Lakeland rode a fast start to a 34-21, home-field football victory over Susquehanna Friday night.

The Chiefs stopped the Sabers twice and scored twice in a little more than eight minutes to start the game, establishing an edge that carried them to a victory.

Strong all-around efforts by Austin White and Cole Mallery helped Susquehanna play Lakeland on even terms for the remainder of the game, but missed scoring opportunities in the first half kept the Sabers from seriously threatening a comeback.

Lakeland took a 14-0 lead in 8:09 by outgaining Susquehanna, 95-18, in that stretch.

The Sabers had a 16-15 advantage in first downs and a 307-263 lead in total offense the rest of the way.

Susquehanna was stopped twice at the 1, then, after a five-yard penalty, missed a field-goal attempt on the final play of the first quarter.

Lakeland put together an 18-play, 80-yard scoring drive for a 21-0 lead with 3:50 left in the half.

Quarterback Kyle Kiehart and Chris Roche, who had produced the first-quarter touchdowns, connected on a 5-yard scoring pass. It was the third third-down situation the Chiefs converted on the drive, along with a fourth-down situation.

Roche had a 21-yard scoring run on the first possession before Kiehart found Gavin O’Donnell with a 6-yard touchdown pass.

After the Chiefs used the long drive for a three-touchdown lead, the Sabers answered in three plays for their first score.

Mallery got it started with a 30-yard run.

White then took an option keeper to the left 34 yards for the touchdown. Trey Hillard’s extra point, with 2:17 left in the half, cut the Lakeland lead to 21-7.

White finished with 14 carries for 87 yards and two touchdowns. He also hit four of 10 passes for 66 yards. On defense, he made seven tackles.

Mallery ran for 122 yards and a score on 14 carries while catching three passes for 64 yards. He also made five tackles and broke up a pass.

They came close to producing another score before halftime.

White had runs of 9 and 12 yards, then hit Mallery with a 40-yard pass to move the ball to the Lakeland 20. A potential touchdown pass was dropped on first down before White’s third-down pass into the end zone was intercepted on the final play of the half.

Lakeland pushed the lead to 34-7 in the third quarter.

Cody Gonsauls ran 17 yards and A.J. Rupp ran 2 yards on fourth down for the two touchdowns.

Mallery and White again brought the Sabers right down the field. Mallery had five carries for 42 yards and White two for 11 in a drive that carried into the fourth quarter.

Mallery’s 7-yard run cut the deficit to 34-13 with 10:24 remaining.

The Sabers drove 59 yards in 14 plays for the final touchdown, a 1-yard run by White with 1:35 left.

Luke Brinton, who had seven carries for 32 yards on the drive, ran in the two-point conversion.

Lewis Esposito led the Susquehanna defense with seven tackles and four assists.

Lyle Lawson, Jagr Briar and Austin Felter also had strong games. Lawson had six tackles, including one for a loss, and three assists. Briar had five tackles and three assists. Felter had three tackles and five assists.

The Chiefs improved to 3-2 while handing the Sabers their third straight loss.

WEEK IN REVIEW

Western Wayne handed host Montrose its 34th straight football defeat with a 41-0 shutout Friday night.

The Wildcats (2-3) opened a 28-0 lead by scoring twice in the first 2:26 of the second quarter.

Robbie Siclari ran back the second-half kickoff for a touchdown, putting the game into the Mercy Rule and ultimately ending the scoring.

In high school cross country, the Elk Lake boys and girls each went 5-0 on the busiest day of the Lackawanna League season.

The meets were the only ones of the season that teams were scored against their traveling partners in the league’s cluster meet format.

Elk Lake beat Scranton, West Scranton and Mid Valley in addition to the teams it runs with each week, Montrose and Blue Ridge, at Nay Aug Park in Scranton.

The win set up Tuesday’s boys’ meet in which Elk Lake and Scranton Prep, the league’s final two unbeatens, were scheduled to meet at Blue Ridge.

In high school golf, Montrose advanced to the Lackawanna League Class AA semifinals with an 8-1 victory over Lackawanna Trail Friday.

Lakeland eliminated Mountain View, 8 1⁄2- 1⁄2, in another quarterfinal.

The final Lackawanna League Division 2 standings were: Holy Cross 11-1, Dunmore 10-1-1, Lakeland 10-1-1, Montrose 9-3, Lackawanna Trail 7-4-1, Mountain View 6-5-1, Mid Valley 6-6, Old Forge 5-7, Forest City 5-7, Riverside 4-8, Blue Ridge 1-10-1, Carbondale 1-10-1, Elk Lake 0-12.

Scranton Prep won Division 1.

In girls’ volleyball, Susquehanna won two of three matches and ended the week 8-2 and tied for second place in the Lackawanna League.

The Lady Sabers downed Blue Ridge, 25-10, 25-16, 25-22, Sept. 24. The next day they won a battle for temporary sole possession of second place by beating Abington Heights, 25-10, 25-20, 22-25, 25-20.

Unbeaten Dunmore knocked Susquehanna back into a second-place tie Thursday with a 25-17, 25-11, 25-21 win. The Lady Sabers have suffered their only two losses of the season against the defending champion Lady Bucks.

COLLEGE CORNER

Blue Ridge graduate Sean Stanley shot 85 at Scranton Municipal in his debut as a college golfer for Marywood University during a 289-308, season-opening loss to the University of Scranton.

Stanley had the sixth-best score among eight golfers for the Pacers.

While at Blue Ridge, Stanley was quarterback of the Susquehanna football team as part of the schools’ cooperative sponsorship. He was a District 2 Class AA track champion in the triple jump.

THE WEEK AHEAD

The 17th annual Steamtown Marathon is scheduled for Sunday, starting in Forest City and continuing through a 26.2-mile course to downtown Scranton.

Two Scranton runners appear to be the favorites.

Matt Byrne will try to become the first three-time overall winner. He placed second last year.

Heidi Peoples is the women’s course record holder and won both times she has competed in the event. She will be running a marathon for the first time since the birth of her second child last November.

“I’ll be disappointed if I’m not close to where I was in the past,” Peoples said.

A total of 3,000 entries were accepted this year, with all of them taken by May 19, meaning this should easily be the largest Steamtown Marathon ever.

“We could have easily booked 5,000,” assistant race director Jim Cummings said.

In high school football, Susquehanna (1-4 overall) is scheduled to open its Lackawanna Football Conference Division 3 schedule Saturday at home against Holy Cross (0-5 overall). The Crusaders forfeited Saturday’s scheduled game against Dunmore because of a lack of healthy players, but are hopeful of resuming their season.

Montrose (0-1 in the division, 0-5 overall) is at defending champion Old Forge (0-0, 5-0) in another Division 3 game. The Blue Devils lead all District 2 teams in scoring and are coming off a 54-7 rout of Riverside.

Our predictions on last week’s games were 8-2 (80.0 percent), bringing our season record to 51-17 (75.0 percent).

This week’s predictions, with home teams in CAPS: OLD FORGE 49, Montrose 0; SUSQUEHANNA 28, Holy Cross 3; LACKAWANNA TRAIL 37, Carbondale 8; Scranton 24, WEST SCRANTON 0; DELAWARE VALLEY 56, North Pocono 9; VALLEY VIEW 34, Abington Heights 20; Scranton Prep 47, WALLENPAUPACK 7; DUNMORE 39, Honesdale 24; WESTERN WAYNE 46, Riverside 38; MID VALLEY 36, Lakeland 10.

In girls’ tennis, the District 2 singles tournament opens Thursday at 9 a.m. at Kirby Park, Wilkes-Barre. Play will continue until the four semifinalists are determined. The semifinals and finals are Friday.

The early rounds of doubles play are scheduled for Tuesday, Oct. 9.

In high school golf, Montrose entered the week as part of the Lackawanna League playoffs in Class AA that were continuing until determining the league’s representative in the District 2 team championship, which is scheduled for Friday at Paupack Hills Country Club.

The individual championships are set for Monday at Fox Hill Country Club.

Mountain View’s Chad Wescott and Tyler Salak, Montrose’s Kory Morrison and Lance Nealy and Forest City’s Dylan O’Dell and Adam Kowalewski will play in Class AA boys.

Katie Clark of Montrose and Olivia Rockwell of Blue Ridge are part of the Class AA girls’ field.

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.

KESELOWSKI WINS AT DOVER

DOVER, Del.—Brad Keselowski was able to get better fuel mileage than Kyle Busch, Denny Hamlin, or Jimmie Johnson, as he won Sunday’s Dover Sprint Cup race, for his fifth win of the season.

He took the lead on lap 387 of the 400-lap race after the leaders Kyle Busch and Denny Hamlin pitted for a gas-and-go. Rather than pit for a splash of fuel, Jimmie Johnson’s team elected to have him slow down and conserve fuel.

With the win, Keselowski took over the championship points lead.

Brad Keselowski, Dover Cup winner

“This team has done a phenomenal job,” said Keselowski. “This was our weakest track, so it’s going to be an awesome season for us.”

A hard charging Jeff Gordon finished second.

“Well, I knew we had enough fuel, but we didn’t have enough laps to catch Brad,” said Gordon. “The car was good all day, but we just couldn’t get to the front when we needed to.”

Mark Martin finished third.

The fourth-place finisher was Jimmie Johnson. He was leading late in the race, but received the news that he would not have enough fuel to finish the race if he continued to run wide open.

“Man, when they told me to go in fuel-saver mode, I knew we were in trouble,” said Johnson. “It was really hard to slow down, because we had a fast car and could have controlled the outcome of the race.”

Carl Edwards finished fifth, followed by Martin Truex, Kyle Busch, Denny Hamlin, Clint Bowyer, and Joey Logano.

Dale Earnhardt Jr. was 11th.

Danica Patrick finished 28th, seven laps down.

Chase leaders with 7 races left in the 2012 season: 1. Keselowski-2142, 2. Johnson-2137, 3. Hamlin-2126, 4. Bowyer-2117, 5. Stewart-2110, 6. Kahne-2110, 7. Earnhardt-2103, 8. Truex-2100, 9. Harvick-2096, 10. Gordon-2094, 11. Biffle-2091, 12. Kenseth-2070.

You can almost bet that one of the top-4 points leaders; Keselowski, Johnson, Hamlin, or Bowyer will win this year’s Chase. Bowyer is in fourth-place, 25 points back. Tony Stewart and Kasey Kahne are fifth and sixth, 32 points out. I think it is going to be hard for any driver to make up over 25 points.

I’m betting its Johnson, Hamlin, or Keselowski.

LOGANO DOMINATES NATIONWIDE RACE

Joey Logano dominated Saturday’s Dover Nationwide race from start to finish in winning his seventh series race of the season.

Logano, who led 184 of 200 laps, crossed the finish line .876 seconds ahead of runner-up Paul Menard. Michael Annett ran third, tying his career best in the Nationwide Series, and fourth-place Elliott Sadler increased his series lead to nine points over defending champion Ricky Stenhouse Jr., who finished ninth. Kyle Busch completed the top five.

Top-10 leaders after 28 of 33: 1. Sadler-1054, 2. Stenhouse-1045, 3. A. Dillon-1029, 4. Hornish-994, 5. Allgaier-926, 6. Annett-916, 7. Whitt-843, 8. Bliss-781, 9. Scott-703, 10. Nemechek-678.

PIQUET TAKES VEGAS TRUCK RACE

Nelson Piquet Jr. converted a last-ditch, last-lap pass for the lead Saturday night at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, to win his second Truck Series victory of the season.

Piquet dove low to the inside of Matt Crafton in the first turn and made the winning move stick on the backstretch of the 1.5-mile track. Crafton, whose winless streak stretched to 30 races, finished .223 seconds behind the Brazilian at the checkered flag.

“I have no idea what happened,” Piquet said. “I had to give it a last try, I sticked it in there and God gave me a little bit more grip on the inside and we made it. It feels great. We really needed this win -- probably the best win of my career. For sure, top five moments of my career.”

Top-10 leaders after 17 of 22: 1. T. Dillon-637, 2. Buescher-636, 3. Peters-613, 4. Coulter-599, 5. Kligerman-598, 6. Crafton-596, 7. Lofton-572, 8. Piquet-571, 9. Paludo-514, 10. White-503.

A LEGEND IS GONE

The Dean of American Motorsports Journalism has died.

Chris Economaki, who began selling single copies of National Speed Sport News at age 14 and eventually became the publication's editor, died last week at age 91. His column was the most read feature in the newspaper for six decades.

He worked with ABC's Wide World of Sports, he was with CBS and ESPN, and it can be said he was one of the catalysts in bringing racing to television. It is not an oversimplification to say he knew racing and knew how to speak about it.

Through the years Economaki has received countless awards including the NASCAR Award of Excellence, and been elected to numerous Halls of Fame.

KURT BUSCH IS MOVING ON

Kurt Busch will leave Phoenix Racing’s No. 51 after Sunday’s Talladega race and move to the No. 78 Furniture Row Chevrolet, replacing Regan Smith.

“We want to come out of the chute next year ready and raring to go,” said Busch, the 2004 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series champion. “Driving the Furniture Row Chevrolet in the final six races of this season will obviously give us a big advantage in our preparations for 2013. The energy level is quite high and I can’t wait to get out to Colorado to meet all the guys and begin this exciting new journey.”

In an interview on Speed, Smith and said he knew about two weeks ago that he would be out of the No. 78 for 2013, although he did not know what the team's plans were. Since that time he has been talking to several owners, but is just starting to decide what to do next. He said his priority is to be in good equipment next year, either Sprint Cup or Nationwide, and that the Nationwide Series might be a good option for him at this point in his career.

So who will fill the Phoenix Racing seat currently occupied by Busch? Since James Finch has operated for most of 2012 without sponsorship, he's looking at candidates "who have the potential" to bring financial support to the team for the final six races and possibly next year.

Finch said he isn't limited to considering just Sprint Cup candidates, but has also been approached by Nationwide Series drivers James Buescher and Justin Allgaier.

Another candidate is AJ Allmendinger, who has been sidelined since July 7, when he was suspended by NASCAR for testing positive for amphetamine, and has since been reinstated.

Weekend Racing: It will be an off weekend for the Nationwide Series, while the Cup and Truck teams are at the 2.66-mile Talladega Superspeedway.

Sat., Oct. 6, Camping World Truck Series Coca-Cola 250, race 18 of 22; Starting time: 3:30 pm ET; TV: SPEED.

Sun, Oct. 7, Sprint Cup Good Sam Club 500, race 30 of 36; Starting time: 1 pm ET; TV: ESPN.

Racing Trivia Question: Bill Elliott has pretty much retired from NASCAR racing. How many Cup championships did he win in his career?

Last Week's Question: How many racing flags are used by NASCAR officials? Answer. There are seven; Green, Yellow, Red, Blue with diagonal yellow stripe, Black, White, and Checkered.

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

Susquehanna Community’s annual Homecoming events are slated for this weekend, October 5th and 6th. The festivities kick off Friday with the Homecoming parade at 6:30. The parade will lead fans to the annual bonfire on the school district grounds. It is very important to note that the time of this year’s Homecoming game is 2:30 pm instead of the usual 1:00 pm time. SAT exams are scheduled for Saturday and there are a large number of football players, cheerleaders, and band members from both sides who will be taking the exam.

This year’s foe will once again be the Crusaders from Holy Cross. The Sabers new head coach, John Salinkas, has this to say about the game. “The Crusaders of Holy Cross have been fierce competitors over the past few seasons and this year’s team will be no different. We have done our best to prepare the 2012 Sabers to meet this year’s challenge. The coaching staff and players greatly appreciate the large amount of support we have received from the community leading up to this year’s game. Please be sure to take part and enjoy the festivities along the way!”

The windows of businesses on Main Street in Susquehanna have been decked out in preparation of the game. Student organizations compete for best window design, which should try to incorporate the theme for each year as well as some aspect of the upcoming game. This year’s theme is “Sabers Rockin’ the World.”

Come out and “Support Your Sabers”!