SCRANTON – Montrose’s John Lawson and Susquehanna’s Jagr Briar came across their chances in a different way.

Both saw opportunities and grabbed them.

Lawson and Briar wound up starting next to each other in the City defensive line Wednesday night during a 35-28 victory over the County in the 79th annual Dream Game before a paid crowd of 6,897 at Memorial Stadium.

City coaches were looking for more defensive line options early in practice.

Lawson, who was selected for the game as a fullback and linebacker, spoke up. He not only landed a spot at nose guard, but used it to lead all defensive players in the Scranton Lions Club-sponsored, all-star game for recent graduates from Lackawanna Football Conference teams.

“D-Line has always been my favorite,” said Lawson, who played the position in Pee Wee football. “I loved playing D-Line.”

Briar was not among the players originally selected for the City roster, but was added soon after the teams were announced. He used the chance to fight his way into the starting lineup at defensive tackle.

Lawson and Briar each had a teammate in the game.

Montrose’s Will Ely and Susquehanna’s Cole Mallery played in the secondary, getting increasing playing time late in the game when the City moved ahead, then held off a County comeback.

The City defense was put to the test with the County in possession for 77 offensive plays and more than 27 minutes.

Although it allowed the game’s final touchdown in the process, the City defense essentially cinched the win by forcing the County to run all but the final 4.5 seconds off the clock while needing 14 players and two fourth-down conversions to produce the final touchdown.

Lawson spent most of his high school days at linebacker for the Meteors.

“During my high school career, I would always come down when we needed an extra lineman in a short-yardage situation,” said Lawson, a 6-foot, 235-pounder.

Lawson had nine tackles and three assists, totals that were matched only by Abington Heights all-state linebacker Jerry Langan for the County. He surpassed that production by also making a sack for a five-yard loss and rushing the passer into an incompletion.

Briar, a 6-foot-1, 275-pounder, used the game as preparation for this fall. He is on the King’s College roster as an incoming freshman nose guard.

“It was definitely one of the best experiences of my life,” Briar said.

Briar, who also filled in briefly in the offensive line, assisted on one tackle. He broke through the County line to bat down a pass in the game’s final minute.

Ely made three tackles and also broke up a pass, all in the fourth quarter.

Mallery made the City’s first tackle on the special teams as part of the punt coverage unit. He finished with two tackles and two assists and also helped break up a third-down pass.

The teams combined for 38 first downs and 705 yards total offense in a game that matched the highest scoring in the history of the game that benefits sight preservation projects. The City defeated the County, 48-15, in the other 63-point game in 1974.

The County jumped out to a 14-6 lead.

Riverside’s Nick Dranchak passed 26 yards to Anthony Piccolini from rival Old Forge for a score just 3:18 into the game.

The 7-0 lead carried into the second quarter when Scranton Prep’s Griff DiBileo found Scranton’s Karlon Quiller for a 19-yard touchdown. The extra point failed, leaving the County in front.

Lackawanna Trail’s Pete Murazzi ran 5 yards for a 14-6 County lead with 3:34 left in the first half.

The City responded with the next three touchdowns, tying the game in the final minute of the first half and taking a 28-14 lead after three quarters.

Marquis Brownlee from West Scranton ran 2 yards and Clem Rinaldi from Scranton Prep caught the tying two-point conversion pass from Wallenpaupack’s Will Hendel.

The City moved ahead to stay on the game’s most exciting play.

DiBileo passed to Quiller, who then flipped the ball to Dunmore’s Austin Seamon, who went the final 58 yards of the 60-yard touchdown on the hook-and-lateral play.

"Going into the game, I wasn't sure how it was going to work," DiBileo said. "It didn't really work that well in practice. The game was really back-and-forth, then that just opened everything up for us."

Delaware Valley’s Connor Decker added a 17-yard touchdown pass from DiBileo.

Langan ran 1 yard for a County score to cut the gap to 28-21 with 10:04 left.

Seamon ran 50 yards for a touchdown with 1:38 left but the County drove for its late score.

Ronny Tomasetti of Mid Valley caught a 6-yard touchdown pass from Dante Pasqualichio of Abington Heights.

DiBileo hit four straight passes for three touchdowns during one stretch of the second and third quarters. He finished 9-for-14 for 149 yards.

Seamon rushed for a game-high 87 yards on nine carries and had two touchdowns.

Quiller caught six passes for 53 yards and a touchdown and also broke up three passes on defense.

WEEK IN REVIEW

Lehigh Valley United ’95 was unable to advance out of pool play, but that did not stop Mountain View’s Colby Thomas from landing a spot on the all-star team in national competition.

Thomas was selected as one of the Best 11 in the U17 Boys Division of the U.S. National Championships, which concluded July 28 in Overland Park, Kan.

LVU, which was third in the country in U16 last year, reached the eight-team national tournament where it was eliminated before the semifinals after two ties and a one-goal loss.

Thomas gave LVU its only lead of the tournament when he scored 9:20 into a game with Waukesha, Wisc. on the way to a 1-1 tie.

Colby Thomas

THE WEEK AHEAD

The fall high school sports season gets underway with the official start of practice Monday, August 12.

Football, golf, cross country, soccer, field hockey, girls’ tennis and girls’ volleyball all open practice.

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.

Kahne Outlasts Gordon At Pocono

Kasey Kahne, winner of Pocono Cup race. Furnished by NASCAR

POCONO, Penn.—Kasey Kahne seemed to have Sunday’s Sprint Cup race in hand until a caution came out with nine laps to go in the 160-lap race. He lost the lead to Jeff Gordon on the restart. Four laps later, Matt Kenseth spun, bringing out the race’s last caution.

Jeff Gordon lined up on the inside of the front row, while Kahne was on his outside. When the race went green, Gordon briefly took the lead, but Kahne regained it about one lap from the finish line, and held off Gordon for his second win of the year.

“I knew I had a good car, and it would have been a shame to have given this one away,” said Kahne. “I knew that if I could ever get back in front, I could hold him off. Once I got to turn-2, and was ahead of him, I felt like we had it.”

Gordon had a fast car, but seemed to lose some momentum on the last restart.

“What a disappointment,” said Gordon. “It was certainly my fault. On that last restart, I tried to block the inside and he (Kahne) took off on the outside. He was gone, and there wasn’t any way I was going to catch him.”

Kurt Busch was third, followed by Ryan Newman, Dale Earnhardt Jr., Brad Keselowski, Joey Logano, Kyle Busch, Tony Stewart, and Greg Biffle.

Danica Patrick and three other cars got together in turn-2 during lap 109.

“Well, you know when you’re racing close like that, going into corners, the car gets tight,” said Patrick. “It went up the track on me, and then it just came around. I had no place to go.”

Jeff Burton was one of the cars collected in the accident.

“I don’t really know what happened,” said Burton, “Everything happened a long way ahead of me. When I came along the track was blocked, and all I could see was a wad of cars across the track.”

Jimmy Johnson had a right front tire blow, causing him to hit the outside wall. Despite a 13th-place finish, he increased his points lead.

Top-10 leaders after 21 of 36: 1. Johnson-772, 2. Bowyer-695, 3. Edwards-688, 4. Harvick-657, 5. Earnhardt-656, 6. Kyle Busch-646, 7. Kenseth-638, 8. Kahne-612, 9. Gordon-602, 10. Biffle-599.

PENSKE IS 1-2 AT IOWA

Brad Keselowski finished first and Sam Hornish came in second to give Penske Racing a sweep of the top-2 spots in Saturday’s Nationwide race at Iowa.

It was Keselowski’s first win at Iowa Speedway since 2009. On the way to victory, he had to overcome an early penalty that was assessed for a tire violation, forcing him to the rear of the field on the restart.

“As a driver, those are probably some of the most difficult moments, knowing you have a fast race car and circumstances are playing against you,” Keselowski said. “There are two ways you can react to that. You can let the moment define you or you can define the moment.”

Sam Hornish had a fast car, but could not catch Keselowski in the closing laps.

Brian Vickers finished third, followed by Austin Dillon, Kyle Larson, Drew Herring, Alex Bowman, Elliott Sadler, Ryan Gifford, and Trevor Bayne.

Top-10 leaders after 20 of 33: 1. Dillon-698, 2. Smith-684, 3. Hornish-684, 4. Sadler-679, 5. Vickers-670, 6. Larson-651, 7. Allgaier-648, 8. Scott-641, 9. Bayne-627, 10. Kligerman-617.

BLANEY GETS POCONO TRUCK WIN

Ryan Blaney pulled away from the rest of the field on the second attempt at a green-white-checkered finish to win Saturday’s Truck race at Pocono Raceway.

“It was just a matter of being able to get close to make the move,” Blaney said. “Once the final restarts came, I really had to be aggressive.”

Blaney’s truck owner Brad Keselowski missed the victory lane celebration because he was in Iowa preparing for Saturday night’s Nationwide race.

Polesitter Miguel Paludo finished second, followed by German Quiroga, Joey Coulter, and Ross Chastain.

Top-10 leaders after 11 of 22: 1. Crafton-429, 2. Jeb Burton-377, 3. Blaney-367, 4. Buescher-365, 5. T. Dillon-361, 6. Gaughan-354, 7. Paludo-35, 8. Peters-350, 9. D. Wallace-347, 10. Sauter-345.

HOW MUCH LONGER FOR DALE JR.

The finish line might not be in sight for Dale Earnhardt Jr., but you can be sure he’s thinking about life after his driving days are over.

“Yes, I’ve given it some thought,” said Earnhardt in July, 2013. “I know that the day is coming when I won’t be driving. At this time, I couldn’t tell you what my plans are down the road, or when it’s going to happen.”

Earnhardt was born October 10, 1974. That means in two months he will turn 40.

That isn’t a really ripe old age for NASCAR drivers. Ken Schrader (59) and Mark Martin (55) still continue to get behind the wheel of Cup cars on a part-time basis.

His current contract as driver of the No. 88 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet expires in 2017. By that time, he will have turned 44.

While Martin and Schrader have both won Cup races, they have not come close to reaching the elite status that Earnhardt has.

He has won the Most Popular Driver Award ten times (consecutively from 2003-2012), and has an estimated net worth of over $300 million.

He began his racing career at the late age of 17, competing in the Street Stock division at Concord, N.C.. His first race car was a 1979 Monte Carlo that he co-owned with his older half-brother, Kerry Earnhardt.

After two seasons, he began competing at other North and South Carolina short tracks, and the Nashville Fairgrounds, driving a No. 3 Chevrolet.

While driving a late model, he worked at his father's North Carolina Chevrolet dealership as a mechanic while he went to junior college, earning an associate's degree.

He went on to win consecutive Busch Series championships in 1998 and ’99.

Some of his business interests include Hammerhead Entertainment, a media production company that creates and produces TV shows, two bars named “Whisky River”, his own signature line of eyeglass frames, and a General Motors car dealership.

These are all in addition to his racing and Nationwide race team.

With his future secure outside of racing, the question is how much longer will Earnhardt stay behind the wheel on Sunday?

In conversations with him, I get the feel that he still loves what he’s doing. I believe that he will be around until the end of his contract. He is one of those rare individuals that are secure in life.

He can pick and choose his moves.

I think he will stay at Hendrick Motorsports for the next four years. After that he will remain in racing in some form or capacity.

Weekend Racing: The Cup and Nationwide teams will be at the 2.45-mile Watkins Glen, New York, road course. The trucks have an off weekend.

Sat., Aug. 10, Nationwide Series, race 21 of 33; Starting time: 2 pm ET; TV: ABC.

Sun., Aug. 11, Sprint Cup, race 22 of 36; Starting time: 1 pm ET; TV: ESPN.

Racing Trivia Question: Where did Dale Earnhardt Jr. make his first Cup start?

Last Week’s Question: Which Cup team will Kevin Harvick drive for in 2014? Answer. He will move to the Stewart-Haas Racing team.

You may e-mail the Racing Reporter at: hodges@race500.com.