the goals and assisted the other Cross score in the second half.

Thomas tied the game from 12 yards out 4:14 into the second half. He put the Eagles ahead to stay 1:49 later by taking a Gary Smith throw-in and using a spin move to get around a Holy Cross defender before scoring.

Cross scored again 7:59 into the half, giving Mountain View three goals in 3:45 for a 4-2 lead.

The Crusaders closed within a goal with 7:39 left, but two more goals by Thomas, who credited half-time prayer for his big second half, put the game away.

While Colby Thomas was scoring, the Eagles were doing a better job controlling the Crusaders.

“Nick Jarrow plugged up the midfield and did a lot of our distributing,” coach Thomas said. “Joel Madas did a good job marking Aaron Matis.”

Mountain View and Holy Cross had reached the final with 4-0 semifinal victories. The Eagles topped Wyoming Seminary while the Crusaders blanked Forest City in a meeting of the Lackawanna League’s Division 2 and 3 champions.

Colby Thomas had two goals against Wyoming Seminary while Zeb Cross had a goal and an assist.

STATE CROSS COUNTRY

Elk Lake came within three points of repeating as state champion on the girls’ side while Jones jumped up from 17th last year when he was the number-two runner on the boys’ championship team.

St. Basil Academy of District 1 edged Elk Lake, 72-75, for the Class AA girls’ championship.

The scores represented by far the closest of the four team title races. Elk Lake’s total was lower than that produced by the two boys’ champions and much lower than any of the runner-up teams.

Senior Maria Trowbridge and freshman Jenny VanEtten each earned state medals that go with top-25 finishes while leading the strong team effort.

Trowbridge was 11th out of 284 total runners and fifth out of the 165 that factored into the scores of 24 teams. She finished the 3.1-mile course in 19:39, 1:08 behind repeat state champion Angel Piccirillo of Homer Center.

Vanetten was 15th overall and seventh among team runners in 19:44.

Kirsten Hollister was 31st and 11th in 20:28.

Lainey Bedell (57th, 21st, 20:57) and Abby Zdancewicz (79th, 31st, 21:10) completed the team score for the Lady Warriors.

Elk Lake’s other runners were Emily Williams, who was 138th overall in 21:58, and Kellie Grosvenor, who was 210th in 22:53.

Montrose’s Samantha Bennici was 91st while teammate Allison Lewis was 185th.

Blue Ridge’s Casey Pardum was 93rd and Susquehanna’s Ivy Christensen was 114th.

In the boys’ race, Jones finished in 16:17, just two seconds behind North Schuylkill’s Brendan Shearn, the state champion.

The Elk Lake junior and District 2 champion was the only individual entry in the boys’ race from Susquehanna County. He beat District 2 rival Rico Galassi of Holy Cross, the third-place finisher, by nine seconds.

Blue Ridge competed as a team and was 13th out of 24 with a score of 300.

Jake Hinkley led Blue Ridge. He finished in 17:51, was 79th out of 286 total runners and 35th out of 167 in the team scoring.

The rest of the Blue Ridge team score came from: Michael Robbs, 116th, 45th, 18:04; Teejay Loomis, 132nd, 56th, 18:14; Chris Carleson, 142nd, 61st, 18:18; and Ethan Mansfield, 214th, 103rd, 18:56.

The other Raiders runners were Patrick Cramer and George Ward, who finished in 19:37 for 253rd and 254th place.

BAGNALL RETIRES

Susquehanna football coach Dick Bagnall said he is retiring.

The Sabers completed their season Friday night.

“I really was debating last year whether to come back this year,” said Bagnall, who intends to officially turn in his letter of resignation following the completion of his season wrap-up duties this week. “I know it’s time to get out.

“I’ve been beating myself up.”

Bagnall, 62, compiled a 169-129-3 record.

WEEK IN REVIEW

Susquehanna made Old Forge work for the right to follow the Sabers as undisputed champions of Division 3 of the Lackawanna Football Conference.

The Blue Devils were tied on their home field going into the fourth quarter before pulling out a 22-15 victory to finish unbeaten in the division while improving to 8-2 overall.

Susquehanna closed out the season with a 5-5 mark, including 2-3 for fourth place in Division 3.

The Sabers led during the first half of a game in which each team stopped the other inside the 20 three times.

Old Forge kept Susquehanna pinned after two of those stops, however, ultimately leading to points.

The Blue Devils scored first when they sacked Sean Stanley for a safety with 5:54 left in the quarter after the Sabers had held at the 7.

The Sabers pushed Old Forge back following the free kick and took advantage of a short punt to need just 56 yards to drive for the go-ahead score.

Jesse Pruitt started the drive with an 18-yard run and finished it with a 7-yard touchdown on third-and-goal with 1:12 left in the quarter. C.J. Monks added the extra point for a 7-2 lead.

Quarterback Colin Carey, who was over 100 yards passing by halftime, followed up two of his completions with a 23-yard for the first of his three touchdowns. That put Old Forge ahead, 8-7, with 1:57 left in the half.

Anthony Piccolini’s interception at the 1 preserved the halftime lead for the Blue Devils.

Jorden Sekol set up Carey’s two second-half touchdowns.

Sekol returned an interception 33 yards to the 17 and Carey scored from the 1 midway through the third quarter for a 15-7 Old Forge lead.

The Sabers answered by returning the kickoff into Old Forge territory and tying the game. Stanley passed 12 yards to Austin Cowperthwait and then ran for the two-pointer to make it 15-15 with 2:49 left in the third quarter.

Susquehanna stopped Old Forge on first-and-goal from the 4, but came up just short of a first down to get out of its own end.

Sekol blocked the punt and it bounced out of bounds at the 3. Carey scored the winning touchdown from there on the game’s next play with 10:23 left.

In another game, Mid Valley shut out Montrose, 43-0.

The Meteors finished 0-10 to extend their losing streak to 28 games. They were 0-5 in Division 3.

In girls’ volleyball, Mountain View reached the District 2 Class A final before losing to Lackawanna Trail, 25-8, 25-14, 25-11, in Wednesday’s championship match at Marywood University.

The Lady Eagles had survived a grueling semifinal match with Susquehanna by winning, 26-24, 22-25, 25-23, 12-25, 15-11.

In professional hockey, the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins remained unbeaten on the road with a 2-1 American Hockey League shootout victory over the Binghamton Senators Saturday night.

COLLEGE CORNER

Brackney Brotzman, a Montrose graduate, finished up her career on the Keystone College field hockey team by scoring two goals this season.

Brotzman appeared in 13 games, starting in 12 for the Giants (6-9).

In 65 career games, she had 19 goals and eight assists.

THE WEEK AHEAD

The PIAA soccer quarterfinals are set for Saturday.

If Mountain View made it through the first round, it would face either York Catholic of South Williamsport in Class A boys.

If the Mountain View girls made it through, they would face Schuylkill Haven or Mount Carmel.

The state semifinals are scheduled for Tuesday, Nov. 15.

In high school football, our predictions for last week went 9-1 (90.0 percent) to finish the regular season at 90-24 (78.9 percent).

The predictions will continue until the last Lackawanna Football Conference team is eliminated from the postseason.

Scranton and Delaware Valley are continuing in the District 2-4-11 Class AAAA playoffs; Valley View and Scranton in District 2 Class AAA; Mid Valley and Lakeland in District 2 Class AA; Dunmore, Old Forge, Lackawanna Trail and Riverside in District 2 Class A; and Wallenpaupack in Eastern Conference Class AAAA.

This week’s predictions, with home teams in CAPS: OLD FORGE 25, Lackawanna Trail 17; DUNMORE 34, Riverside 7; WYOMING AREA 34, Mid Valley 17; GAR 38, Lakeland 14; DALLAS 29, Scranton Prep 12; VALLEY VIEW 32, Crestwood 8; WYOMING VALLEY WEST 32, Scranton 22; NAZARETH 45, Delaware Valley 22; WALLENPAUPACK 20, Pocono Mountain East 8.

In professional hockey, the Penguins and Senators meet again, this time in Wilkes-Barre, Tuesday, Nov. 15.

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

Stewart Powers To Texas Win

FT. WORTH, Tex. - Tony Stewart dominated at Texas on the way to his fourth Cup win of the season ahead of Carl Edwards. He led 174 laps of the 334-lap Texas 500, and is now just three points behind Edwards, the Chase leader, with only two races left.

“We did every thing we could do today, and I guess we did it better than Carl,” said Stewart. “The team made all the right calls on the car. I knew if I could get out front on the restarts, I could stay there.”

Tony Stewart and TMS Pres. Eddie Gossage.

Edwards, who qualified seventh lost eight points to Stewart.

“I went over to Tony and congratulated him,” said Edwards. “He did a great job. I don’t want to take anything away from my guys because they did an awesome job getting me out of the pits.

“I could run with Tony, but I spun my tires on one of the restarts. I’ve got to give him credit for doing a good job. We lost points today, but I think it’s going to be awesome for me and Tony in the next two races.”

The remaining top-10 finishers were: Kasey Kahne, Matt Kenseth, Greg Biffle, Jeff Gordon, Dale Earnhardt, Martin Truex, Clint Bowyer, and A. J. Allmendinger.

With only the Phoenix and Homestead races left, it looks like this year’s championship will be won by either Edwards or Stewart. There is only a three-point separation between Edwards and Stewart, but it’s another 30 points back to third-place, Kevin Harvick.

It’s a two-man Race to the Chase. The other ten drivers can only look forward to 2012.

Top-12 Chase leaders after 34 of 36: 1. Edwards-2316, 2. Stewart-2313, 3. Harvick-2283, 4. Kenseth-2278, 5. Keselowski-2267, 6. Johnson-2261, 7. Earnhardt-2237, 8. J. Gordon-2235, 9. Kurt Busch-2229, 10. Hamlin-2217, 11. Kyle Busch-2216, 12. Newman-2213

BAYNE GETS FIRST NATIONWIDE WIN

Trevor Bayne passed teammate Carl Edwards with six laps to go in Saturday’s Nationwide race at Texas for his first series win.

Bayne crossed the finish line .142 seconds ahead of Denny Hamlin and Edwards, who had dominated the event until the final caution flew on Lap 189 of the 200-lap race. Clint Bowyer and Brad Keselowski finished fourth and fifth respectively.

Series leader Ricky Stenhouse Jr. finished sixth, followed by Sam Hornish, Joey Logano, Elliott Sadler, and Brian Vickers.

Top-10 leaders after 33 of 35: 1. Stenhouse-1138, 2. Sadler-1121, 3. Allgaier-1039, 4. Almirola-1039, 5. Sorenson-1034, 6. Leffler-938, 7. K. Wallace-925, 8. Scott-909, 9. S. Wallace-896, 10. Annett-884

NASCAR SAID BUSCH CROSSED THE LINE

NASCAR parked Kyle Busch for his actions on the track during Friday night’s Truck race. He was not allowed to participate in Saturday’s Nationwide or Sunday’s Cup races. He was replaced in the Cup race by Michael McDowell and by Denny Hamlin in the Nationwide race.

As they ran three-wide early in Friday's race, Ron Hornaday moved up the track, causing Kyle Busch, running on the outside, to hit the wall. Hornaday also hit it. As they slowly went around the track under caution Busch ran up on the rear of Hornaday and continued to bump his truck until Hornaday smacked the wall head-on.

“He's got to be parked,” Hornaday said after the incident. “They parked Kevin Harvick at Martinsville.” So, let's have at it. I can go over and beat his butt and let's have at it? He lives too close to me. We'll see what NASCAR does. If they don't handle it right, I'll be over at his house Monday morning.”

There have been incidents between Harvick, Hornaday and Kyle Busch in the past. Richard Childress, who Harvick drives for in the Cup Series jumped on Busch a couple months ago and blackened one of his eyes.

“NASCAR has typically let drivers settle their scores with no suspensions in the so-called “Boys, Have At It” era,” said Mike Helton of NASCAR. “While it has put drivers on probation, issued fines and docked points, NASCAR officials have said NASCAR is a contact sport and drivers should not be afraid of NASCAR discipline if they make contact while racing.

“The responsibility that over the past two or three seasons we’ve given back to the drivers came with a very clear understanding that there could be a line that got crossed. And as annoying as the comments that I’ve made personally in the past about, ‘We’ll know it when we see it’ might have been, we saw it last night.”

Busch issued a letter of apology to Hornaday, saying he took full responsibility for his actions.

Kevin Harvick won the race followed by Austin Dillon, Ty Dillon, Nelson Piquet, Matt Crafton, Joey Coulter, Johnny Sauter, Ricky Carmichael, Miguel Paludo and Justin Lofton.

Top-10 leaders after 24 of 25: 1. A. Dillon-854, 2. Sauter-834, 3. Buescher-826, 4. Hornaday-806, 5. Peters-796, 6. Bodine-775, 7. Crafton-759, 8. Coulter-757, 9. Whitt-742, 10. Piquet-712

DANICA PATRICK TO DRIVE CAR No. 10

The wait is over. Danica Patrick’s limited 2011 Cup Series schedule for Stewart-Haas Racing was announced at Texas Motor Speedway. Co-owner Tony Stewart announced Patrick’s slate of Sprint Cup races in 2012 and revealed that she will drive the No.10.

Patrick, a seven-year veteran of the IZOD IndyCar Series where she became the first woman in series history to win a race, is making the full transition to stock cars in 2012, competing in the entire NASCAR Nationwide Series schedule for JR Motorsports and a 10-race Sprint Cup schedule for Stewart-Haas Racing.

“Long before I even came to NASCAR, I talked to Tony and used him as a sounding board, whether it was in regard to what I was doing in Indy cars or what I was thinking about doing in NASCAR,” Patrick said. “He was always honest with me and really helped prepare me for what was ahead. I know he’s going to be very involved in my Sprint Cup career, and with the conversations we’ve had with each other, we feel this schedule and this plan is the best way to get me acclimated to Sprint Cup racing as quickly as possible.”

Weekend Racing: The Nationwide and Cup teams are at Phoenix. The Truck teams do not see action again until the last race of the season on Nov. 20 at Homestead, FL.

Sat., Nov. 12, Nationwide Wypall 200, race 33 of 34; Starting time: 3 p.m.; TV: ESPN2.

Sun., Nov. 13, Sprint Cup Kobalt Tools 500, race 35 of 36; Starting time: 2 p.m.; TV: ESPN.

All times are Eastern.

Racing Trivia Question: Which Nationwide team does Elliott Sadler drive for?

Last Week’s Question: Where is Kenny Wallace’s hometown? Answer. It is Fenton, Missouri, just outside St. Louis.

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

Luke Jones wanted to make sure the rest of the District 2 Class AA boys’ cross country runners were chasing him around his home course at Elk Lake.

They never did catch him.

Jones finished first out of a field of 137 runners, finishing the 3.1-mile course in 16:45 to repeat as district champion by 20 seconds.

The effort in the Oct. 26 race, combined with a strong regular season to make Jones the latest Susquehanna County Transcript Athlete of the Month.

“I knew I needed to get out fast and get a good distance in front of people,” Jones said.

The race went according to plan as only Rico Galassi of Holy Cross was within 15 seconds of Jones after one mile. Soon after, Jones separated from Galassi, but he said he never considered the victory a certainty.

“It’s usually a mystery,” Jones said. “You never know what’s around the next corner.”

Even running on a course that had to be altered because of wet conditions, Jones avoided any problems and kept himself far enough in front to rule out a late charge by anyone else in the field.

Jones helped Elk Lake, the defending state champions, to a 16-6 regular-season record.

When the Warriors were unable to return to their customary spot as a state qualifying team, Jones made it as one of the top individuals in the district.

Luke is the son of Bill and Abby Jones of Friendsville.