A successful week for sports at Montrose High School got better Sunday night when former Meteor Chris Snee earned his second trip to the Super Bowl as a member of the New York Giants.
Earlier, Montrose had won both Lackawanna League Division 3 first-half basketball championships. The girls clinched their title Wednesday by completing a 7-0 half. The boys needed a playoff game Saturday night to take their title.
NFC CHAMPIONSHIP
As the Giants closed in on their 20-17 overtime victory over the host San Francisco Giants Sunday night, they repeatedly ran behind Snee, their right guard, to get closer as they increased the percentages of a successful attempt at the game-winning field goal.
The Giants will play the New England Patriots in Super Bowl XLVI Feb. 5 at 6:30 p.m. on NBC.
The game is a rematch of Super Bowl XLII from four years ago when New York ruined New England’s perfect season with a 17-14 victory.
BOYS’ BASKETBALL PLAYOFF
KINGSLEY - Montrose was looking for a way to rebound when a loss to Lakeland in the final game of the first half necessitated a playoff game between the two schools just two days later.
The Meteors found it by rebounding.
Montrose clobbered Lakeland on the boards Saturday night in a 62-39 rout at Mountain View High School to determine the first-half Lackawanna League Division 3 boys’ basketball title.
Tom Lewis scored 20 points and grabbed 13 rebounds for Montrose, which never trailed and was never tied after scoring the game’s first two points.
“It was something we didn’t do enough of last time,” Lewis said of the rebounding effort.
Montrose racked up a 28-7 rebounding advantage with 6:20 remaining and finished ahead by a 35-14 margin.
"They definitely outrebounded us the other night," Montrose coach Todd Smith said of Thursday’s 58-50 loss at Montrose. "I told our guys, the key is we've got to get the boards."
The Meteors did.
Cameron Dean contributed 14 points and seven rebounds while Colby Major had 18 points, six rebounds and three steals.
Jordan Smith had six assists for the Meteors.
Kyle Kiehart led Lakeland with 17 points.
Montrose used rebounding and Major’s defense to jump to an 8-0 lead.
On the first three defensive possessions, Major had a steal for a breakaway layup, a defensive rebound and a blocked shot that he also rebounded. All three led to Montrose baskets.
Dean and Lewis each converted offensive rebounds into baskets in the 8-0 start.
“That was huge,” Major said. “That set the whole game’s tempo.”
Lakeland closed to 15-14 after one quarter.
Major had 3-pointers in each of Montrose's two seven-point streaks in the second quarter - one to start the quarter and the other for a 29-20 lead with 2:18 left in the half.
Montrose shot 68.4 percent (13-for-19) while taking a 32-22 halftime lead.
The Meteors completed the romp with a late nine-point streak.
WEEK IN REVIEW
Montrose also won the Lackawanna League Division 3 girls’ basketball first-half title.
The Lady Meteors did so with an unbeaten record in the half.
Montrose ran its winning streak to 11 games by wrapping up the Division 3 title with a 65-14 rout of Susquehanna and a 49-41 victory over Lakeland, then posting a 45-30 non-league win over Division 1 member North Pocono.
Dallas Ely led the team in scoring in each game. She had 13 against Susquehanna, 21 against Lakeland and 26 against North Pocono.
The Lady Meteors led, 42-6, over the Lady Sabers at halftime.
Sara Krupinski contributed 12 points and Myra Lattimore 10 to help Montrose beat Lakeland in its toughest game of the half.
Final first-half Division 3 standings: Montrose 7-0, Forest City 6-1, Lakeland 5-2, Lackawanna Trail 4-3, Blue Ridge 2-5, Mountain View 2-5, Elk Lake 2-5, Susquehanna 0-7.
In boys’ basketball, Montrose started the week with a 78-56 victory over Susquehanna to clinch at least a tie for the division title.
Lewis had 16 of his 22 points in the first half when the Meteors opened a 42-25 lead.
Cameron Dean added 20 points and Major 17.
Andrzej Tomczyk led Susquehanna with 22 points. Cole Mallery made his return to the Sabers, after spending the start of the school year at Seton Catholic in Binghamton, N.Y. and scored 16 points. Dan Biegert added 12.
Lakeland forced the playoff with its win over Montrose.
The Chiefs jumped to a 13-5 lead after one quarter.
Kiehart scored 16 points and Tyler Brady 13 for Lakeland.
Major led Montrose with 12.
Final first-half standings: Montrose 6-1, Lakeland 6-1, Blue Ridge 5-2, Lackawanna Trail 4-3, Elk Lake 4-3, Mountain View 2-5, Susquehanna 1-6, Forest City 0-7.
COLLEGE CORNER
University of Pittsburgh sophomore Julia Koloski had her season-best performances in both the long jump and triple jump earlier this month at the Penn State Relays.
Koloski was fourth in the triple jump with 37-1 1/4 and 15th in the long jump with 16-4 1/2.
The Montrose graduate returned to Penn State for the Nittany Lion Invitational where she was ninth with 37-0.
As a freshman last spring, Koloski was 12th in the triple jump in the outdoor season Big East Championships.
THE WEEK AHEAD
The second half of Lackawanna League basketball gets underway.
The girls open the half Wednesday and play again Friday.
Defending Division 3 champion Lackawanna Trail is at first-half champion Montrose Thursday when the boys begin second-half play. The boys also play Saturday.
TOM ROBINSON writes a weekly local sports column for the Susquehanna County Transcript. He can be reached online at RobbyTR@aol.com or followed on Twitter at @tomjrobinson.
Legends Inducted Into Hall Of Fame
“Legends” is the best way to describe NASCAR Hall of Fame’s third class of inductees, who were enshrined this past weekend at the HOF in Charlotte.
Topping the list as one of the sport’s biggest performers was Cale Yarborough.
The 1979 Daytona 500 fight involving Cale Yarborough, and Donnie and Bobby Allison. Courtesy of Multimedia.
When the name, “Cale” comes up in NASCAR racing circles, there’s never any doubt to who it’s being referred to. It’s Cale Yarborough, an acknowledged legend in the world of stock car racing. Year after year from his first victory in 1965 to his last in 1985, capacity crowds came to see the Timmonsville, S.C. native race because of his fast pedal-to-the floor, hard-charging, driving style.
Yarborough has stood in victory lane 83 times, set on the pole 68 times and is the only driver to have won three consecutive Winston Cup Driving Championships. In spite of his impressive record, one incident has gone down in history as the most talked about in his 31-year career as a driver.
Most racing fans recall Cale from the 1979 Daytona 500--a race that was won by Richard Petty.
On the last lap, Donnie Allison was leading Yarborough as they went down the backstretch. Yarborough attempted to get by Allison on the inside, but Allison dropped down and closed him off. Both cars banged against each other several times before they spun into the infield.
Richard Petty went on to take the checkered flag, while Donnie’s brother, Bobby finished the race, then roared back around the track to help Donnie. Helmets were off, and fists were flying as television cameras beamed the fracas to a world-wide audience of millions.
“I had planned my move and was in a perfect position to shoot past underneath.” said Yarborough. “But he kept coming down and cutting me off each time I tried to pass. Finally we both just lost control and ended up in the grass. But it looked worse on films than what really happened. It was more of a scuffle than anything else.
“Heck, I’ve always been good friends with Bobby and Donnie, and Red Farmer. As a matter of fact, they’ve made me an honorary member of the Alabama Gang. But I never could stand to lose. I raced to win and if anybody got between me and the checkered flag I was going after him. You see, being friends off the track is a whole lot different than when you’re side-by-side at 200 mph with them on the track.”
Now 72, Yarborough flew an airplane without benefit of lessons, but landing was another story. He wrestled an alligator and survived being struck by lightning.
At 5-feet-7 inches and 130 pounds, he was a ferocious prep fullback and linebacker at Timmonsville (S.C.) High School and likely could have been a collegiate football star. He worked out by wrestling bales of tobacco in his daddy’s barn and credited that labor with making him one of the era’s most fit competitors. And in his spare time, Yarborough drove a school bus.
Oh, and Yarborough was ejected from his first race, the 1957 Southern 500 at Darlington Raceway, because NASCAR officials found out he’d lied about his age on his license application. The 18-year-old, who said he was 21, qualified 44th. He hid on the car’s floorboards and took the wheel as owner Bobby Weatherly exited while inspectors’ were looking elsewhere.
Yarborough actually started the race - wearing a helmet and goggles, he got "lost" in the pre-race crush - but received a quick black flag when it was apparent the driver of the No. 30 car was not Weatherly.
From those beginnings, William Caleb Yarborough became the first to win three consecutive NASCAR premier series championships (1976-78) and three times finished second in the standings. During a career that began in 1957 and concluded after the 1988 season, Yarborough won 83 races - sixth on the all-time list.
The remainder of this year’s inductees included, Dale Inman - an eight-time champion crew chief for Darrell Waltrip and Cale Yarborough, a pair of three-time NASCAR premier series champions; Darrell Waltrip and Glen Wood, who won a combined 167 races, and the late Richie Evans - a nine-time NASCAR Modified champion, the first to be inducted from outside NASCAR’s premier division.
Inman, Richard Petty’s cousin, is generally credited with inventing the modern role of crew chief. He won seven championships with Petty Enterprises and an eighth with Billy Hagan and driver Terry Labonte in 1984. Randleman County, N.C.’s Inman, 75, who retired from the sport in 1998, won 193 times. The list of current NASCAR Sprint Cup crew chiefs learning at Inman’s side is a lengthy one.
Like Ned Jarrett, a member of the second class of the NASCAR Hall of Fame, Waltrip is both champion driver and television broadcaster. Waltrip won championships in 1981-82 and 1985 driving for NASCAR Hall of Famer Junior Johnson. The Owensboro, Ky., native won 84 times in 809 starts ranking fourth on the all-time NASCAR Sprint Cup victory list with Bobby Allison.
“I was telling [wife] Stevie earlier this week that I hoped I wouldn’t get emotional tonight, but she reminded me ‘Honey, you always get emotional about the things you are passionate about,’” Waltrip said. “This night, these men, and the people in this room, they're what inspire me.”
Wood, a four-time NASCAR premier series winner, left the driver’s seat to own the fabled No. 21 Wood Brothers Ford team. With his four brothers, who include NASCAR Hall of Fame nominee and crew chief Leonard Wood, the organization counts 98 victories, including its fifth Daytona 500 win in 2011 with 20-year-old Trevor Bayne. Those who drove for the 86-year-old Wood’s Stuart, Va.-based team included fellow inductee Yarborough, NASCAR Hall of Famer David Pearson, A.J. Foyt and road racer Dan Gurney.
“This is not just about me being inducted in the Hall of Fame,” said Wood. “It's also about the Wood Brothers. And it's about NASCAR. And I'm proud to have been a NASCAR driver and car owner for the past 60 years, and I'm proud of this great honor.”
Evans, nicknamed the "Rapid Roman" by virtue of racing out of Rome, N.Y., won nine championships over a 13-year span - including eight in a row - driving modified stock cars, primarily a race car fashioned from pre-World War II coupes and sedans powered by high horsepower engines.
Racing Trivia Question: What year was the first Daytona 500 held?
Last Week’s Question: Who won the 1949 NASCAR championship, which was the first for the fledgling organization? Answer. Red Byron.
You may contact the Racing Reporter at hodges@race500.com.
