The spring high school sports season is underway.

The Lackawanna League held its boys’ tennis openers Thursday.

Track and field and boys’ volleyball were scheduled to open Tuesday. Baseball and softball openers are set for April 2.

In boys’ tennis, Montrose is the only team from Susquehanna County. The Lackawanna League has switched to having all 15 teams play in one group, meeting each other once each.

Montrose was 6-5 last season as a member of Division 2 in a three-division format. The Meteors are one of nine Class AA teams in the Lackawanna League, competing against the same schedule as the league’s six Class AAA teams.

In boys’ volleyball, all eight teams are grouped together and will face each other twice. Mountain View was the top county team last year, finishing 8-6 for fourth place. Blue Ridge, Elk Lake, Forest City and Susquehanna are also in the league.

Lackawanna Trail, Western Wayne and Abington Heights are also part of the league.

In track and field, the Lackawanna League switched from a three- to a four-division format.

Mid Valley is no longer with the county teams, which are now part of Division 4.

Elk Lake, Blue Ridge, Montrose, Mountain View and Susquehanna are joined in the division by Lackawanna Trail.

The Elk Lake girls won Division 3 last season, going 6-0.

Blue Ridge was second in Division 3 boys, losing to and finishing behind only Mid Valley, which is not part of this season’s schedule.

In baseball and softball, the league has also switched from three to four divisions.

Western Wayne is no longer with the county teams.

The six county schools join Lackawanna Trail in Division 4 in baseball and softball.

Montrose won both Division 3 titles last season, going 14-0 in baseball and 13-1 in softball.

WEEK IN REVIEW

Lackawanna League Division 3 champion Holy Cross fell short of winning its first state boys’ basketball championship when it lost, 69-63, to Beaver Falls Saturday in the Pennsylvania Interscholastic Athletic Association Class AA final at the Giant Center in Hershey.

Beaver Falls never led until 5:07 remained in the game.

Josh Kosin had 25 points for Holy Cross, which controlled play for most of the first three quarters.

Kosin picked up four fouls during the third quarter, however, and was sitting out at the start of the fourth.

Connor Callejas added 12 points for the District 2 champion Crusaders.

Drew Cook scored 15 points, Micoy Mason and Dan Stratton added 14 each and Elijan Cottrill had 12 for Beaver Falls.

COLLEGE CORNER

Jordan Smith, a freshman from Montrose, is in the lineup for the nationally ranked Lackawanna College golf team.

Lackawanna opens the season ranked 15th in the Nike/Golf World National Junior College Athletic Association Division II coaches poll.

THE WEEK AHEAD

The Lackawanna League Girls’ Basketball All-Star Game is scheduled for Wednesday night in Forest City.

The Lackawanna League Boys’ Basketball All-Stars were scheduled to play Tuesday night at Valley View.

In professional hockey, American Hockey League East Division rivals meet this week.

The Binghamton Senators are at the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins Wednesday. The teams meet again Saturday in Binghamton.

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.

Kyle Busch, winner of both the California Nationwide and Cup races

FONTANA, Calif.—Sunday’s Sprint Cup race at Fontana was reminiscent of some of the great NASCAR races in the days of old: real racing, wrecking, fighting and cussin’.

The first 175 laps of the 200 lap race were like many of the other boring races held at California Speedway. But after the last restart on lap 189, it was an entirely different race.

Kyle Busch, the winner of Saturday’s Nationwide race led 119 laps up to that point. He was lined up on the outside, with Joey Logano on the inside, followed by Kurt Busch and Tony Stewart.

Busch did not get a good start. Logano blocked Stewart and briefly gained the lead. Within less than a lap Kyle Busch had retaken the lead, while Logano, Stewart, Denny Hamlin, and Kurt Busch battled it out behind him.

Logano kept moving up until he was able to get by Busch, but right behind Logano came polesitter, Denny Hamlin. Both drivers passed Busch with about five-to-go, and battled between themselves; sometimes one going high, while the other went low, each seeking an advantage over the other.

After the white flag was given, signifying the final lap, the racing really heated up between Hamlin and Logano. As the two cars exited turn-4, Logano drifted up the track and brushed Hamlin’s No. 11.

While these two were battling each other, here comes Kyle Busch around them on the outside. Right after he cleared the 11 of Hamlin and 22 of Logano, there was a mixup between them. Hamlin’s car hit the outside wall and slid down and slammed into the inside wall, while Logano hit the outside wall.

Hamlin collapsed after exiting his car and after initial examinations in the infield care center was taken to a local hospital.

While Busch was driving to victory lane, Tony Stewart came flying up, and slid to a stop in front of Logano and his pit crew. Jumping out of his car, he walked briskly over to Logano’s wrecked car, and started throwing punches at Logano before his pit crew intervened.

Stewart was angry and cursing afterwards to television reporters, saying, “What the hell do you think I am mad about? That little &$@!+ blocked me and kept me from winning the race.”

Meanwhile Logano admitted that he blocked Stewart on the restart, and said, “I had to put a block on Tony, because I couldn’t let him get ahead of me. But I don’t know why he’s so sore, it was just racing.”

While the shenanigans continued on pit road, Kyle Busch was celebrating not only his first Cup win at the California track, but car owner Joe Gibbs’ first also.

“They (Logano and Hamlin) were so busy racing each other that they forgot about me,” said Busch. “It was really good to come back and win like that. I knew when they both went to the inside of the track there was going to be trouble. I just put my foot down and stayed up on the outside, and hoped that I could get by the wreck, which I knew was coming.”

Dale Earnhardt Jr. finished second, followed by Kurt Busch, Carl Edwards, Greg Biffle, and Joey Logano.

Matt Kenseth, the seventh place finisher jumped out to the lead early, leading the first 10 laps of Sunday's race but it was his Joe Gibbs Racing teammate, Kyle Busch, who quickly took control.

Paul Menard, Kasey Kahne, and Ryan Newman rounded out the top-10.

Stewart wound up 22nd, while his other teammate, Danica Patrick was 26th.

Top-10 leaders after 5 of 36: 1. Earnhardt-199, 2. Keselowski-187, 3. Johnson-183, 4. Biffle-165, 5. Edwards-164, 6. Kyle Busch-163, 7. Kahne-159, 8. Menard-154, 9. Hamlin-145, 10. Logano-143.

BUSCH GETS ANOTHER NATIONWIDE WIN

Kyle Busch finished .834 seconds ahead of Sam Hornish Jr. in Saturday’s Nationwide race to claim his third win in five starts this season.

“I think it's pretty cool that you can see a team go to a race track and dominate like that in a series,” Busch said, “Although it's really, really awkward, because we've got nine in a row here in the Nationwide Series, and we have yet to win a Cup race here.”

Busch also extended his own record for career wins in the series, pushing that number to 54. The six wins at a single track ties his personal best; Busch also has six NNS victories at Charlotte.

Regan Smith rallied from a lap down -- the result of an early flat tire -- to claim third, with Parker Kligerman running fourth in a Toyota owned by Busch. Austin Dillon came home fifth, followed by rookie Kyle Larson.

Elliott Sadler, Brian Scott, Trevor Bayne and rookie Kevin Swindell completed the top 10.

Top-10 points leaders after 5 of 33: 1. Hornish-210, 2. Smith-182, 3. Scott-179, 4. Allgaier-178, 5. Dillon-172, 6. Bayne-163, 7. Larson-156, 8. Kligerman-154, 9. Sadler-154, 10. Bowman-152.

SPRINT FAN VOTE NOW OPEN

Race fans can now begin casting ballots for their favorite eligible driver in the hopes of seeing him or her in the Sprint All-Star Race on Saturday, May 18 at Charlotte Motor Speedway.

Voting is open and ends on the day of the race. Fans can vote an unlimited number of times between March 20 and May 18 by downloading the NASCAR Mobile '13 application or visiting nascar.com/SprintFanVote. Votes cast on NASCAR Mobile '13 will count twice towards a driver's total. The driver receiving the highest number of votes will earn a spot in the NASCAR Sprint All-Star Race. More info about the All-Star race, eligible drivers on my 2013 Sprint All-Star Race page.

WALMART OFFERING DISCOUNTED NASCAR TICKETS

NASCAR fans wanting to attend upcoming Sprint Cup races can now save more than $100 on tickets, food and more with the Walmart Family Track Pack.
 Tickets are available online at www.walmart.com/NASCAR and in select Walmart stores. Families can purchase a package that includes four race tickets, four hot dogs and four sodas for $99.
 In addition, local stores will offer special exhibitions, like car displays, and driver appearances prior to each race.

There is no NASCAR racing the weekend of March 30-31. If is an off week due to the Easter holiday.

Racing Trivia Question: Who won the inaugural Cup race at Texas Motor Speedway?

Last Week’s Question: Which full time series is Elliott Sadler running this year? He is running full-time in the Nationwide Series for Joe Gibbs Racing, plus a few Cup races.

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