The Elk Lake cross country teams will be spending the first Saturday of November in their usual location.
Both Elk Lake teams qualified for return trips to Hershey for the Pennsylvania Interscholastic Athletic Association Championships with their performances Wednesday on their home course in the District 2 Championships.
The Montrose girls will join them after taking a roundabout path to qualifying and five other Susquehanna County athletes qualified as individuals.
Elk Lake is the defending state champion in Class A girls. Both Elk Lake teams landed state spots by finishing second in the Class A races where the top two teams and the next 10 individuals earned berths in Hershey.
When Montrose qualified girls for five of the 10 individual spots, it gained the chance to compete as a team as well. In district and state cross country, teams use up to seven runners and take the place finish of the top five to determine their team score. The Lady Meteors can use their five individuals to produce a team score and be part of that competition as well.
Susquehanna is sending three runners to Hershey – Brandon Soden and Justin Acone for the boys’ race and freshman Ivy Christenson for the girls’ race. Forest City’s Tyler Debrino and Mountain View’s Joe Nally also qualified.
Holy Cross swept the top three spots, led by Tess Kearns, to win the Class A girls title over Elk Lake, 26-42.
Montrose was third with 54 points with the help of its five state qualifiers in the top 16 among full teams for scoring purposes and top 18 overall. Christenson gave Susquehanna the only runner in the top 16 of the team race that was not from one of the three state qualifying teams.
Blue Ridge finished fourth of 10 teams with 133 points. Susquehanna was seventh with 171 points. Forest City and Mountain View were among the four schools that had runners competing as individuals, but did not have full teams.
Elk Lake had three freshmen and a sophomore combine with former district champion Elizabeth Trowbridge to create the team score.
Sophomore Katie Bennett was fourth. Freshmen Lexus Hemenway and Justine Johns, Trowbridge and freshman Julie VanEtten finished in succession from 10th through 13th place. Kenzie Jones, Elk Lake’s only other entrant, was 25th.
Allison Lewis and Samantha Bennici were fifth and sixth to lead Montrose. Angela Russell (14th), freshman Paige Dolaway (17th) and Emma Washo (18th) followed to earn the team opportunity.
Christensen was 16th out of 73 runners in the race.
Forest City freshman Jennifer Korty finished two seconds and two positions out of a state trip in 22nd.
Lauren Whitney, Blue Ridge’s top runner, was 23rd.
Susquehanna’s Mikayla Hargett was 26th and Blue Ridge’s other four runners – Casey Purdum, Jessie Purdum, Isabella Cosmello and Lindsey Burdick – finished in the top half of the field between 29th and 35th.
Lakeland used the 1-2 finish of Nate Morgan and Mark Arzie to defeat Elk Lake, 42-74, for the Class A boys title.
Susquehanna had 176 points to place sixth out of 12 teams. Mountain View (198), Forest City (218) and Blue Ridge (239) finished in eighth, ninth and 10th place.
Dalton Sherman and Hunter Bedell finished fifth and eighth out of 85 runners to lead Elk Lake.
Soden was 10th and Debrino 11th.
Dan Bell (13th), Seth Owen (17th) and Brandon Roman (32nd) completed Elk Lake’s team scoring.
The last two state berths came down to a spirited three-way sprint to the finish by three county athletes.
Acone and Nally earned the state spots in a close battle when they finished the 3.1-mile course in 19:07, the same time posted by Blue Ridge’s Patrick Cramer, who just missed.
David Austin of Blue Ridge was 25th.
Other county runners in the top half of the field were: Joe Higby, Mountain View, 30th; Mark Zappe, Susquehanna, 31st; Ty Moon, Elk Lake, 38th; Robert Belcher, Mountain View, 39th; and William Westgate, Forest City, 41st.
The Montrose boys competed in a strong Class AA race that included some of the state’s top teams.
Tunkhannock edged Scranton Prep, 47-55, to keep unbeaten Dallas out of the state meet with 61 points. Montrose wound up last of 14 teams with 343 points.
Dominic DeLuca of Dallas won it 15:53, the day’s best time.
Montrose’s Owen Brewer finished 21st out of 104 entries, one spot out of state qualifying.
Tessa Barrett of Abington Heights and Regan Rome of Dallas won the Class AAA and AA races to lead their teams to titles as well.
The Wallenpaupack team and North Pocono’s Kravitz won in Class AAA boys.
WEEK IN REVIEW
Susquehanna brought itself to the verge of a District 2 Class AA football playoff berth with four straight victories and a lead after three quarters against a Carbondale team that is 8-1 and headed for those same playoffs.
Those hopes seemed to dissolve Saturday when Carbondale put together four touchdowns in the first nine minutes of the fourth quarter to rally for a 41-19 Lackawanna Football Conference Division 3 victory.
A series of obstacles combined to be too much for Susquehanna in the fourth quarter.
Working into a strong wind minus three players who were injured earlier in the game while trapped in a major field position disadvantage, the Sabers were overwhelmed by a variety of Carbondale offensive weapons.
Jesse Jankowski and Jason Martin connected for two of their three touchdown passes and Ricky Jones ran for two of his three scores during the fourth-quarter outburst.
As a result, Susquehanna (5-4) goes into the final week still in fourth place in the race for four district playoff berths, but likely to be overtaken by the winner of the Hanover Area-Nanticoke game unless the Sabers can pull off a huge upset at Old Forge.
“We have a lot of players, but we’re not real deep,” Susquehanna coach Kyle Cook said. “It was tough. A lot of the kids don’t get a lot of reps in practice.
“We put together what we could to try to get something going.”
By the time the game ended, the Sabers were playing without two of their top four rushers, four of their top 11 tacklers and arguably their most important special teams player.
Starting running back James Murnock did not play because of a knee injury.
Linebacker Lewis Esposito, the team’s second-leading tackler, left in the first half with a dislocated shoulder.
Brett Hepler, who scored all three Susquehanna touchdowns in the game, and lineman Evan Aldrich did not play in the fourth quarter. Hepler continued for a while with a shoulder injury suffered earlier in the third quarter but eventually had to leave the game. Aldrich went out with a possible concussion.
Hepler is also the team’s third-leading tackler and had given a boost to the defense with his consistent punting throughout the season.
Carbondale opened the fourth quarter by pulling off its second successful fake punt of the game.
The Chargers quickly got rolling from there, scoring on three of their next four plays.
Every snap of the fourth quarter was taken in Sabers territory, many deep in the Susquehanna end of the field.
Carbondale started its last three scoring possessions from the Susquehanna 5, 37, and 38 after stopping the Sabers and forcing them to punt into a strong wind.
It all started on the special teams with Susquehanna leading, 19-13.
The Chargers went to a pass from punt formation and the Sabers had it defended, only to knock down the intended receiver for a pass interference penalty.
On the next play, Jankowski found Martin with a 28-yard touchdown pass, which combined with the second of five Jarrod Arendt extra points to put the Chargers in front for the first time.
Following a mishandled kickoff, Carbondale forced Susquehanna to punt from the end zone.
Jones returned the punt 21 yards to the 5 and scored from there on the next play for a 27-19 lead with 9:32 left.
The Chargers scored in two plays on the next possession on a 32-yard pass from Jankowski to Martin.
Jones ran 13 yards for the final score.
Hepler had scored touchdowns in each of the first three quarters for the Sabers.
The fullback ran 66 yards on the game’s first play and 67 yards in the final minute of the first half, going straight up the middle each time, before moving to receiver to pull in a 14-yard, fourth-down touchdown pass from Austin White in the third quarter. Each of Hepler’s scores broke a tie.
“I think our guys got caught off guard with not realizing how good the fullback was,” Carbondale coach Larry Gabriel III said. “We talked all week about containing the quarterback and making them give to the fullback all the time.
“I just think maybe we underestimated him a little bit and didn’t realize how quick he was on the first step.”
Hepler’s last touchdown came minutes after absorbing a hit that ultimately caused him to miss the fourth quarter with a shoulder injury.
Jones finished with 145 yards on 18 carries to lead Carbondale. Jankowski was 9-for-15 for 196 yards. Martin caught four passes for 108 yards.
Hepler rushed for 153 yards on eight first-half carries and lost a yard on his only carry of the second half.
The Sabers finished with 240 yards rushing on 39 carries.
Christian Miller led the defense with eight tackles, including sack and another tackle for a loss, and three assists.
Lyle Lawson also had a sack among his three tackles for losses. He finished with five tackles, four assists and a pass rush.
Hepler made six tackles and assisted on six others. Esposito was off to a strong start with three tackles and five assists in the first half.
Curtis Mills made three tackles for losses in Carbondale’s first five plays. He finished with four tackles and six assists.
While Susquehanna was seeing its four-game winning streak end, Lackawanna Trail halted its four-game losing streak with a 34-0 victory over Montrose.
The Meteors were shut out for the sixth time in nine games.
In boys’ soccer, defending state champion Mountain View extended its winning streak to 30 games with a 13-0 rout of Meyers in Friday’s District 2 Class A quarterfinals.
Colby Thomas scored four goals and assisted three assists, Zeb Cross had three goals and four assists and five other Eagles scored at least once in the romp.
Elk Lake shut out Forest City, 1-0, in another quarterfinal Friday.
Mountain View was scheduled to host Wyoming Seminary in Tuesday's semifinals.
In girls’ soccer, Montrose, Forest City and Montrose all won District 2 Class A quarterfinals.
Jenny Molenko had six goals and two assists when Mountain View ripped Wyoming Seminary, 10-0, Wednesday.
Forest City edged Elk Lake, 3-2, Wednesday and Montrose shut out Carbondale, 6-0.
Forest City was scheduled to play at Mountain View and Montrose at Holy Cross in Monday’s semifinals.
In girls’ volleyball, Susquehanna and Blue Ridge finished tied for fourth place out of 10 teams in the Lackawanna League.
The final standings: Dunmore 17-1, Abington Heights 16-2, Western Wayne 15-3, Susquehanna 11-7, Blue Ridge 11-7, Montrose 6-12, Lackawanna Trail 6-12, Mountain View 4-14, Forest City 3-15, Elk Lake 1-17.
Blue Ridge and Susquehanna were scheduled to meet at Dunmore in Tuesday's District 2 Class A semifinals.
In professional hockey, in the first meeting of the season between the two rivals, the Binghamton Senators spoiled the American Hockey League’s best start by defeating the visiting Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins, 4-3, in a shootout Friday night.
The Penguins, who began the season with six straight wins, lost in regulation for the first time when they fell, 2-1, to Norfolk Saturday.
COLLEGE CORNER
Adam Phillips won the 100-meter breaststroke for Rider University Saturday during a 170-126 men’s swimming victory over Lehigh University.
The sophomore from Elk Lake was also part of a second-place relay team.
Phillips was on a winning relay team in a 158-133 loss to the University of Maryland-Baltimore County.
As a freshman, Phillips was the co-winner of Riders Most Improved Swimmer Award. He helped Rider to team title at the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference Championships by finishing fifth in the 100 breaststroke, sixth in the 200 breaststroke and 10th in the 50 freestyle.
Phillips earned four state medals at Elk Lake.
THE WEEK AHEAD
Susquehanna will play for a share of the LFC Division 3 title when it visits defending champion and state-ranked Old Forge Friday night.
The Sabers are 3-1 in the division and 5-4 overall. The Blue Devils are 4-0 and 8-1. A win by Susquehanna would force a three-way tie for the division title with Carbondale, which has already finished 4-1.
Montrose (1-8) closes the regular season in a non-league game at Northwest (7-2).
Our high school football predictions were 10-0 last week, bringing our season record to 88-23 (79.3 percent).
This week’s predictions with home teams in CAPS: OLD FORGE 38, Susquehanna 0 … NORTHWEST 44, Montrose 6 … LACKAWANNA TRAIL 55, Holy Cross 14 … DELAWARE VALLEY 29, Wallenpaupack 12 … Abington Heights 23, SCRANTON 18 … VALLEY VIEW 27, North Pocono 26 … MID VALLEY 19, Honesdale 18 … Dunmore 60, RIVERSIDE 6 … Lakeland 36, WESTERN WAYNE 26 … CARBONDALE 32, Tunkhannock 0 ... SCRANTON PREP 40, West Scranton 6.
In girls' volleyball, the District 2 Class A championship is scheduled for Thursday at 5 p.m. at North Pocono against the Dunmore-MMI Prep winner.
In high school soccer, the District 2 Class A championships will be decided Thursday. Although the site and times had not been determined at presstime, a doubleheader is likely.
Mountain View will host Wyoming Seminary and Elk Lake will play at Holy Cross Wednesday in 3:30 p.m. boys’ semifinals.
In high school cross country, the PIAA Championships are set for Saturday on the Hershey Parkview Course.
The Class A girls will run at 9:30 a.m. The Class A boys will run at 11:45.
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.
