The Mountain View girls made history then the school’s boys put themselves in position to possibly do the same in the first week of the Pennsylvania Interscholastic Athletic Association state soccer tournament.
The Lady Eagles became the first Lackawanna League girls team to win a state playoff game before falling in the second round.
Mountain View won two straight boys’ games, putting itself within two wins of becoming the first Susquehanna County school to win a state championship in soccer.
The Mountain View girls defeated District 4 champion Loyalsock, 1-0, in Williamsport Nov. 6, avenging a 5-0 loss in the same matchup a year ago. The Lady Eagles then fell, 1-0, to Christopher Dock in Saturday’s Class A quarterfinals.
The Eagles carried their high-scoring attack into state play, pounding Williams Valley, 6-1, in the Class A opener at Scranton Memorial Stadium and downing Greenwood, 5-2, Saturday at Northern Lehigh in Slatington to earn a semifinal matchup with two-time defending state champion New Hope-Solebury.
Caity Tague had eight saves in the first-round shutout for the Lady Eagles and made nine more in Saturday’s season-ending loss to open the doubleheader at Northern Lehigh.
Karlee Weida provided the only goal against Loyalsock in the first half when she connected on a rebound. Jenny Molenko got the assist.
The goal allowed Mountain View to post the first state win ever for the league, hours before Scranton Prep won a first-round game in Class AA.
The Lady Eagles went into the second half scoreless with Christopher Dock. Bailey Kratz, who had eight goals in the last two rounds of the District 1 tournament, broke the tie on a shot from inside the penalty area with 28:08 remaining.
Mountain View scored five goals in the first 30 minutes of the boys' opening round and had three more first-half goals after falling behind early against Greenwood.
Dylan Thomas opened the scoring, Zeb Cross had the next three goals and Colby Thomas scored to give the Eagles a 5-0 lead on Williams Valley with more than 10 minutes left in the first half. Colby Thomas also assisted two goals in the early outburst.
Chris White made it 6-0 in the second half before Williams Valley scored.
Bobby Pfahl had four saves for the Eagles.
Greenwood opened the scoring in each half Saturday, getting goals from Josh Ferguson and Hunter Roth.
Colby Thomas tied the game with the first of his two goals and added the eventual game-winner later in the half.
In between, Dylan Thomas scored.
After Greenwood cut the Mountain View lead to 3-2 in the second half, the Eagles took advantage of the first of two red cards against Greenwood.
Zeb Cross, who had assisted on his team’s first goal, converted a penalty kick with 21:45 left to put the Eagles in command. The intentional handball in the penalty area forced Greenwood to play one man short the rest of the way and a later red card made it a two-man advantage for Mountain View.
Nick Jarrow added a late goal on the second assist of the game by Dylan Thomas.
Delaware Valley gave the Lackawanna League a pair of boys’ semifinals with a pair of 1-0 wins.
WEEK IN REVIEW
Lackawanna Football Conference teams went 5-0 against outside competition while Northwest, which was beaten by both Susquehanna County teams, also won in the first round of high school football playoffs.
LFC teams grabbed four of the six spots in District 2 championship games while Scranton and Delaware Valley grabbed the maximum available semifinal spots in the District 2-4-11 Class AAAA playoffs by winning to set up a rematch of the conference’s top teams.
Scranton downed East Stroudsburg South, 42-20, and Delaware Valley outlasted Whitehall, 46-45, in overtime in regional Class AAAA quarterfinals Saturday night. The Knights remained unbeaten in 11 games while the Warriors improved to 10-1 with their only loss coming to the Knights.
Abington Heights topped Valley View, 13-6, in District 2 Class AAA Saturday on a pair of 29-yard interception returns for touchdowns by Dante Pasqualichio.
Lakeland knocked out two-time defending District 2 Class AA champion GAR, 35-17.
Brian Tomasetti ran for 200 yards and three touchdowns while intercepting two passes to keep Old Forge unbeaten with a 42-7 romp over Riverside.
The win set up a meeting of state-ranked Class A teams in the District 2 Class A final. Dunmore, which suffered its only loss against Old Forge, downed Lackawanna Trail, 32-12, in the other semifinal.
Austin Seamon and Daiqwon Buckley, who missed the first Old Forge game with injuries, combined for 283 yards and four touchdowns rushing in Dunmore’s win over Lackawanna Trail. Seamon carried 20 times for 144 yards and two scores while Buckley carried 14 times for 139 yards and two scores.
Scranton Prep (Class AAA), Carbondale (Class AA) and Northwest (Class A) were among the teams to advance in the Eastern Conference playoffs for the best of those who do not qualify for the district and state system.
Scranton Prep scored 61 first-half points in a 61-21 rout of Crestwood.
Carbondale made the LFC 2-for-2 in the Eastern Conference with Saturday night’s 28-10 win at Palisades.
Northwest bounced back from a loss to Montrose in the regular-season finale to defeat Muncy, 42-21, when Tony Politz ran for 196 yards and three touchdowns.
In professional hockey, the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins posted the first of their two shootout victories in four days when they defeated the Binghamton Senators, 1-0, Wednesday after the teams remained scoreless through 65 minutes, including overtime.
The American Hockey League rivals needed an extra three shots to decide the shootout. Each team went 2-for-5, extending the shootout to one attempt each in sudden death.
Jeff Zatkoff made 32 saves, then stopped six of eight shootout attempts for the Penguins.
Robin Lehner made 34 saves and had stopped five of seven Penguins in the shootout before Tom Kuhnhacki decided the game.
Paul Thompson and Trevor Smith were also successful for the Penguins during the shootout.
COLLEGE CORNER
Kelsey Hermick scored her first career goal this season for the Susquehanna University women’s soccer team.
Hermick, a sophomore from Elk Lake, appeared in six games, putting both of her shots on goal. She scored in the second half against Penn College Oct. 25 for a 4-1 lead in a game that ultimately ended in a 4-4 tie.
As a freshman, Hermick played in five games but did not score.
THE WEEK AHEAD
The PIAA Class A boys’ soccer state championship game is scheduled for 7:30 p.m. Friday at Hersheypark Stadium. Mountain View needed a Tuesday win over New Hope-Solebury to advance to the final against the Biglerville-Sewickley Academy winner.
In high school football, our predictions for the first weekend of the playoffs were 7-1 (87.5), bringing our season record to 98-29 (77.2 percent). Predictions will continue until the last LFC team is eliminated from the playoffs.
This week’s predictions, with home teams in CAPS: SCRANTON 31, Delaware Valley 27; WYOMING AREA 31, Lakeland 15; OLD FORGE 24, Dunmore 13; Scranton Prep 36, MUHLENBERG 27; NORTH SCHUYLKILL 48, Carbondale 20; Abington Heights 19, BERWICK 18.
TOM ROBINSON covers local sports for the Susquehanna County Transcript. He can be reached online at RobbyTR@aol.com or followed on Twitter at @tomjrobinson.
HARVICK WINS CHAOTIC PHOENIX RACE
PHOENIX, Ariz.—If good NASCAR racing drama consists of wrecks, fighting, and name calling, then Sunday’s Sprint Cup race at Phoenix, which was won by Kevin Harvick, will go down as one of the best.
The drama started on lap 234 of the 312-lap race. That is when a right front tire blew on the Chase leader, Jimmie Johnson’s car, and he hit the outside wall. It took his team 38-laps to repair the front suspension, and he is now 20 points behind Brad Keselowski, with just one race left.
During lap 298, Danica Patrick slid up into her old Indy-Car rival Sam Hornish and pushed him into the outside wall. Hornish was toast, and had to park his car.
With six laps to go, Clint Bowyer got into Jeff Gordon, causing him to brush the outside wall. Just before the white flag was given, Gordon decided it was payback time and spun Bowyer. Joey Logano was innocently caught up between the two cars. All three cars hit the outside wall.
NASCAR put out the red flag while speedway safety crews cleaned up the mess on the track
Kevin Harvick, the leader and his car owner, Richard Childress protested NASCAR’s call, saying the white flag had already been displayed, and Harvick should be awarded the victory.
Kevin Harvick winner of Phoenix Cup race
“Not so,” said NASCAR after reviewing the video tapes. “He had not taken the white flag.”
This set up a green-white-checkered finish.
Suddenly pandemonium broke out in the pits between members of Jeff Gordon’s crew and those of Clint Bowyer.
Deputy Sheriffs had to be called in to restore order.
Clint Bowyer’s car could not be repaired, so he ran to Jeff Gordon’s trailer, apparently hoping to stir up more excitement, but was turned away by security police.
Finally green flag racing resumed, with Harvick able to retake the lead.
Right after the final restart, Jeff Burton tapped the rear of Danica Patrick’s car, sending her spinning. By this time the leaders had taken the white flag, and were coming back around the track for the checkered flag.
But there was Patrick coasting along the inside of the track in front of them. Harvick and a few of the leaders made it around her, but about a dozen cars began to spin and slide, taking out Danica a second time.
“I guess that’s about as wild as it gets,” said Harvick. “As crazy as this year has been, I didn’t want to over drive my car on that last restart.”
Denny Hamlin finished second, followed by polesitter Kyle Busch, Kasey Kahne, and Ryan Newman.
Keselowski was not able to totally avoid the last lap pileup, but he did manage a sixth place finish.
“I raced pretty hard,” said Keselowski. “We knew that’s what we had to do and we survived. We got through it all and were lucky. There are no guarantees. The same things that happened to them could have happened to us.”
If Keselowski finishes 15th or better next week at Homestead he will win the 2012 Chase championship.
“We just have to go to Homestead; race and do the best we can,” said Johnson. “Today wasn’t a good day for us, but we’ll collect ourselves and go on.”
Greg Biffle, Kurt Busch, Paul Menard, and Mark Martin rounded out the top-10.
Top-12 Chase leaders with one to go: 1. Keselowski-2371, 2. Johnson-2351, 3. Kahne-2321, 4. Bowyer-2319, 5. Hamlin-2309, 6. Kenseth-2297, 7. Biffle-2293, 8. Harvick-2285, 9. Stewart-2283, 10. Gordon-2281, 11. Truex-2260, 12. Earnhardt-2211.
LOGANO GETS NINTH NATIONWIDE VICTORY
Joey Logano won Saturday’s Nationwide race at Phoenix, while Elliott Sadler's title dreams went up in smoke.
Logano, the polesitter, dominated the race as he beat his new Joe Gibbs Racing teammate Brian Vickers to the finish line to win for the ninth time in 21 starts this season.
Sadler wrecked with three laps remaining, forcing the race to a green-white-checkered-flag finish and extending the length of the race from the scheduled 200 laps to 204.
Defending NNS champion Ricky Stenhouse Jr. ran third and opened his lead in the series standings to 20 points over Sadler, whose late crash led to a 22nd-place finish.
Top-10 leaders after 32 of 33: 1. Stenhouse-1,212, 2. Sadler-1,192, 3. A. Dillon-1,187, 4. Hornish-1,105, 5. Annett-1,050, 6. Allgaier-1,043, 7. Whitt-960, 8. Bliss-877, 9. Scott-816, 10. Patrick-806.
SCOTT SAVED HIS BEST FOR LAST
Brian Scott passed Kyle Larson on a green-white-checkered finish to win Friday night's truck series race at Phoenix.
The victory was Scott's first of the season and second of his career, his first win coming at Dover in 2009.
Top-10 leaders after 21 of 22: 1. Buescher-777, 2. Peters-766. 3. T. Dillon-765, 4. Coulter-748, 5. Kligerman-740, 6. Crafton-727, 7. Piquet-706, 8. Lofton-675, 9. Sauter-639, 10. Paludo-629.
HARVICK LEAVING CHILDRESS IN 2014
For each of his 12 seasons in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series, Kevin Harvick has driven for Richard Childress Racing. That will change in 2014.
ESPN.com reported that Harvick has signed a multiyear agreement to drive for Stewart-Haas Racing beginning with the 2014 season. Harvick will remain at RCR for the 2013 campaign, sources said.
“I'm looking forward to finishing out this season on a strong note with RCR and continuing to build our program going into the 2013 season with the ultimate goal of winning a championship,” Harvick said. “Anything beyond that, once I know what my future plans are set, I'll let you know.”
Under Stewart-Haas' current plan, Harvick will drive a fourth SHR Chevrolet, teaming with Tony Stewart, Ryan Newman, and Danica Patrick to form a four-car stable.
Richard Childress refused to comment.
“I've got a contract for 2013 and this is 2012,” Childress said of his deal with Harvick. “I'm not talking to you about nothing [regarding that]. Too far out. You need to go talk to them people. Don't talk to me about it. If you want to talk to me about [the truck] championship, I'll talk about it. But don't talk to me about anything else.”
Meanwhile, the Associated Press reported that Danica Patrick has decided against trying to run at Indianapolis Motor Speedway next May because it would detract from her NASCAR efforts.
Patrick left IndyCar at the end of last season for a full-time move to NASCAR, and skipped the 500 this year to run in the Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte Motor Speedway on the same day. But in announcing her schedule last January, Patrick said she hoped a return to Indy was still in her future and her management team has been trying all year to put a deal together to get her back to the 500 in 2013.
Those plans were halted, though, in the last month as Stewart-Haas Racing questioned the wisdom of Patrick trying to run both the Indy 500 and the Coca-Cola 600 on the same day.
Weekend Racing: This is the last race of the season. It all goes down to the wire at the 1.5-mile Homestead-Miami Speedway.
Fri., Nov. 16, Camping World Trucks Ford 200, race 22 of 22; Starting time: 8 pm ET; TV: SPEED.
Sat., Sat., Nov. 17, Nationwide Ford 300, race 33 of 33; Starting time: 4 pm ET; TV: ESPN2.
Sun., Nov. 18, Sprint Cup Ford 400, race 36 of 36; Starting time: 2 pm ET; TV: ESPN.
Racing Trivia Question: How did Cup driver Ryan Newman earn the nickname, “Rocketman?”
Correction: Last Week's Question should have read; Which Cup driver won Rookie of The Year over Dale Earnhardt Jr. in 2000? Answer. Matt Kenseth.
You may contact the Racing Reporter at hodges@race500.com.
Luke Jones made it three straight District 2 cross country titles.
As a result, he claimed the Susquehanna County Transcript Athlete of the Month award for October for the third straight season.
The Elk Lake senior made it through the extremely muddy conditions on his home course to win the Class A title by 10 seconds over eventual state champion Rico Galassi of Holy Cross. Jones finished in 18:18.
The conditions left Jones more than a minute and a half off his winning time of the previous two seasons, but he still proved to be the fastest runner of the 121 in the field in the Oct. 24 race. His time was also better than the Class AA and AAA champions, making it the best of the 415 District 2 boys who ran the course that day.
“You just have to get it wrapped around your head that you have to power through all the mud,” Jones said of the conditions. “It’s not going to go away.”
Jones led Elk Lake to a 19-1 record in the regular season. His district performance also helped produce a team championship in Class A.
When the month was over, Jones’ season continued. He was second in the state and helped Elk Lake finish second in the state as a team.
“I was excited about the way the season went for our team,” he said.
Jones is extending his season to Nov. 24 when he will compete in the Foot Locker Invitational for the nation’s top high school cross country runners in New York City. He will concentrate on the mile and two mile when preparing for track season in the spring.
Luke is the son of Bill and Abby Jones of Friendsville.
