Both Elk Lake teams made it to the finals of holiday basketball tournaments that the school was hosting.
The Susquehanna County Christmas Tournament for boys and the Denise Reddon Memorial Tournament for girls were pushed back twice because of snow.
As a result, the finals were set for Sunday, after deadline of this holiday week edition.
Elk Lake routed Blue Ridge, 60-32, and Susquehanna edged Montrose, 52-48, in Friday night’s boys’ openers.
In the Reddon Tournament, Elk Lake pounded Blue Ridge, 57-19, and Montrose blasted Susquehanna, 49-24.
Tanner Reyan scored 18 points and Rob Heft added 11 for the Elk Lake boys, who raced out to a 20-7 lead after one quarter.
Susquehanna used a second-half rally to improve to 6-1.
Andrzej Tomczyk had 25 points, six steals and five rebounds for the Sabers, who came back from an 18-14 deficit at the break.
Mark Zappe added six points and six rebounds. Josh Wheeler had eight points and two steals.
Montrose was led by Cameron Dean with 23 points.
Susquehanna was set to face Elk Lake (4-1) in Sunday’s final between the two county basketball teams with the best records.
Elk Lake outscored Blue Ridge by at least eight points in each quarter of the girls’ game.
Taylor Watkins and Casey Tyler scored 11 points each while Kelsey Mitchell added 10 in the win.
Montrose had lost seven straight since extending its winning streak to 26 games with a win in last year’s state Class AA quarterfinal.
The Lady Meteors were 0-6 until Morgan Groover went 10-for-13 and scored 16 points in Friday’s win over Susquehanna.
Megan Gilhool added 12 points and Myra Lattimore had 10.
Mashawna Hargett had 16 points, twice as many as her teammates combined, to lead Susquehanna.
WEEK IN REVIEW
Montrose senior Nick Moore finished fourth at 220 pounds in the Tunkhannock Kiwanis Wrestling Tournament, a 20-team event which was held Friday and Saturday.
Moore received a first-round bye, then pinned Tyler Phipps of North Penn in 35 seconds. Moore won a 4-2 decision over Myles Robbins of Scranton to reach the semifinals where he was pinned in 2:49 by Zachary Faust of GAR.
A 4-0 decision of Lake-Lehman’s Phillip Hettes put Moore into the consolation final where he lost a rematch to Robbins, 4-1.
Isaiah Ofalt of Elk Lake was fifth and Zach Edwards of Blue Ridge was sixth.
Blue Ridge placed both Aaron Cook and Troy Maby seventh. Montrose’s John Shaffer was eighth.
Ofalt had two pins in under a minute and lost a pair of two-point decisions, including one in overtime. He captured fifth place at 182 pounds with a 26-second pin of Wilkes-Barre Coughlin’s Adam Giovanelli.
Edwards won two decisions to reach the semifinals at 138 pounds, but lost his next three bouts.
Cook received a forfeit in his seventh-place match at 106. Maby defeated Tunkhannock’s Dakota Quick, 9-4, in the seventh-place match at 126.
Shaffer won two of his first three bouts at 285 by pins.
By the end of the first day, none of the three county schools was in contention for the team title.
Montrose was 15th, Blue Ridge 16th and Elk Lake 18th in the team standings at the midway point. The tournament was completed on an accelerated schedule Saturday because of the snow.
In boys’ basketball, Mountain View edged Forest City, 43-41, Thursday for third place in the Forest City Rotary Tournament.
Nick Schermerhorn scored 16 points to lead Mountain View.
Matt Nevins led Forest City with 20 points.
Western Wayne defeated Tunkhannock, 75-69, for the tournament title.
Western Wayne edged Forest City, 51-46, and Tunkhannock downed Mountain View, 56-36, in the Dec. 23 semifinals.
In girls’ basketball, Mountain View and Forest City remained winless with first-round tournament losses.
Holy Redeemer hammered Mountain View, 59-20, in the Pittston Holiday Tournament Thursday.
Pittston Area held Mountain View scoreless in the second quarter, then stretched its lead to 51-11 after three quarters.
Western Wayne edged Forest City, 48-42, in overtime Friday at the Honesdale Jaycees Tournament.
Carly Erdmann led Forest City with 17 points.
COLLEGE CORNER
Colby Major is scoring at a rapid pace as a freshman reserve for the Penn State-Hazleton men’s basketball team.
The Montrose graduate has come off the bench in all 10 games during the team’s 4-6 start. He is averaging 4.2 points in 7.5 minutes per game. That translates to an average of 22.4 points for a full 40-minute game.
Major scored 12 points in 11 minutes, hitting all four of his shots, including three 3-pointers, during a 101-69 loss at King’s College. He had 12 points in a season-high 17 minutes in his next outing, an 88-68 win over Penn State-Lehigh Valley.
The 6-foot-1 forward is shooting 35.7 percent from the floor overall and on 3-pointers (15-for-42 and 5-for-14). He is 7-for-9 (77.8 percent) on free throws.
Major also has 20 rebounds, six assists, five steals and two blocked shots.
THE WEEK AHEAD
The Lackawanna League Division 4 girls’ basketball season opens Wednesday with Blue Ridge at Montrose, Susquehanna at Forest City and Elk Lake at Mountain View.
In boys’ basketball, the league season opens Thursday with Forest City at Susquehanna, Mountain View at Elk Lake and Montrose at Blue Ridge.
In wrestling, the Lackawanna League Division 2 season begins Friday. Elk Lake is at Blue Ridge and Western Wayne is at Montrose in openers.
In professional hockey, the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins play at the Binghamton Senators Wednesday in an American Hockey League game.
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.
CLINT BOWYER NEEDS TO BE RECOGNIZED
Clint Bowyer, who finished second in the 2012 Chase for the Championship needs to be recognized for his 2012 racing achievements.
In 2011, Boyer managed only one win while driving for Richard Childress. At the end of that season lack of sponsorship ended his seven-year relationship with RCR.
“I really didn’t want to leave Richard,” said Bowyer. “Things were good, but Richard couldn’t get sponsorship lined up. I had a sponsor (5 Hour Energy drink) that was willing to back my team, but what they offered wasn’t enough to run a full season at RCR.
“The only thing I could do was hope to find a team that could field a good car and come up with some associate sponsors so we could run the entire year.”
Bowyer had won five races while at RCR, and he wanted to be sure he could keep on winning.
Clint Bowyer in 2012
Michael Waltrip Racing is the team Bowyer decided on.
“After Richard rejected my sponsor’s offer, the deal with Michael was made pretty quick,” continued Bowyer. “I’d say that within a week we had all agreed on what each party wanted. I didn't know a face I was working with, other than casual conversation. I didn't truly know anybody that was on my race team or in the race shop.
“Everything that Michael, Ty Norris (MWR general manager), and Toyota sold me on quickly became reality, turning our first season together into the best year I've ever had.
“You just hope to land with a good family and a good team. We had good cars each and every week. I'm proud of everybody on the team at MWR. We were there all season long. To be able to see it all come together, to see that all play through, is truly a dream come true.”
Bowyer won three races, easily made the Chase and at Homestead, the final event of the season, he finished second to Jeff Gordon.
That allowed him to ease past Jimmie Johnson to take second place in the point standings. That was not only his career-best finish, it was the highest ever achieved by a MWR driver.
To compliment Bowyer’s achievement, MWR teammate Martin Truex Jr., also made the Chase.
He was disappointed that he did not win a race or finish higher than 11th in the standings, but he did qualify for the 10-race “playoff” for the first time since 2007 and the first time with MWR.
MWR’s performance in 2012 clearly indicates it is a team on the rise. More than that, it overcame much of the rather shallow opinions most observers had expressed over recent years.
For 2013 the team’s task is simple: Gather the momentum and use it to create a better season.
“We exceeded expectations in 2012,” Waltrip said. “So you know what you do then? You reset your expectations. Maybe we'll be the champions next year. It certainly wouldn't be unrealistic now. If I had said that coming into this year, you would have thought I was nuttier than you probably already do.”
LEGENDARY DRIVER, “HOOKER” HOOD PASSES AWAY
Clarence “Hooker” Hood died Christmas Eve at the age of 86.
Known for calling everyone “Cat” or “Dude,” Hood won more than 700 races during a 50-year-plus career. In 1954 and '55, he made five starts in NASCAR Grand National [now Sprint Cup] competition.
Upon being inducted into the Sprint Car Hall of Fame in 1999, Hood, who routinely gave his trophies away to those young fans, told an interviewer: “I've had a great life and I wouldn't do anything different except to try and run a little faster and that would be hard to do.”
He was revered on the dirt track at Riverside Speedway in West Memphis, where he enjoyed unparalleled success, including winning 20 of 22 feature events in 1966.
“He laid the foundation for auto racing in the Mid-South area,” said Stormi Hood-Runkle, Hood's daughter. “And he raced until he was 75 years old.”
His career reached a peak in the 1960s. He won the National Dirt Track Championship at Marshall, Mo., in 1967, a year in which he won 57 times in 63 events driving his Chevy-powered super-modified No. 99 car. He followed his outstanding year with 48 victories in 1968.
“He was just real talented,” said Pete Walton, a spokesman for the United Sprint Car Series who grew up watching Hood race. “And if a track got rough, he got better. He had a great feel for (handling) a race car on a race track.”
Hood was one of the earliest “outlaws,” traveling to whichever track paid the most money.
Sports writer Tony Martin had a good relationship with Hood in his early racing years.
“One night I came into Memphis on an airplane,” said Martin. “After a bumpy landing the stewardess stuck her head into the cockpit and posed the satirical question, “Who’s driving this thing, Hooker Hood?”
“Just as Elvis is considered king of the entertainment realm by those whose roots are planted in the Mid-South, Hooker has been elevated to a likewise lofty position by southern racing enthusiasts.
“The “Tennessee Tornado” claimed that in years past, a lot of his fans came to see him get his tail beat. Even though some of his driving skills diminished, and he didn’t win as much in his later years, fans still flocked to see him race.
“He never met a stranger and the fans loved him, especially the kids, who may be third generation Hooker Hood fans.
“As a small boy, he developed the name “Hooker” by taking on two neighborhood boys, who were considered to be bullies. Both were older and larger than him, but he whipped both. In doing so, he displayed a respectable left hook, which came into play later in settling scores at races.
“Once he was racing against NASCAR pioneer Lee Petty on the old Daytona Beach Course. A left rear wheel came off and passed him going into the next turn.
“Also like some of the early racing legends, Hooker hauled a little corn whiskey. He also got caught. With reservation, he told the tale; “It was 1957 and as a racer you can get exposed to a lot of stuff.
“Well, I figured I wasn’t stealing or anything. I was just buying and selling. Someone would bring the stuff up from the Gulf Coast and either me or my partner would pick it up at the stateline. I was sitting in this gas station and the sheriff walked in and said they had my buddy and not to say anything, because he already had.
“I spent five months as a prisoner-at-large at Maxwell Air Force Base in Montgomery, Alabama, but the worst part of it was every Saturday night I could hear all them race cars going around the Montgomery track. That was hell for me.”
He was self-employed most of his life, and managed “to keep the wolf from the door,” with his racing endeavors. He did work for a truck line as a driver and dock handler for a few years.
Hooker’s first, last, and greatest love was racing.
Thanks for all the great memories.
Racing Trivia Question: Who won the first Daytona 500?
Last Week’s Question: When will the first regular season Cup race be held? Answer. The Daytona 500 is the first points race of the season. It will be held Sunday, February 24.
You may contact the Racing Reporter at hodges@race500.com.
