Lou Cella has been hired as the new head football coach at Montrose.

Cella takes over for Russell Canevari, who coached the Meteors to a 1-9 record during the 2013 season.

The former Old Forge lineman is expected to add a triple option approach at Montrose. Cella trains and advises coaches of other programs in installing the option attack and other principals.

This will be the third head coaching assignment for Cella, each with programs that were going through significant struggles.

Cella was 2-18 as coach at Bishop O’Reilly in 2003 and 2004. He was 0-10 at Nanticoke in 2008, then left the program in 2009 because of an illness.

Cella also has experience as a coach and advisor with the successful Lackawanna College junior college football program.

WEEK IN REVIEW

The Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins regained the American Hockey League East Division lead Saturday night and clinched a playoff berth with a 2-1 win over the visiting Binghamton Senators.

The Penguins and Senators went into the game tied for the division lead.

Wilkes-Barre/Scranton is headed to the playoffs for the 12th straight year, tied for the longest active streak in the AHL with the Milwaukee Admirals.

Carter Rowney’s unassisted goal with 46 seconds left in the second period tied the game. Scott Harrington then scored the winner at 11:46 of the third period.

In professional baseball, the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre RailRiders defeated the Syracuse Chiefs, 7-2, Thursday night in their International League home opener.

John Ryan Murphy had two hits, including an RBI single in the four-run sixth inning, to lead the RailRiders offense.

Danny Burawa struck out four in two scoreless innings to take the win in relief.

In high school track, Montrose and Blue Ridge finished the week at 2-0 in both boys’ and girls’ competition in Division 4 of the Lackawanna Track Conference.

In softball, Mountain View is 2-0 to lead Division 4 of the Lackawanna League. Montrose is 1-0.

In baseball, Montrose is 1-0 and behind only Lackawanna Trail (3-0) in Lackawanna League Division 4 play.

In boys’ volleyball, Mountain View is 5-1, one match behind unbeaten Western Wayne in the Lackawanna League standings.

COLLEGE CORNER

Gabrielle Wolfe, a junior from Blue Ridge, is the top pitcher and hitter on the Penn State-Harrisburg softball team.

Wolfe is 3-7 with a 4.35 earned run average. She leads the team in pitching wins and in strikeouts, with 30.

At the plate, Wolfe ranks first on the team in doubles (13) and RBI (19), tied for first in home runs (three), and second in batting average (.378) and runs (15).

Penn State-Harrisburg is 6-16.

Last season, Wolfe hit four homers and scored 27 runs in 40 games. She struck out 110 and had a 3.76 ERA.

THE WEEK AHEAD

The AHL regular season ends this weekend and the battle between the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins and Binghamton Senators could for the East Division title could go right to the final day.

The teams meet at the Broome County Arena in Binghamton Friday night.

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.

“HAPPY” HARVICK TWO-STEPS TO DARLINGTON WIN

Happy Kevin Harvick wins at Darlington

DARLINGTON, S.C.--Kevin Harvick put on a dominating performance Saturday night in winning Darlington’s Sprint Cup race, which made him the first two-time winner this season. But it required two green-white-checkered restarts before he claimed the victory.

Harvick led 238 laps of the 374-lap race, but on the first g-w-c restart, he found himself in the fifth position, due to a four-tire pit stop.

“We had a fast car and all we had to do was keep our heads down and dig all night,” said Harvick. “We had four fresh tires, and I knew the restarts would favor us, because they only had two.

“We were able to hang on there at the end and I knew I had that high line – I hadn’t showed it to them all night on the restarts and I wanted to save it until the very end. I kind of learned that last night as we were in the Nationwide race. It was a good tool in your tool bag to have there at the end.”

Dale Earnhardt Jr. had a fast car, but due to only two new tires on the last two restarts, his car was no match for Harvick’s.

“It's a little disappointing to come that close because I know I don't really run that well here and the opportunities to win are going to be very few compared to other tracks,” said Earnhardt. “It hurts a little bit to come that close because we worked so hard to try to win races. Running second is great but nobody is going to really remember that. But we're proud of it.

“Sometimes if I admittedly say this isn't my best track, it's easy to sort of back off, but those guys really push the pedal and give me everything I can to give me the best chance to finish as best I can. They did that tonight. That was a great example of that.”

Third-place finisher Jimmie Johnson, who started 26th is still winless after eight races.

“Yeah, just very happy to finish there in the top three,” Johnson said. “I thought we had a shot at a win. I think if things stayed green after our last pit stop, we had a good chance at it, good shot at it. I'm happy with Chad's decision to go with two, and there were enough cars that took two that it gave us a little bit of a cushion, maybe enough of a cushion to make it four or five laps there.”

Matt Kenseth was fourth, while Greg Biffle was fifth, and Kyle Busch was sixth.

Jeff Gordon, who finished seventh took the points lead for the first time since 2009.

“I thought we were a little bit better than him (Kevin Harvick) on certain runs,” said Gordon. “But there towards the end, we kind of started fading. I got into the wall a little bit.

“From there, our night went downhill. We just made some mistakes and got behind. We were the last car on two tires and we just got ate up on those restarts. But…It’s not bad to come home seventh. I thought it was going to be worse than that.”

Rookie Kyle Larson was eighth, followed by Tony Stewart, and Ryan Newman.

Top-16 leaders after 8 of 36: 1. Gordon-297, 2. Kenseth-296, 3. Edwards-278, 4. Earnhardt-271, 5. Johnson-270, 6. Kyle Busch-269, 7. Keselowski-246, 8. Logano-245, 9. Newman-236, 10. A. Dillon-235, 11. Biffle-227, 12. Stewart-224, 13. Vickers-224, 14. Larson-223, 15. Hamlin-223, 16. Bowyer-219. Note: NASCAR has said there will be at least 16 drivers in this year’s Chase.

ELLIOTT GETS SECOND NATIONWIDE WIN

For the second time in two weeks, young Chase Elliott stole the show as he won Friday night’s Nationwide race at Darlington for his second consecutive victory.

Elliott led three times for 52 laps of the 147-lap race, but had his work cut out for him as the race neared its completion. There was a caution with only five laps remaining. Most of the leaders pitted, and when the green flag was given indicating two laps, he was fifth.

Elliott Sadler was the leader, but he was unable to hold off the hard-charging 18-year-old from Dawsonville, Georgia.

The JR Motorsports driver worked his way through traffic and finally passed Sadler, who seemed to get loose coming off Turn 2 on the final lap.

“It was just crazy,” Elliott said. I didn't know what to expect starting that far back. I knew the guys on two tires were going to be a little slower than those on four. It happened to work out, and I was able to move through the traffic.

“I watched Elliott go into a couple of the corners, and I knew that if I caught him, I would have to pass on the outside. He got a little loose in two and gave me the outside, and that's where I wanted to be anyway.”

It was Elliott’s second straight win after winning at Texas last week. He’s also the youngest driver to win two Nationwide races in one season, at 18 years, 4 months, 14 days, and the youngest to win at Darlington.

Elliott Sadler, who finished second only took two tires during the last pit stop.

“It was a great call,” Sadler said. “Two tires were the way to go. It gave us the track position we needed. My guys did what they do best and got me out of the pits. We just got very loose there in one and two and just tried to catch the car. Chase did a good job getting on the outside.”

Matt Kenseth was third, followed by Kyle Busch, Joey Logano, Kyle Larson, Kevin Harvick, Regan Smith, Trevor Bayne, and Ty Dillon.

Top-10 leaders after 7 of 33: 1. Chase Elliott-271, 2. Smith-258, 3. Sadler-251, 4. T. Dillon-248, 5. Bayne-241, 6. Scott-225, 7. Gaughan-215, 8. Kwasniewski-200, 9. Buescher-195, 10. Reed-172.

PETTY ADJUSTING TO LIFE WITHOUT WIFE.

Richard Petty was not at Darlington this past week.

He was at home mourning the death of his wife instead of his familiar spot at the racetrack. Lynda Petty died last month after battling cancer for several years. She was 72.

“He's doing pretty good,” said son Kyle. “He's used to going to the racetracks and being at the racetracks alone, but he's not used to being at home and being alone. So I've stayed with him some, and my sisters have stayed some. It's just going to take time. They were together 57 years and even though he spent 50 of those 57 years on the road, according to him, at race tracks, it's been a lot harder and a lot tougher (than he thought).

"My mother had been really sick for almost five years, so she fought pretty hard.”

Petty has said that he will return to the track, sometime after Easter.

Weekend Racing: NASCAR will not hold any races next weekend, because of the Easter Holiday. The next racing weekend will be April 25th and 26th at Richmond, featuring the Sprint Cup and Nationwide teams.

Racing Trivia Question: Where is Jamie McMurray’s hometown?

Last Week’s Question: How many Grand National championships did Rex White win? Answer. Only one in 1960.

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