Susquehanna’s Cole Mallery and Montrose’s John Lawson and Will Ely have been selected to the City roster for the 79th annual Dream Game, which will be played July 31 at Scranton Memorial Stadium.
The Dream Game, which is sponsored by the Scranton Lions Club, features graduated players from the Lackawanna Football Conference, is an all-star format.
Susquehanna and Montrose are part of the City team that also features Scranton, West Scranton, Scranton Prep, Dunmore, Holy Cross, Delaware Valley, Wallenpaupack and North Pocono players. Graduates from Abington Heights, Valley View, Mid Valley, Lakeland, Lackawanna Trail, Riverside, Old Forge, Carbondale, Western Wayne and Honesdale make up the County team.
Mallery played multiple offensive positions for the Sabers while leading the team in rushing and receiving and finishing second in passing and scoring. He started and ended the season at quarterback, played running back most of the year, but was selected to the Dream Game as a wide receiver and defensive back.
As a senior, Mallery carried 106 times for 597 yards and seven touchdowns. He caught nine passes for 157 yards. He tied for the team lead with three interceptions and tied for second with four broken-up passes while ranking eighth in tackles.
Mallery, a two-way, first-team pick as a sophomore before spending his junior season at Seton Catholic in Binghamton, N.Y., was a second-team choice at running back on the Lackawanna Football Conference Division 4 all-star team, as selected by www.northeastpafootball.com.
Lawson was a second-team pick at linebacker and Ely was a second-teamer at wide receiver on the Web site’s Division 4 all-star team.
The City roster lists both Montrose players at their two high school positions. Lawson is a fullback/linebacker and Ely a wide receiver/defensive back.
Lawson and Ely were Montrose’s top two offensive weapons while leading the Meteors in rushing and receiving. They helped the program end a 35-game losing streak with two wins in the final three games.
North Pocono’s Greg Dolhon will coach the City, which features seven players each from District 4-11 Class AAAA regional semifinalists Delaware Valley and Scranton and six players from state Class A finalist Dunmore.
Riverside’s Evan Prall will coach the County. Lakeland and Abington Heights each have five players on the County roster.
WEEK IN REVIEW
MOOSIC, Pa. – Berwick native and Hazleton Area graduate Russ Canzler enjoyed a return visit to northeastern Pennsylvania as a first baseman for the International League’s Norfolk Tides.
Canzler, a former IL Most Valuable Player, was at his best in Saturday’s day-night doubleheader. After hitting a three-run homer to force extra innings in the afternoon loss to the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre RailRiders, Canzler went 4-for-4 with a walk, two doubles and two RBI in Norfolk’s 5-2 win at night. He added another hit Sunday when the Tides lost to finish with a four-game split against the RailRiders.
The Binghamton Mets continued to run away from the rest of the Eastern League Eastern Division, winning four of their last five games through Sunday to build their lead to eight games.
LOOKING BACK
The state’s biggest high school football all-star game was played earlier this month when Pennsylvania renewed its rivalry with Maryland in the Big 33 Football Classic and came away with a 58-27 rout June 15 at Hersheypark Stadium.
Pitt recruit Tyler Boyd, who helped Clairton to state championship games wins over District 2 opponents Riverside and Dunmore, led the victory.
Boyd had 310 all-purpose yards and accounted for five touchdowns. He caught two touchdown passes, ran for one, returned a kickoff for another and threw a touchdown pass while earning game Most Valuable Player honors.
Pennsylvania had lost to Ohio in four straight years before the opponent was switched to Maryland.
The Big 33 Game features 33 of the top graduating high school football players from each state.
THE WEEK AHEAD
The Class AA farm teams of the New York Yankees and New York Mets go head-to-head again Thursday through Sunday for five games in Binghamton.
The Trenton Thunder, a Yankees affiliate, is tied for second in the EL Eastern Division with a 38-36 record. The Binghamton Mets are first with a 46-28 record, the best in the entire league.
The games are scheduled for NYSEG Stadium Thursday at 6:35, Friday at 7:05, Saturday in a 5:05 doubleheader and Sunday at 1:05.
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.
TRUEX SHINES AT SONOMA
Martin Truex, winner at Sonoma. Furnished by Toyota
SONOMA, Calif.—Martin Truex Jr. put on a dominating performance in capturing Sunday’s 110-lap Sprint Cup race at Sonoma Raceway, for his first win of the season, and second of his career. The other win came at Dover in 2007.
“I can’t put this into words,” he said. “We’ve had some tough luck, but that’s part of racing. We were able to show everyone today what this team is capable of. We started off with a good car, and the team made it better as we went along.
“It was a fabulous car at the end. This was our day.”
Jeff Gordon was 27th about midway of the race, after getting caught in the pits when a caution came out, but rallied to finish second.
“Oh man, what a day,” said Gordon. “This is a race where you never know what is going to happen. Today, we had a fantastic race car. We had a lot of distance to make up, so I’m thrilled to get second. It feels like a win to me.”
Third-place finisher, Carl Edwards never ran near the front until after his last pit stop.
“I love this place,” said Edwards. “It’s all about strategy and staying out of trouble. I know I probably got into a couple cars today, and I wish I hadn’t, but it was a good race.”
Kurt Busch battled back from a pit road speeding penalty to finish fourth.
“Yeah, we had a fast car, and I take all the blame,” said Busch. “I just didn’t get my tachometer right coming into the pits and put us in a hole. We just didn’t have enough laps left to dig out. My bad.”
Clint Bowyer, Kasey Kahne, Marcos Ambrose, Greg Biffle, Jimmie Johnson, and Kevin Harvick were the remaining top-10 drivers.
Juan Montoya had a fast car and was running second with two laps remaining in the race, when he ran out of fuel. He finished 34th.
Kyle Busch also had a fast car, but couldn’t keep it under control. He spun at least four different times and finished 35th.
Top-10 leaders after 16 of 36: 1. Johnson-573, 2. Edwards-548, 3. Bowyer-528, 4. Harvick-510, 5. Kenseth-481, 6. Biffle-479, 7. Earnhardt-479, 8. Kyle Busch-461, 9. Keselowski-454, 10. Truex-453.
IT’S A. J. AT ROAD AMERICA
Car owner Roger Penske gave A. J. Allmendinger a second chance.
Allmendinger repaid him by winning Saturday’s Nationwide race at Road America in Elkhart Lake, Wisconsin.
Last year Allmendinger was suspended when he failed a NASCAR drug test, resulting in the loss of his ride at Penske Racing. He said he took a pill offered by a friend that turned out to be Adderall. He was reinstated after completing a NASCAR-affiliated recovery program, and now is getting a limited second chance with the Penske team this year.
Allmendinger, who had the fastest car for most of Saturday’s race, took the lead from Justin Allgaier with seven laps to go in regulation, then survived two green-white-checkered overtime finishes.
Afterward, he expressed appreciation to Penske, the team owner who originally let him go last season after he was suspended for violating NASCAR's substance abuse policy.
“It's just meant the world to me,” Allmendinger said. “This was the only way I could repay him. I was trying so hard out there - and, at times, probably over-trying.
“I knew the car was quicker than everybody else. I knew that as long as I didn’t make any mistakes they weren’t going to pass me.”
Justin Allgaier was second.
“I'm still not a road racer, I can assure you of that,” Allgaier said. “Just watching A.J. and seeing some of the places he was able to go on that last green-white-checker, I still have some stuff to learn.”
Parker Kligerman, Owen Kelly, Sam Hornish, Brian Vickers, Kyle Larson, Cole Whitt, Elliott Sadler, and Austin Dillon rounded out the top-10.
Top-10 leaders after 14 of 33: 1. Smith-507, 2. Allgaier-479, 3. Hornish-477, 4. A. Dillon-462, 5. Sadler-459, 6. Kligerman-447, 7. Larson-440, 8. Scott-439, 9. Vickers-433, 10. Bayne-421.
Note: Allmendinger will drive for JTG Daugherty next week at Kentucky Speedway, car owner Tad Geschickter told Motor Racing Network on Saturday. It will be the second of five races Allmendinger is scheduled to drive the No. 47 car in place of Bobby Labonte, as JTG Daugherty seeks to uncover what has caused its struggles this season.
Allmendinger drove for the team last week at Michigan, finishing 19th - the team's best result since Richmond in late April. Allmendinger also is scheduled to drive for the team at Watkins Glen. The other two races he's scheduled to run with JTG have not been determined.
WATCH OUT FOR STEWART
Will Tony Stewart be able to keep his midseason performance going or will he begin to fall off again?
In the beginning of the season, Stewart and his team were like a race horse that stumbled coming out of the gate. After four races into the season he wasn’t even in the top-20.
Prior to the May 26 race at Charlotte, his best finish was 15th. Since then, he’s finished 7th, 1st, 4th and 5th.
If history is any indicator, Stewart runs better in hot weather.
He said prior to the 2011 Chase, he didn’t even deserve to be in it with the way his team was performing. But when the championship came down to the last race at Homestead, Stewart out dueled Carl Edwards to win his second championship.
Stewart spoke to the media prior to the Sonoma race about his team’s situation.
“It’s definitely been gratifying for sure,” he said. “The thing is that, ‘A,’ we have to stay there and ‘B,’ we got to be consistent. “Getting there has been a lot of fun, it’s been very trying to get to this point, but it just shows how quickly you can get things turned around.
“There’s other teams that can make gains like that too. It’s a constant moving target. You have to consistently keep up with it and I’m proud of our group. The hard work that they’ve put to get us caught back up. The hard thing is that you can’t stop and they can’t stop with that intensity. We all have to keep working hard and keep that intensity up to get through the rest of the year.”
Stewart was involved in a couple bumping incidents at Sonoma and finished 28th. He is currently 15th in points.
Weekend Racing: All three of NASCAR’s major series’ will be at the 1.5-mile Kentucky Speedway in Sparta, KY.
Thurs., June 27, Camping World Trucks, race 8 of 22: Starting time: 8 pm ET; TV: SPEED.
Fri., June 28, Nationwide Series, race 15 of 33; Starting time: 7:30 pm ET; TV: ESPN.
Sat., June 29, Sprint Cup, race 17 of 36; Starting time: 7:30 pm ET; TV: TNT.
Racing Trivia Question: A. J. Foyt focused mainly on Indy-racing, but he raced several partial seasons in NASCAR. What year did he win the Daytona 500?
Last Week’s Question: How old is Dale Earnhardt Jr.? Answer. He was born Oct. 10, 1974, so he is currently 38 years old.
You may e-mail the Racing Reporter at: hodges@race500.com.
