DUNMORE – Montrose came close to ending its lengthy football losing streak a week earlier, only to lose in agonizing fashion.
John Lawson and Will Ely led the way in making sure it did not happen again.
Lawson and Ely provided the scoring when Montrose produced three touchdowns in a 2:41 span of the third quarter Saturday afternoon to break the game open on the way to a 27-8 Lackawanna Football Conference Division 3 victory over Holy Cross.
The Meteors snapped a 35-game losing streak, winning for the first time since a 22-13 victory over Lackawanna Trail Sept. 11, 2009.
“The last two games, we have a lot to be proud of,” second-year coach Russ Canevari said after his first career victory. “The kids worked extremely hard last week, obviously it wasn’t the way we wanted to end it, but we carried it into this week.
“Hopefully, this is a springboard for us to get this program back in the right direction.”
Eight days earller, Montrose had a second-half lead and was as close as the 1-yard line in the final minute before having a pass intercepted in the end zone on the game’s final play in an 18-14 loss to rival Susquehanna.
“I was worried, but I knew my guys, with the character they have that they’d eventually put it together,” Canevari said. “They scared me a little in the first half, being up only by seven, but at halftime we made some adjustments and came out and played the way we know how to play.”
Lawson made consecutive plays to finish off a nine-play, 45-yard scoring drive to open the second half.
Dale Harder began the half with a 32-yard kickoff return.
Dylan Heeman ran to convert a fourth-and-one then threw a pass to Lawson on fourth-and-five.
Lawson reached low to catch the pass inches above the ground while on the run, pulling it in to pick up the first down with an 8-yard gain. He covered the final seven yards on a pitch to the right side on the next play.
Troy Ely added the second of his three extra points for a 14-0 lead with 7:42 left in the third quarter.
Montrose forced a Holy Cross punt after three plays.
Will Ely, who had trouble handling a high first-half punt deep in his own territory, let the kick sail over his head. Ely watched it bounce around, then decided to pick it up.
With blocks from Lawson, Harder and Bryce Warner clearing the way, Ely sprinted down the right sideline for a 68-yard touchdown and 21-0 lead with 5:32 left.
“I was going to let it go, but my coaches yelled, ‘get the ball, get the ball’,” Ely said. “I got the ball and I saw the seam, so I took it up the sideline. I got an awesome block from John Lawson and that set me up for the cutback.
“I’m just glad we won.”
Brenton Warner recovered a fumble three plays later to set up Montrose at the Holy Cross 21.
Lawson scored from there on the next play for a 27-0 advantage with 5:01 still remaining.
Montrose had yet another potential touchdown called back before the quarter ended, but the game was already in control.
Holy Cross scored its only points on the game’s final play. Connor Callejas ran four yards and Thomas Ware ran for the two-pointer to complete an 18-play, 86-yard drive that was put together as Montrose removed its starting lineup from the game.
The Meteors jumped in front early.
After the Crusaders crossed midfield on the opening possession, Trevor Tompkins forced a fumble that Bryce Warner picked up and returned 20 yards to the Holy Cross 47.
The Meteors used nine straight runs to move in front on the first of three Lawson touchdowns, this one from 5 yards out with 2:41 left in the half.
“We had a great week of practice,” Lawson said. “We knew we had to come out swinging.
“No team is going to let you win. We just had to come out and play hard.”
Montrose did not let Holy Cross closer than the 43 the rest of the half and had a 26-yard field goal attempt go wide right with 12 seconds left in the second quarter.
Tompkins led the steady ground game with 92 yards on 18 carries. Lawson added 47 yards on 10 carries.
Heeman completed six of 11 passes for 72 yards. Ely caught three for 50 yards and Harder two for 14.
Montrose led in first downs, 14-5, before Holy Cross picked up six on the game’s final drive.
Callejas led the Crusaders with 96 yards on 25 carries while Ware had 70 on 15 carries.
Bryce Warner turned in a huge defensive effort. He had 11 tackles, including two for four yards in losses, and two assists. He also rushed the passer into an incompletion and had the fumble recovery with the 20-yard return.
Evan Castrogiavanni added five tackles and three assists.
Brenton Warner had two tackles, five assists and a fumble recovery.
WEEK IN REVIEW
Karlee Weida scored the game’s only goal and Caity Tague made 10 saves Thursday night when Mountain View defeated Lakeland, 1-0, for the Lackawanna League small school championship at Scranton Memorial Stadium.
Mountain View outscored league opponents, 77-4, during the regular season, winning 10 straight after a 1-1 tie with Montrose in the opener. The Division 4 champion Lady Eagles also handed Division 3 champion Lakeland its only regular-season loss, 3-1.
The title represented a sweep for the Mountain View soccer program.
The Mountain View boys outscored opponents, 104-4, while going unbeaten to win the Division 3 championship. All of the small schools compete together in Division 3 so there was no playoff needed.
Final soccer standings:
DIVISION 3 BOYS: Mountain View 11-0, Holy Cross 10-1, Montrose 8-3, Lakeland 7-4, Forest City 7-4, Elk Lake 7-4, Dunmore 6-5, Old Forge 4-7, Mid Valley 2-9, Carbondale 2-9, Riverside 1-10, Blue Ridge 1-10.
DIVISION 4 GIRLS: Mountain View 10-0-1, Montrose 7-3-1, Forest City 7-4, Elk Lake 1-9-1.
In high school football, Lackawanna Trail spoiled Susquehanna’s only home night football game of the season Friday, knocking the Sabers out of a share of the LFC Division 3 lead with a 37-13 victory.
A season-long series of injuries continued to plague the Sabers, who lost leading rusher Cole Mallery to a knee injury early in the game.
Austin White scored on a 10-yard run and Austin Felter a 12-yarder in the fourth quarter for the Sabers.
Jeremy Greenley scored three touchdowns for Lackawanna Trail, including fumble returns of 19 and 98 yards in the second quarter when the Lions broke open a scoreless game with 28 points.
In high school cross country, Elk Lake finished the regular season with just one loss each in boys’ and girls’ competition.
The Warriors beat Lackawanna Trail, Susquehanna and Mountain View in the final cluster meet of the season.
The Montrose and Susquehanna girls also finished with winning records.
Final standings:
BOYS: Scranton Prep 20-0, Elk Lake 19-1, Wallenpaupack 18-2, North Pocono 17-3, Abington Heights 16-4, Valley View 14-6, Lackawanna Trail 14-6, Holy Cross 13-7, Dunmore 12-8, Lakeland 9-11, West Scranton 8-12, Scranton 8-12, Delaware Valley 8-12, Honesdale 8-12, Blue Ridge 8-12, Western Wayne 7-13, Riverside 4-16, Mid Valley 3-17, Montrose 3-17, Susquehanna 1-19, Mountain View 0-20.
GIRLS: Abington Heights 17-0, Elk Lake 16-2, Scranton Prep 15-2, Honesdale 14-3, Wallenpaupack 13-4, North Pocono 12-5, Montrose 11-6, Holy Cross 10-7, Susquehanna 9-8, West Scranton 8-9, Mid Valley 7-10, Valley View 6-11, Lackawanna Trail 4-13, Riverside 3-14, Blue Ridge 3-14, Scranton 1-16, Western Wayne 0-17.
In girls’ tennis, Montrose was eliminated by Valley View, 3-0, Oct. 15 in the District 2 Class AA team quarterfinals.
COLLEGE CORNER
Blue Ridge graduate and former Susquehanna Saber Dan Kempa is the leading receiver on the King’s College football team with 16 catches for 279 yards, including a 73-yard touchdown in the team’s only win, 55-17, over Misericordia.
Kempa also has one carry for six yards and leads the team in both punt return and kickoff return yardage. He averages 11.7 yards on 10 punt returns and 13.3 yards on 19 kickoff returns.
King’s is 1-6.
THE WEEK AHEAD
The District 2 Cross Country Championships are scheduled for Wednesday at Elk Lake High School.
Elk Lake is the favorite in both Class A races, which also include Blue Ridge, Mountain View and Susquehanna among others.
Montrose is in Class AA.
The day starts with Class AAA girls at 11:40 a.m., followed by Class AA girls at 12:20 p.m., Class A girls at 1 p.m., Class AAA boys at 1:40 p.m., Class AA boys at 2:20 p.m. and Class A boys at 3 p.m.
The top two teams and top 10 other individuals will advance from each Class A and AA race.
In high school football, Susquehanna (2-1 in the division and 3-5 overall) is at Carbondale (2-2, 3-5) and Lackawanna Trail (2-1, 6-2) is at Montrose (1-3, 1-7) in LFC Division 3 games Friday night.
Our predictions last week were 6-4 (60.0 percent), bringing our season record to 73-25 (74.5).
This week’s predictions, with home teams in CAPS: CARBONDALE 28, Susquehanna 6; Lackawanna Trail 29, MONTROSE 0; OLD FORGE 62, Holy Cross 0; SCRANTON 51, Wallenpaupack 6; VALLEY VIEW 33, West Scranton 24; WESTERN WAYNE 40, Honesdale 10; RIVERSIDE 32, Lakeland 31; Dunmore 21, MID VALLEY 7; ABINGTON HEIGHTS 38, North Pocono 0; Delaware Valley 31, SCRANTON PREP 20.
In high school soccer, the District 2 playoffs are scheduled to open this week with the first full round tentatively set for Thursday and Friday.
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.
