Susquehanna protected its unbeaten boys’ basketball record by claiming the title of the Bill McLaughlin Tournament at Mountain View High School with wins Friday and Saturday.

The Sabers took the championship by defeating the host Eagles, 74-62, after each team had posted wins Friday.

The McLaughlin Tournament also had a girls’ division, which was won by Western Wayne with a 40-30 victory over Mid Valley. Mountain View finished last.

Andrzej Tomcyzk scored 25 points, made seven steals and dished out five assists for Susquehanna in the championship game victory to claim tournament Most Valuable Player honors.

Cole Mallery was also part of the all-tournament team following his 24 points, seven rebounds, four assists and three steals in the final.

Dan Biegert added 10 points, seven rebounds and three assists.

All-tournament pick Nick Schermerhorn scored 16 points and Chad Wescott added 15 for Mountain View in the championship game.

The Sabers reached the final by defeating eventual third-place finisher Afton, N.Y., 64-40, Friday night.

Tomczyk had 18 points and three steals.

Josh Wheeler came off the bench to add 10 points and five rebounds. Brandon Soden had a team-high 13 rebounds along with five assists.

Mountain View downed Pocono Mountain Charter, 63-41, in the other semifinal.

Schermerhorn had 17 points in the win.

Mid Valley defeated Mountain View, 39-31, and Western Wayne topped Lakeland, 40-33, in the semifinal.

Makenna Whitaker of Mountain View had 11 points in Friday’s game and 16 in Saturday’s consolation loss to make the all-tournament team.

Western Wayne’s Rachel Carmody was the tournament MVP.

In other boys’ basketball tournament action, Blue Ridge finished third at the Sayre Tournament and Forest City finished last among four teams at the Finan Memorial Tournament in Carbondale.

After losing its opener, Blue Ridge won the Sayre consolation game, 38-31, over Northeast Bradford Dec. 10.

Forest City lost to Carbondale, 56-31, Dec. 9 in head coach Michael Latrella’s debut and fell to West Scranton, 73-34, Dec. 10.

WEEK IN REVIEW

Montrose graduate Chris Snee had already been fighting through this season with what has been reported as a partially torn labrum in his hip that might require surgery after the season. He also played through an ankle injury earlier this season.

Snee, the starting right guard for the defending Super Bowl champion New York Giants, then left Sunday’s 34-0 loss to the Atlanta Falcons. Snee suffered a left hip injury early in the game. It was unclear whether the hip injury was new or an aggravation of an existing injury.

Paul Schwartz of the New York Post reported on Twitter after the game that Snee said it would “take a lot” to keep him out of the lineup.

In high school football, current Lackawanna Football Conference member schools have now gone 20 years since their last state football championship and Clairton’s record-setting team is a big reason why.

The Bears shut down the Dunmore Bucks, 20-0, Friday afternoon at Hersheypark Stadium in the Pennsylvania Interscholastic Athletic Association Class A championship.

The win was the 63rd straight for Clairton, extending a state record and the longest such active streak in high school football in the entire nation.

Clairton has won four straight state titles, including a victory two years ago against Riverside.

Armani Ford ran and passed for touchdowns in the latest win, which allowed Clairton to join Berwick and Southern Columbia as the only schools to win four straight state titles.

Tyler Boyd ran for a 5-yard touchdown and intercepted a pass. He carried 20 times for 117 yards and caught three passes for 50 yards.

Clairton built statistical advantages of 23-6 in first downs, 282-79 in rushing yards and 432-115 in passing yards.

In boys’ basketball, Elk Lake joined Susquehanna as the only unbeaten basketball teams from the county.

The Warriors improved to 2-0 Dec. 11 when they downed Lake-Lehman, 65-47, behind 19 points by Matt Woolcock.

Rob Heft (14), Tyler Arnold (12) and Tanner Reyan (11) also scored in double figures for Elk Lake.

Susquehanna reached 2-0 prior to the weekend tournament when Mallery scored 30 points and grabbed 13 rebounds in a 58-49 victory over Western Wayne.

Tomczyk added 15 points, seven assists and three steals. Josh Wheeler came off the bench to provide nine points.

In professional hockey, the Binghamton Senators defeated the rival Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins, 3-1, Friday night with the help of a goal and an assist each from Patrick Wiercioch and Jakob Silfverberg.

Ben Bishop made 28 saves in the win.

The Senators broke a tie for second place in the American Hockey League East Division with the Penguins and improved to 14-6-1-1.

COLLEGE CORNER

Adam Phillips is making contributions on the Division I level as a freshman swimmer at Rider University.

The Elk Lake graduate has helped Rider to a 3-2 start in dual meets.

Phillips was part of the winning 400 freestyle relay team in a 178-123 victory over Marist College in the team’s most recent dual and during a 171-114 loss to Maryland-Baltimore County in the opener.

The four-time state medalist competes in breaststroke and freestyle events.

After finishing last in the six-team Brown Invitational, the Broncos are off for the holidays until Jan. 12.

THE WEEK AHEAD

American Hockey League rivals meet again Friday night in Binghamton when the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins play at the Senators at 7:05.

The Penguins and Senators were two of the hottest teams in the AHL in November.

Wilkes-Barre/Scranton went 10-2-0-0 with the only two losses coming to Hershey.

Binghamton won its final seven games of the month, in a streak that eventually reached nine games, to finish November at 8-1-0-1.

In boys' basketball, Susquehanna is home Saturday against Northwest. The Sabers were scheduled to play at Wyoming Seminary Tuesday in a battle of unbeatens.

Our high school football predictions are done for the season.

The final pick was correct, bringing our playoff record to 15-5 (75.0 percent) and our season mark to 106-33 (76.2 percent).

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.

Each year during Christmas we break from our traditional NASCAR racing news in order to bring a story that blends in with the holiday season. This year’s story comes from Bobby Ward, an early sprint car racer from Arkansas. While he was not well known along the east coast, he was a household name among racing fans in the Midwest. When Ward showed up at the race track, he was always the “one to beat.”

“I think that sometimes people overvalue the things of Christmas, and forget to really focus on their friends and the actual holiday season,” said Ward. “I certainly have more material things now, which I thoroughly enjoy, but as far as true happiness goes, I’m not so sure that we weren’t just as happy back in my early years.”

Ward was born in 1935 in the community of Bee Branch, Arkansas, about 40 miles north of Little Rock, in a one-room log cabin. His racing career began in 1956.

He raced hard, traveled long distances, won many, many championships, accumulated a large fan following, and became known as “The Arkansas Traveler.”

Bobby Ward in 1957 after winning the Arkansas championship

“Christmas for us was very light,” continued Ward. “Mom and dad, and sometimes all the family would go out on Christmas Eve and cut down a tree. It wasn’t always a cedar tree. Sometimes it was a pine. After getting it set up in the house we would decorate it. The decorations consisted of some colorful ribbon that had been cut in strips, and strings of popcorn.

“That was all the decorations we used. There were no lights, or anything shiny.

“My three sisters and I each got one toy. That’s the only time of the year we got any store bought toys. But I don’t ever remember a Christmas when we didn’t get that one toy.

“On my sixth birthday I had asked my mom for some type of Tinker Toy. On Christmas Eve, I happened by the bedroom and saw a Tinker Toy sticking out from under the bed. Mom saw me, and said, “Son, would you believe that Santa Claus came by earlier today and left this for you? And he might even come back again tonight.”

Well, I believed her, and sure enough, the next morning Santa had paid us a second visit and left some oranges, apples, and cookies.

“Our Christmas dinner consisted of chicken and dumplings, and dressing, along with ham and some other vegetables, plus a cake and pie.

“We never had turkey or anything you had to buy.

“Around Christmastime, daddy would kill some hogs and cure the meat. He would take some type sugar cure and put it all over the ham, and inject it all around the bone. This not only flavored the meat, but preserved it. The meat would keep in a smoke house for at least a month.

“In my very early childhood, we had Christmas by ourselves. We lived a pretty good way from our neighbors, and traveling in our wagon would have taken too long.

“As I got older, we moved and dad bought a car, and we visited my father’s mother and dad on Christmas. I had a cousin that always got lots of toys and we were allowed to play with them while the rest of the family visited.

“I never said anything to mother and dad about the single toy I got, because I knew how things were with us.

“During the year, I was able to make homemade cars out of blocks of wood.

“We used our imagination and what we had, to entertain ourselves.

“We always ate well, even outside the holidays. We had pork, along with fried potatoes, pinto beans, and corn bread. Every Thursday night we had corn bread and buttermilk.

“There was no electricity in my early years. Our traditional lighting was a simple kerosene lamp. One day my dad brought home a new type of kerosene lamp, called a “Latin Lamp.” It gave a much brighter light, and that was the first time my sister and I had been able to do our homework together at the kitchen table.

“Sometimes at night I would get a glass of milk, and only drink half of it. I would leave the rest of it setting in the kitchen. When it was really cold, the next morning I would have a half glass of ice cream.

“When we moved from Bee Branch to Shirley, Arkansas, there wasn’t any boys around to play with, just girls. Mother made me a doll on her old treadmill sewing machine, and filled it with straw and rags, so I would have something to play with.

“It might seem funny now, but I had the time of my life playing with that doll, along with my three sisters and the other girls.

“Whenever my dad took corn to the grist mill to get it ground into meal and grits, I always went along. The corn was yellow. We never raised any white corn like they have now.

“My childhood was good. I thoroughly enjoyed growing up with my sisters and we were a loving family. We were also a working family. We worked hard, and loved each other. We didn’t go around hugging each other, saying, “I love you,” but we all shared a bond of love.

“I don’t ever remember a day growing up when I didn’t feel loved.

“I tried to race everyone just like I would want him to race me.

“I didn’t always win, but I knew it was important for me to try and finish each race. I think in order to enjoy our success we’ve got to put forth effort. The races that I enjoyed winning the most were those I really had to work for.

“Greater labor leads to greater love.

“To maximize our present enjoyment in life we might need to give up some of the comforts an easy life style brings us. Instead of buying a present ready-made this Christmas, why not see what kind of physical chore you could do for your neighbor? Instead of buying a pre-cooked pie or cake for Christmas dinner, why not bake it yourself?

“Christmas happiness can still be found. You just need to know how and where to look.”

Racing Trivia Question: How many regular Cup teams will Joe Gibbs field in 2013?

Last Week’s Question: Which team does the 2012 Nationwide champion drive for? Answer. The driver is Ricky Stenhouse. His team is Roush-Fenway Racing.

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

The Forest City Rotary will host their 40th Annual Basketball Tournament on Sunday, December 23 and Wednesday, December 26 at Forest City High School.

The Forest City Rotary Tournament Committee recently met with coaches and school administrators to organize the 40th Forest City Rotary Basketball Tournament. Pictured (l-r) are: first row - Western Wayne Assistant Coach Chase Smith, Western Wayne Head Coach Mike Nepa, Forest City Athletic Director Brian Durkin, Forest City Rotarian President Dave Daugherty, Rotarian Stephanie Granville, Rotarian Dr. Manny Masankay, Rotarian Joe Smith; back row – Tunkhannock Head Coach Dustin Babcock, Western Wayne Assistant Coach Nate Taylor, Western Wayne Assistant Coach Darren Thorpe, Forest City JV Coach Luke Pisarcik, Mt. View Head Coach Dave Bell, Rotarian Rich Kresock, Rotarian Harry Newak, Rotarian Anthony Faramelli.

Following is the Sunday, December 23 Schedule.

JV, 3:30, Tunkhannock Area vs. Mt. View (Mt. View Home Team).

1st Varsity Game, 5:00, Tunkhannock vs. Mt. View (Home).

2nd Varsity Game, 6:30, Forest City (Home) vs. Western Wayne.

Following is the Wednesday, December 26 Schedule.

4:00, Forest City’s (Home) J.V.’s vs. Western Wayne.

5:30, Consolation from losers of 1st Night.

7:00, Championship Game.