The head coach will not be the only new face for the Susquehanna football team this season.

“We had 14 seniors last year,” said John Salinkas, who takes over for Dick Bagnall, the winningest coach in the program’s history. “We only have three seniors coming back with any type of varsity experience.

“We’re very young and very inexperienced.”

Salinkas was set to guide that young group through its first official practice Monday morning in preparation for the beginning of a demanding non-league schedule with the Sept. 1 opener at home against Western Wayne.

“The offseason was one of our best attended in the weightroom, even better than 2010,” Salinkas said of the Sabers’ Lackawanna Football Conference Division 3 championship season. “Our core bunch of sophomores and juniors has a tremendous weight-room work ethic. Sadly, we’ve got to put a lot of them out there while they are still learning what it takes to play on the varsity level.

“We certainly hope by the second half, when we start playing division games, we’re going to be ready to challenge some of those upper-tier teams.”

The team has the challenge of living up to lofty recent standards.

“We won 20 games the last three years,” Salinkas said. “Only one other team in our division has done that and it’s Old Forge.

“The biggest hurdle I have is to maintain level of preparation we’ve had.”

Cole Mallery, a 6-foot-2, 200-pounder, returns to the program after spending his junior season at Seton Catholic Central in Binghamton, N.Y.

Mallery was a first-team LFC Division 3 all-star, according to <http://www.northeastpafootball.com/>www.northeastpafootball.com, as both a defensive back and offensive athlete during his sophomore season.

“He’s certainly one of our team leaders and one of the best athletes we have,” Salinkas said.

Mallery played receiver and running back in 2010, but could be at quarterback, running the veer option offense when the 2012 season starts.

The presence of Austin White, a promising sophomore quarterback, leaves open the possibility that Mallery could appear at different offensive positions at times.

Two-way lineman Jagr Briar, running back/linebacker James Murnock, wide receiver/defensive back C.J. Monks and center Lyle Lawson are back from last year’s team.

“Jagr Briar is a weight-room fanatic,” Salinkas said of the 265-pound senior. “He has a great disposition. He’s a real hard worker.”

Murnock started at linebacker as a sophomore and saw time in the starting offensive backfield when needed because of injuries.

Monks led the team in interceptions.

“He has great speed,” Salinkas said.

Lawson appears ready to move to two-way work with a spot on the defensive line.

The Sabers have some experience at linebacker.

Curtis Mills, who could also be a threat at tight end, gained some experience at the position last season.

Anthony Benacquisto saw some time at the position last year while at Montrose.

Jon Haines, a two-way junior lineman, gained special teams experience last season.

Christian Miller, a 225-pound sophomore, has shown potential at defensive end.

The complete season schedule is: Sept. 1, WESTERN WAYNE, 1 p.m.; Sept. 7, at Northwest, 7 p.m.; Sept. 14, at Nanticoke, 7 p.m.; Sept. 22, RIVERSIDE, 1 p.m.; Sept. 28, at Lakeland, 7 p.m.; Oct. 6, HOLY CROSS, 1 p.m.; Oct. 12, at Montrose, 7 p.m.; Oct. 19, LACKAWANNA TRAIL, 7 p.m.; Oct. 26, at Carbondale, 7 p.m.; Nov. 3, OLD FORGE, 1 p.m.

WEEK IN REVIEW

Montrose graduate Rich Thompson has pushed his season International League batting average above the .300 mark.

Thompson batted .326 with two home runs and five stolen bases in 22 games during July. He went 6-for-12 in a three-day stretch August 7-9.

The latest outburst allowed Thompson to take a .321 average in 47 games with the Durham Bulls into the weekend. In all, he was batting .317 in 77 IL games, counting the start of the season with the Lehigh Valley IronPigs.

Elsewhere in the IL, the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre Yankees made three announcements.

The return of baseball to PNC Field in Moosic has been set for April 4, 2013 at 7:05 p.m. when the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre Yankees host the Pawtucket Red Sox.

The Yankees are playing their entire 2012 home schedule at a variety of sites while PNC Field is reconstructed.

The Yankees followed up the schedule announcement with a release detailing season ticket plans the following day.

According to Tuesday’s announcement, season ticket holders from 2011 can begin renewing season tickets, which will be made available to the general public beginning Sept. 10.

Fans began voting online Friday to rename the team.

Voting will continue through Aug. 24 at www.swbyankees.com.

The finalists are Blast, Black Diamond Bears, Fireflies, Porcupines, Rail Riders and Trolley Frogs.

In basketball, recent Montrose graduate Dallas Ely joined Elena Stambone of Jessup, Allison Walsh and Alyssa Miraglia of Dickson City and Amanda Pawloski of Nanticoke to form the winning Wilkes team in the Women's Top Flight Division of the Lackawanna County 3on3 Basketball Tournament.

THE WEEK AHEAD

The annual Jackman Memorial Golf Tournament will start the high school sports year Friday at Scranton Municipal Golf Course.

The Jackman Girls’ Tournament will be held Monday, Aug. 20 at Scranton Muni.

The Lackawanna League girls’ tennis season opens Tuesday, Aug. 21 with Elk Lake at Riverside and Montrose at home against Mid Valley.

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.

AMBROSE WINS WITH AMAZING FINISH

WATKINS GLEN, N.Y. - In an amazing last lap finish Marcos Ambrose went from third to first in Sunday’s Sprint Cup race, as he survived Kyle Busch’s spinning car and several bumps from runner-up Brad Keselowski.

Events leading up to the wildest finish of the season actually began on a restart with 16 laps to go in the 90-lap race. Keselowski was leading, but as soon as the green flag was given, Kyle Busch and Ambrose jumped ahead of him.

Keselowski was able to pass Ambrose, but by then, Busch had checked out on the other cars and led until the beginning of the final lap.

Right after the white flag was given, signifying one more lap, Busch’s No. 18 spun in some oil. Keselowski took advantage of Busch’s bad luck and was able to get by, with Ambrose right on his rear bumper.

Keselowski and Ambrose remained close, with minor bumping and shoving for almost the entire lap. Finally, Ambrose was able to make a move under Keselowski as the cars were in sight of the checkered flag. But even after Ambrose had gotten the lead, the two drivers were still bumping and rubbing.

“What a last lap,” said Ambrose. “I mean that was about as hard as I’ve ever raced. We kept getting in oil and going all over the track. I just had to take my chances, but this was a race I’ll remember for a long time.”

It was Ambrose’s second Cup win at the Glen. His other victory came in 2011.

“There was oil all over the track,” said Keselowski. “I got in oil, Marcos got in oil, and Kyle got in oil. But the way we were able to race each other is the way racing should be.”

Car owner Richard Petty and Marcos Ambrose after Ambrose's win in Sunday's Cup race. Furnished by NASCAR

Jimmie Johnson finished third and is the new points leader.

Clint Bowyer, Sam Hornish, Greg Biffle, Kyle Busch, Matt Kenseth, Regan Smith, and Martin Truex were the remaining top-10 finishers.

Jeff Gordon, last week’s Cup winner at Pocono had a top-10 finish going, but spun out near the finish line.

“There was oil all over the track,” said Gordon. “I’m pretty bummed out right now. We were good on the restarts, but to have something like this happen is pretty bad.”

Dale Earnhardt Jr. spun out late in the race and finished 28th. He dropped from first to fourth in points.

Polesitter Juan Montoya had a spinout along with mechanical problems, and finished 33rd.

Top-12 Chase leaders after 22 of 36: 1. Johnson-777, 2. Biffle-776, 3. Kenseth-775, 4. Earnhardt-760, 5. Keselowski-733, 6. Truex-728, 7. Bowyer-719, 8. Stewart-716, 9. Harvick-710, 10. Hamlin-693, 11. Kahne-653, 12. Edwards-650.

EDWARDS TAKES NATIONWIDE RACE

In his first Nationwide race of the season, Carl Edwards put on a show of power late in the race to hold off polesitter, Brad Keselowski, for the win.

Edwards took the top spot from Keselowski on lap 73 of 82, completing a pass to the outside as the cars approached the esses at the 2.45-mile road course. Keselowski regained the lead momentarily on Lap 76 but lost it again to Edwards' crossover move as the cars approached Turn 1 to start Lap 77.

Polesitter Sam Hornish Jr. ran third, followed by Ricky Stenhouse, Ron Fellows, Kyle Busch, Kasey Kahne, Paul Menard, Justin Allgaier, and Brian Scott.

Top-10 leaders after 21 of 33: 1. Sadler-783, 2. Stenhouse-770, 3. Hornish-759, 4. A. Dillon-754, 5. Allgaier-709, 6. Annett-654, 7. Whitt-622, 8. Bliss-578, 9. Scott-520, 10. Nemechek-492.

CARL EDWARDS ON WEATHER AT POCONO

While taking part in the test session at Martinsville Speedway last week, Carl Edwards answered questions from the media about the fans struck by lightening at Pocono.

A total of 10 race fans were struck by lightning in the Pocono Raceway parking lot after the conclusion of Sunday's Pennsylvania 400. All were transported to local hospitals with various degrees of injuries. Nine have been released. The tenth victim, Brian Zimmerman, was fatally injured during the storm.

“I spoke with one of the gentlemen in the hospital up there yesterday that was struck by lightning and he told me the story in detail about what happened to him and his friends and it sounded like a very terrible scene,” said Edwards. “I've read a little bit about it and I know there's a lot of discussion about what NASCAR should have done or the track should have done, but, I think, at the end of the day, it's Mother Nature and it's very difficult for anyone to take responsibility and say, 'We should have done this or done that.' It's something that I would have never expected.

“I walked right out from my hauler to my motorhome in the middle of that rainstorm and I ignorantly didn't think about the dangers that were there. I think we all maybe take that stuff a little too lightly. I have to tell you that after talking to that gentleman, Tony, my thoughts and prayers are with him and his really good friend who is pretty bad off. He's recovering and the family that lost their father, it's tragic.

“He's a big 99 fan and the folks at Pocono got me in touch with him. The gentleman that lost his life, that's just really sad. I believe the way he told the story there were three guys that were injured. Tony, the guy I talked to was injured the least. His one buddy is pretty bad off and his other friend obviously lost his life. From what he told me, I don't want to speak for him or anything, but it was as big of a surprise to him that something like that happened. They didn't expect that and I don't think they saw anything coming. They didn't think there were at that big of a risk. It's just tragic.”

Pocono Raceway has established a memorial fund to benefit the victims of the lightning strike tragedy. Donations will be accepted at any PNC Branch or by mailing checks/money orders, addressed to "Pennsylvania 400 Memorial Fund" to: Pocono Raceway, Attn: Pennsylvania 400 Memorial Fund, 1234 Long Pond Road, Long Pond, PA 18334.

Dodge will withdraw from NASCAR competition at the conclusion of the 2012 season.

Ralph Gilles, Chrysler Group spokesperson made the announcement during a media teleconference call last week. The decision affects current involvement in both the Sprint Cup Series and Nationwide Series.

Penske Racing currently fields two Dodge Charger cars in the Sprint Cup Series and two Dodge Challenger cars in the Nationwide Series. Penske Racing announced in February that it would end its partnership with Dodge, which started in 2003, at the end of the 2012 season.

Weekend Racing: The Cup and truck teams will be at the 2-mile Brooklyn, Michigan track, while the Nationwide teams are in Montreal, Canada for a road course event.

Sat., Aug. 18, Craftsman Truck Series MIS 200, race 12 of 22; Starting time: 12 noon ET; TV: SPEED.

Sat., Aug. 18, Nationwide Series NAPA Auto Parts 200, race 22 of 33; Starting time: 2 pm ET; TV: ESPN.

Sun., Aug. 19, Sprint Cup Michigan 400, race 23 of 36; Starting time: 12 noon ET; TV: ESPN.

Racing Trivia Question: What year did Jimmie Johnson win his first Cup title?

Last Week's Question: How long will it take ousted Cup driver A.J. Allmendinger to complete the NASCAR-mandated drug rehabilitation program? Answer. The program lasts between one and three months, then it will be up to NASCAR as to when he will be reinstated.

Allmendinger admitted to taking one capsule of Adderall, a drug typically prescribed for attention deficit hyperactivity disorder. Allmendinger said he does not have ADHD and therefore had no prescription. He explained that he had been in Louisville, KY, the Wednesday before the Quaker State 400 race at Kentucky Speedway, and was tired. A friend, Allmendinger said, handed him a pill and stated it was a workout supplement that would give him energy. Two days later he was randomly-tested at the racetrack, a test he failed.

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