Susquehanna seemed locked in the same routine for the first four weeks of football season – a tight game that wound up being decided by a touchdown or less, with the Sabers coming out on the wrong side three times.
The Sabers snapped out of that routine Saturday.
By the time the Homecoming Day game was over, the Sabers had emptied the bench and were kneeling on the ball at the Lakeland 18 because no more points were necessary in a comfortable, 28-7 victory over the visiting Chiefs.
The Sabers reversed other trends in the win. They overcame a long-time nemesis in beating one of northeastern Pennsylvania’s top small-school programs and they found consistency for what had been a struggling ground game.
Susquehanna defeated Lakeland for the first time since upsetting the state-ranked Chiefs in the 1994 District 2-12 championship game on the way to the state Class A semifinals.
“I think it was ready to happen,” Sabers coach Kyle Cook said. “We talked about it all year long that this was one of the big games we had.
“It’s been 19 years since we beat Lakeland. We really stressed that.”
The Sabers dominated the first half, opening a 20-0 lead and, after shaking off some difficulties in the third quarter, put the Chiefs (3-2) away with a strong finish.
“The last few weeks were tough,” said Austin White, who ran for two touchdowns, threw for another and made several key plays defensively. “We lost against teams we thought we should have beaten.
“We played our all and we were able to come out with a big win on Homecoming Day.”
Susquehanna finished with statistical leads of 18-14 in first downs, 277-117 in rushing yards, 353-269 in total offense, and 30:40-17:20 in time of possession.
The Sabers got started immediately. They went 73 yards in 11 plays after taking the opening kickoff.
White carried six times for 46 yards in the drive, including a 24-yarder and the 3-yard touchdown. The extra point was blocked but the Sabers had a 6-0 lead with 6:23 left in the first quarter.
“Offense is 11 guys on the field,” said White, who finished with 128 yards and two touchdowns on 21 carries while also hitting two of six passes for 76 yards and another score. “We need everyone knowing what they’re doing, everyone giving their all. We got that today.”
Lakeland responded with a 10-play, 74-yard drive. The Chiefs reached first-and-goal from the 3, but when Christian Selvenis tried to fight his way into the end zone, he lost a fumble that Brett Hepler recovered in the end zone.
“We’ve been in those close games, but we just haven’t been able to get over the hump,” Cook said. “They got to the goal line, but we got that fumble. I’m not sure what would have happened without that.”
Hepler made a variety of contributions to help break the game open. He carried 10 times for 83 yards and a touchdown, made seven tackles and assisted on two, broke up a pass and placed all three of his punts inside the Lakeland 20.
Hepler carried three times for 49 yards in the ensuing 10-play, 80-yard drive that he capped with a 24-yard touchdown. Following a Lakeland penalty, James Murnock ran in the two-point conversion for a 14-0 Susquehanna lead with 9:46 left in the half.
The lead reached 20-0 with 1:57 left in the half when White hit Murnock running free down the middle of the field for a 40-yard touchdown.
Lakeland broke the shutout on its second possession of the second half when Chet Anuszewski threw a 28-yard touchdown pass to Josh Natale with 4:54 left in the third quarter.
The Chiefs got as close as the Sabers 33 on their next possession before being moved back by a penalty. Curtis Mills then rushed Anuszewski into a fourth-down incompletion.
White hit Austin Felter with a 36-yard pass on the next play to set up his own 4-yard touchdown run on the second play of the fourth quarter. Felter added the two-point conversion run to close the scoring.
White then broke up fourth-down passes to end the next two Lakeland possessions.
The Sabers shut down the Chiefs when they looked to pass 31 times while trying to come from behind. Christian Miller had two sacks while assisting White on another and the Sabers constantly pressured Anuszewski.
“We knew from the get-go that we needed to play tough and play all four quarters as a team,” said Miller, who made six tackles, including another for a loss and rushed the passer into two other incompletions. “Homecoming gets us pumped up more than any other game.
“The whole community comes out to support us.”
The Sabers secondary and linebackers got their hands on 11 of the 28 pass attempts.
Craig Monks broke up five passes, including two in the end zone. White broke up three.
WEEK IN REVIEW
Both Elk Lake cross country teams suffered their first losses of the season in a Sept. 24 home cluster meet.
The Warriors defeated Montrose, Blue Ridge and Holy Cross but lost to Scranton Prep in a meeting of unbeaten.
Scranton Prep finished the day with a 12-0 record while Elk Lake fell to 12-1.
The Lady Warriors beat Montrose, Blue Ridge and Holy Cross but lost to Holy Cross.
Elk Lake, Holy Cross and Scranton Prep were all undefeated when the day started. Holy Cross took over first place at 9-0 while Elk Lake dropped to 12-1.
In high school golf, Montrose and Forest City each advanced to the Lackawanna League Small School (Class AA) team semifinals before being eliminated.
Very little separated the third- through fifth-place teams in the 13-team Lackawanna Small School Division.
Montrose, Forest City and Old Forge all went 9-3 to tie for third in the regular season. They had a three-way medal playoff to determine the two teams that earned home-course advantages for the league quarterfinals. Montrose and Forest City each had four-player scores of 179 to edge Old Forge by one and land home matches. Montrose beat Forest City on a tiebreaker, the fifth score, to take the third seed.
Both teams made the most of getting matches at home in the playoffs. Montrose handled Lakeland, 8-1, and Forest City downed Old Forge, 6-3, to advance to the semifinals.
Dunmore topped Montrose and Holy Cross defeated Forest City Friday in a pair of 6 ½-2 ½ semifinal matches.
The final regular-season Lackawanna League Small School Division golf standings: Holy Cross 11-0-1, Dunmore 11-0-1, Montrose 9-3, Forest City 9-3, Old Forge 9-3, Lakeland 7-5, Riverside 4-7-1, Mountain View 4-7-1, Blue Ridge 3-8-1, Mountain View 3-8-1, Lackawanna Trail 3-9, Carbondale 1-9-2 and Elk Lake 0-12.
In high school football, Montrose scored its first points of the season, but remained winless through five games when it fell, 41-20, at Western Wayne Friday night.
The Montrose defense allowed just one score in the first half and Western Wayne also scored on a punt return while taking a 13-0 halftime lead.
After the Wildcats opened a 20-0 lead early in the third quarter, the Meteors broke through with a 78-yard touchdown pass from Patrick Parks to Troy Ely.
Western Wayne built a 34-6 lead after three quarters. Montrose then scored on touchdown runs of four yards by William Hewes and 21 yards by Trevor Tompkins in the fourth quarter.
Hewes finished with 133 yards rushing on 27 carries while Tompkins added 90 on 11 carries. Ely caught two passes for 112 yards to contribute to the 329-yard attack.
In high school soccer, both Mountain View teams maintained their division leads while improving to 6-0 in Lackawanna League play.
In professional football, Montrose graduate Chris Snee was out with a hip injury for the New York Giants Sunday. Snee, a four-time Pro Bowler, is coming off surgery for a different hip injury and has been part of the Giants' struggles in the offensive line.
In professional baseball, Binghamton Mets first baseman Allan Dykstra was selected as the Sterling New York Mets Organization Co-Player of the Year. Dykstra, already named team and Eastern League Most Valuable Player, hit 21 home runs and drove in 82 runs.
COLLEGE CORNER
Grant Shelp, a senior from Montrose, is a senior midfielder/defender on the Lock Haven University men’s soccer team.
Shelp appeared in three of the first five games and took one shot for Lock Haven, a Division II team which was off to a 2-3 start, including 1-2 in the Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference.
THE WEEK AHEAD
Susquehanna (2-3) opens Lackawanna Football Conference Division 3 play Saturday at 3:30 p.m. at Holy Cross (0-5).
Montrose (0-1 in the division, 0-5 overall) is home Friday night against Old Forge (4-1).
Our high school football predictions were 7-3 (70.0 percent) last week for a season record of 53-18 (74.6).
This week’s predictions, with home teams in CAPS: Old Forge 41, MONTROSE 0; Susquehanna 38, HOLY CROSS 13; DELAWARE VALLEY 34, North Pocono 9; West Scranton 25, SCRANTON 21; Scranton Prep 33, WALLENPAUPACK 14; Dunmore 31, HONESDALE 14; Mid Valley 21, LAKELAND 10, Western Wayne 27, RIVERSIDE 26; CARBONDALE 23, Lackawanna Trail 13; ABINGTON HEIGHTS 26, Valley View 0.
In girls’ tennis, the District 2 singles tournament is scheduled for Thursday and Friday at Kirby Park in Wilkes-Barre.
The first three rounds are contested Thursday, beginning at 9 a.m. The semifinals and finals scheduled for Friday, beginning at 1 p.m.
The doubles tournament is scheduled to begin Tuesday, Oct. 8.
In high school golf, the District 2 team championships are scheduled for Friday at Fox Hill Country Club.
The District 2 individual championships are set for Monday, Oct. 7 at Elmhurst Country Club.
In professional hockey, the Binghamton Senators open the American Hockey League season at home Saturday night at the Broome County Arena at 7:05 against the Syracuse Crunch.
The Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins open the same night on the road at the Bridgeport Sound Tigers at 7 p.m.
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.
