MONTROSE – Cole Mallery was preparing to deliver one last hit in a desperate attempt to jar the ball loose in the end zone.
That hit was never needed.
Austin White stepped in front of a Montrose pass in the end zone on the game’s final play, allowing Susquehanna to escape with an 18-14 Lackawanna Football Conference Division 3 victory.
“I saw the ball coming,” Mallery said. “I wanted to make the hit in the end zone.
“They had been going to Will Ely the whole drive and I had a good feeling they were going there again. I couldn’t get to the ball. I was going to have to make him pay if he got it.”
White got to the ball instead.
“I wasn’t sure if I could get there,” he said.
Dylan Heeman completed four passes, including three to Ely, in the final 2:20 to move the Meteors from their 48 to the Sabers 1. After spiking the ball to stop the clock, Montrose did not get a play off fast enough and was called for delay of the game, moving the ball back to the 6.
White intercepted then stayed on his feet in the end zone long enough to run out the clock before downing the ball.
“The team that usually comes out on top is the one that remains calm at the very end,” Susquehanna coach John Salinkas said. “The kids responded in the second half.
“They scored and they made enough plays in the second half.”
Montrose was looking to end its losing streak in a game that was billed as the Battle of the Bluestone for the first time with the county’s only two high school football programs playing for a new trophy to be possessed by the annual winner.
To Mallery – among others – the game looked eerily similar to one he had witnessed as a young fan.
Susquehanna 34-game losing streak came to an end in 2005 with a 7-6 win at Montrose.
The Meteors had a chance to end their streak at 34 when the rivals met again Friday.
“We did it to them a while back,” Mallery said.
The Sabers prevented it from happening again Friday.
After being beaten by 25 or more points 30 times and 40 or more points 14 times, the Meteors continued the gradual progress they have been showing in the second season under coach Russell Canevari and gave the impression they could be on the verge of ending the losing streak. A 28-18 loss to Tunkhannock four weeks earlier had been the closest during a streak that dates back to 2009.
“That’s a very much improved Montrose team,” Salinkas said.
Susquehanna maintained a share of the division lead at 2-0 with defending champion Old Forge and improved to 3-4 overall with its second straight victory.
Mallery’s three touchdown runs, White’s strong two-way performance and sophomore end Christian Miller’s huge defensive game made sure the Sabers had enough to win on a night when the Meteors produced more first downs and more total offense.
Mallery scored on a 6-yard run in the first quarter, a 40-yard run in the second and a 1-yarder in the third.
White led the Sabers with 59 rushing yards, passed for 68 yards and had two interceptions.
Miller blocked, then recovered a punt. He recovered a fumble and rushed the passer into three incompletions. He also made three tackles, including one for a loss, and assisted on five others.
“It was a great effort by our defense,” Miller said. “We came back. We fought the whole way.”
Susquehanna opened a 12-0 lead before Montrose rallied to move in front at halftime.
Despite kicking off to start the game, the Sabers needed 1:39 to score.
Montrose could not move and fumbled the ball away on its third play.
The Sabers took over at the Meteors 29.
White ran 23 yards on an option keeper to the right and Mallery followed with a sweep around left end for the touchdown and 6-0 lead.
Miller’s pass rushes helped prevent the Meteors from converting fourth-down situations on drives that ended at the Sabers 29 in the first quarter and 34 in the second quarter.
“We definitely knew we had to keep the pressure on them,” Miller said.
Four plays after the second stop, Mallery ran 40 yards for the touchdown and a 12-0 lead with 5:22 left in the half.
Montrose took its first lead since 2010 by scoring on the next two possessions.
Heeman found Will Ely on a fly pattern down the left side for a 44-yard touchdown. Troy Ely added the first of his two extra-point kicks to make it 12-7 with 1:55 left in the half.
The Meteors forced a punt, then went to the air five straight times to cover 40 yards in 53 seconds. Heeman rolled left and hit Dale Harder in the end zone for a 24-yard touchdown and the 14-12 lead 12 seconds before halftime.
Montrose stopped Susquehanna once before the Sabers moved 80 yards in 11 plays for the winning score.
White found Zach Vaughn down the middle for 41 yards on third-and-six. After throwing incompletions on his first eight attempts of the game, White completed four straight for 68 yards on the drive. He also ran three yards to convert a fourth down on the play before Mallery’s go-ahead score from the 1.
Miller sandwiched a fumble recovery and a blocked punt around an interception and 25-yard return by Mallery, but Susquehanna was unable to add to the lead on three possessions that started in Montrose territory.
The Sabers got a fourth straight chance when Mallery tipped a pass into the air and White intercepted with 2:26 left.
Mallery fumbled, however, on the next play and Brenton Warner gave Montrose one last chance.
Ely caught a 25-yard pass, then grabbed a 20-yarder on third-and-five and a 9-yarder on third-and-eight to keep the comeback hopes alive.
White ultimately spoiled those hopes.
“They definitely had the momentum going for a lot of the game but we were able to hold the tide back,” Salinkas said.
Susquehanna had the edge in first downs until Montrose had the only seven of the fourth quarter to finish with a 16-10 lead.
The Sabers led in rushing yards, 144-84, but the Meteors led in passing yards, 172-68, and total offense, 256-212.
Both teams lost five turnovers. The Sabers lost all four fumbles and threw an interception. The Meteors lost two of their six fumbles and threw three interceptions.
Montrose was penalized 13 times for 89 yards. Susquehanna was penalized eight times for 59 yards.
White carried 12 times for 59 yards, Mallery 17 times for 53 yards and Brett Hepler four times for 33 yards for the Sabers.
Trevor Tompkins rushed for 41 yards on 14 carries to lead Montrose.
White finished 4-for-15 for 68 yards.
Heeman was 10-for-27 for 172 yards.
Mallery caught two passes for 17 yards.
Will Ely caught six for 127 yards.
Miller and Lyle Lawson were among several Susquehanna defensive players to have productive days.
Lawson had seven tackles and four assists while also forcing a fumble.
White had four tackles, an assist and a broken-up pass in addition to his two interceptions.
Lewis Esposito, C. Jay Monks, Will Terpstra, Craig Stanley, Jagr Briar and Jon Haines also made contributions.
Esposito had four tackles, including one for a loss, and five assists. Monks made four tackles, assisted on two others and broke up two passes. Terpstra had two tackles and eight assists. Stanley had three tackles and two assists, broke up three passes and forced a fumble. Briar had five tackles and two assists. Haines had four tackles, an assist and a broken-up pass.
Brenton Warner led the Montrose defense. He had three tackles, including one for a 21-yard loss, four assists, two fumble recoveries and a broken-up pass.
Will Ely, Tompkins, Bryce Warner and Heeman also had big nights defensively.
Ely had six tackles and two assists. Tompkins had five tackles and two assists. Bryce Warner had two tackles, three assists and a fumble recovery. Heeman had two tackles, an assist and an interception.
WEEK IN REVIEW
Montrose defeated Honesdale, 4-1, in a playoff Oct. 6 to claim the sixth seed for the District 2 Class AA girls’ tennis tournament, which was scheduled to conclude earlier this week.
The Lady Meteors used the win to reach the quarterfinals against third-seeded Valley View.
The Montrose team of Jen Reed-Anna Ruseski and the Elk Lake team of Hannah Cave-Taylor Watkins each won once at the District 2 Class AA doubles tournament Thursday before being eliminated seeded opponents in the second round.
Reed-Ruseski shut out GAR’s Vanessa Castillo-Diane Lopez, 6-0, 6-0, before being blanked by Holy Redeemer’s Fallyn Boch-Nell Chmil, 6-0, 6-0.
Cave-Watkins defeated Dunmore’s Elisabeth Padula-Anna Notchick, 6-2, 7-5, before losing to Wyoming Seminary’s Anita Ghosh-Madison Nardone, 6-0, 6-2.
Megan Hinds-Ceara Hartman of Montrose and Danielle Callas-Darci Warner of Elk Lake each lost in three sets in their first match.
In high school golf, Montrose’s Kory Morrison and Mountain View’s Chad Wescott shot 85 to tie for 13th in the District 2 Class AA boys’ championships at Fox Hill Country Club Oct. 8 when 42 players met to determine the six who appear at the PIAA East Regional.
Forest City’s Dylan O’Dell shot 86.
Scores of other county players who had made it through early qualifying and into the event: Montrose's Lance Nealy, 90; Mountain View’s Matt Mierzejewski, 91; and Forest City’s Matt Kowalewski, 99.
Montrose’s Katie Clark shot 108 to finish sixth and Blue Ridge’s Olivia Rockwell shot 112 to finish seventh in Class AA girls.
In girls’ soccer, Mountain View finished 10-0-1 to win the Lackawanna League Division 4 title.
In boys’ soccer, Mountain View is 10-0 to clinch at least a tie for the Lackawanna League Division 3 title.
In professional hockey, Robin Lehner made 35 saves Saturday night when the Binghamton Senators edged the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins, 2-1, in an American Hockey League opener.
COLLEGE CORNER
Karley Caines, a freshman middle blocker from Elk Lake, had four kills October 6 to help Keystone College to its first women’s volleyball win of the season, 25-14, 25-14, 25-12, over Rosemont College in a Colonial States Athletic Conference match.
Caines then was second on the team with 10 blocks during a hard-fought, 25-16, 23-25, 27-29, 26-24, 15-13, loss to King’s College.
The Lady Giants fell to 1-18 on the season.
THE WEEK AHEAD
Susquehanna will try to hold on to a share of the LFC Division 3 lead when it hosts Lackawanna Trail Friday night.
The Sabers are 2-0 in the division and 3-4 overall while the Lions are 1-1 and 5-2.
Montrose is at Holy Cross Saturday in a meeting between teams that are 0-2 and 0-7.
Our high school football predictions were 9-1 (90.0 percent) last week, improving our season record to 67-21 (76.1 percent).
This week’s predictions, with home teams in CAPS: Lackawanna Trail 23, SUSQUEHANNA 0; Montrose 23, HOLY CROSS 21; DELAWARE VALLEY 33, Scranton 30; NORTH POCONO 34, Wallenpaupack 30; Abington Heights 15, WEST SCRANTON 12; DUNMORE 28, Western Wayne 10; LAKELAND 31, Honesdale 0; Mid Valley 44, RIVERSIDE 31; OLD FORGE 43, Carbondale 0; SCRANTON PREP 39, Valley View 19.
TOM ROBINSON writes a weekly local sports column for the Susquehanna County Transcript. He can be reached online at RobbyTR@aol.com and followed on Twitter at @tomjrobinson.
