PECKVILLE – The high school football season got off to its unofficial start Wednesday night with the playing of the 80th annual Dream Game.
Susquehanna’s Curtis Mills played for the City in a 14-7 loss to the County before 7,467 at Henzes Memorial Stadium in the Scranton Lions Club-sponsored all-star game for recent graduates of Lackawanna Football Conference programs.
Mills came off the bench as a linebacker in the game, which was scoreless at halftime.
The County used dominant line play on both sides of the ball to produce the victory behind short touchdown runs from Quinn Karam of Abington Heights in the third quarter and Jake Manetti of Old Forge in the fourth quarter.
The County, coached by Mike Schuback, who led Old Forge for the 2013 Class A state championship game, racked up 260 yards rushing while holding the City to minus-8. The City had minus-30 rushing yards in the second half.
After the County forced the City to punt from its end zone to start the second half, Karam carried on four straight plays to cover 27 yards, including the 3-yard touchdown with 8:03 left in the third quarter.
The City managed to rally for a tie in the fourth quarter after Scranton Prep’s Kevin Bannon intercepted a pass in the end zone to keep the County from breaking the game open.
The City then produced the longest play of the night to start the ensuing possession. Brandon Kujawski found Dunmore teammate Josh Zilla with a short pass. Zilla flipped to Scranton Prep’s Pat Marino on a perfectly executive hook-and-lateral that went for 45 yards.
Kujawski and Zilla connected again on a 26-yard pass for the tying touchdown with 9:39 left.
The County came back to go 73 yards on 12 straight runs. Manetti’s quarterback sneak on fourth-and-goal from about a foot away barely got him across the goal line for the winning score with 3:14 left.
The City, coached by Dunmore’s Jack Henzes, featured players from Susquehanna, Delaware Valley, Dunmore, Holy Cross, North Pocono, Scranton, Scranton Prep, Wallenpaupack and West Scranton. Montrose’s Brenton Warner was selected for the City roster but did not participate.
The County drew players from Abington Heights, Carbondale, Honesdale, Lackawanna Trail, Lakeland, Mid Valley, Old Forge, Riverside, Valley View and Western Wayne.
The game sight preservation projects.
WEEK IN REVIEW
The Lehigh Valley United 95s made it to the national championship game before losing 3-0 to Santa Barbara FC White in the Under-18 Boys final at the U.S. Youth Soccer National Championships July 27 in Germantown, Md.
Mountain View graduate Colby Thomas plays on Lehigh Valley United and his father, Mountain View coach Roger Thomas, is an assistant coach.
Lehigh Valley reached the final with a 2-0 win over Santa Clara Sporting. The United 95s made it to nationals four of their last five years by winning qualifying events to be one of the either four teams or eight teams to advance in the age group each season.
In professional baseball, Scranton/Wilkes-Barre RailRiders pitcher Bryan Mitchell was named International League Pitcher of the Week for the period ending July 21-27.
Mitchell posted his first two Class AAA wins while posting 12 scoreless innings. He held Pawtucket to three hits without walking a batter in seven innings to end the Red Sox franchise-record winning streak at seven games.
TOM ROBINSON writes a weekly local sports column for the Susquehanna County Transcript. He can be reached online at RobbyTR@aol.com.
EARNHARDT WINS AT POCONO
Dale Earnhardt Jr. wins at Pocono
POCONO, Penn.—Dale Earnhardt Jr. saved the best for last on the way to victory in Sunday’s Cup race.
Earnhardt never led a lap until late in the 160-lap race. He passed Greg Biffle after a restart on lap 146 to take the lead for the first time. There were two more cautions, but each time he was able to stay out front.
The last restart came on lap 156. Kevin Harvick was lined up inside Earnhardt’s No. 88. By the time the leaders reached turn-1, Earnhardt was out front. Even though Harvick made a race of it, all he could do was watch as Earnhardt’s car crossed the finish line 0.24-seconds ahead of him.
“It was hard holding Kevin off,” said Earnhardt. “He was catching me in turns 1 and 2, and I had to overdrive the car. We had a fast car, but the credit goes to Steve (Steve Letarte crew chief). His strategy was perfect.”
The win was his third of the season, and assures him a spot in this year’s Chase.
“I almost wrecked my car trying to catch Junior,” said Harvick. “I made a lot of mistakes, but there at the end, he was too fast.”
Joey Logano was third, while Clint Bowyer was fourth, and Greg Biffle was fifth.
Jeff Gordon, who finished sixth, led the most laps, but saw another possible victory elude him near the end.
“We had an awesome car but we didn’t have the track position we needed near the end,” said Gordon. “We might not have won, but my confidence is sky high. I can’t wait to get to the next race.”
Rounding out the top-10 were: Jamie McMurray, Ryan Newman, Denny Hamlin, and Kasey Kahne.
Polesitter Kyle Larson came home 11th.
There was a huge pileup of cars during lap 117. It appeared to begin after Denny Hamlin got squirrelly, and Tony Stewart had to swerve in order to miss him.
“It looked like the 11-car got loose and Brian Vickers went up,” said Paul Menard, one of the drivers involved. “After that it turned into a hell of a mess.”
Other drivers that were caught up in it included: Matt Kenseth, Aric Almirola, Martin Truex, Brad Keselowski, A J Allmendinger, and Alex Bowman.
Jimmie Johnson hit the outside wall twice; once during lap 10, and again on lap 111. He did not finish the race.
Kyle Busch lost an engine and wound up 42nd.
Top-10 Chase leaders after 21 of 36: 1. Gordon-757, 2. Earnhardt-740, 3. Keselowski-687, 4. Kenseth-668, 5. Newman-642, 6. Johnson-633, 7. Logano-633, 8. Edwards-618, 9. Bowyer-617, 10. Kyle Busch-611.
KESELOWSKI RUNS AWAY AT IOWA
Brad Keselowski led 142 laps in winning the 250-lap Nationwide race at Newton, Iowa.
Michael McDowell was second, followed by Trevor Bayne, Sam Hornish, Ty Dillon, Regan Smith, Brian Scott, Chase Elliott, Dylan Kwasniewski, and Elliott Sadler.
Top-10 leaders after 20 of 33: 1. Elliott-714, 2. Smith-712, 3. Sadler-702, 4. T. Dillon-702, 5. Bayne-673, 6. Scott-673, 7. C. Buescher-586, 8. Gaughan-584, 9. Reed-538, 10. J. Buescher-533.
AUSTIN DILLON TAKES POCONO TRUCK RACE
Austin Dillon, who led three times for 23 laps in Saturday’s truck race at Pocono Raceway pulled away on the green-white-checkered restart to win his first Truck Series race of the year.
“This was a pretty cool win,” said Dillon. “The team did a great job. We had a good truck and I gave it my best. It all came together near the end, and this win just showed how good we were.”
Dillon was running first, with fellow Cup driver Clint Bowyer in second on the final restart. Dillon got a good jump on the field and went on to a 2.125-second victory over runner-up Johnny Sauter, who did not lead any laps.
The guys had a lot of confidence, but I didn’t,” said Sauter. “The turns here have always been a problem for me. We were shuffled back and forth throughout the race, until we finally got in clean air near the end.”
Joey Coulter was third, followed by Clint Bowyer, Ryan Blaney, Erik Jones, Ron Hornaday, Darrell Wallace Jr., Justin Lofton, and Joe Nemechek.
Top-10 leaders after 11 of 22; 1. Blaney-408, 2. Sauter-401, 3. Crafton-396, 4. Hornaday-388, 5. Wallace Jr.-377, 6. Quiroga-365, 7. Kennedy-364, 8. Peters-359, 9. Coulter-353, 10. Burton-324.
2015 CREW CHIEF NAMED FOR EARNHARDT
Crew chief Greg Ives will rejoin Hendrick Motorsports following the 2014 NASCAR season to lead the No. 88 Sprint Cup Series team of driver Dale Earnhardt Jr.
Ives, 34, was race engineer for Jimmie Johnson's historic run of five consecutive Sprint Cup championships (2006-2010) with the No. 48 Hendrick Motorsports team. He will work alongside Johnson's crew chief, Chad Knaus, in the shop shared by the #48 and 88 Chevy SS teams.
“Greg was our number-one choice,” said Rick Hendrick. “This is a talented guy who already has a terrific rapport with Dale Jr. and is a fit with the organization. He and Chad had a lot of success together, and all of our crew chiefs think the world of him and what he's accomplished. Greg's proven that he can win races, and he has all the tools to do big things.”
MARK MARTIN RETURNS TO ROUSH
Roush Fenway Racing announces that legendary NASCAR driver Mark Martin is returning to the race team where he drove for almost 20 years - this time as the team’s driver development coach. Martin was the first driver hired by team owner Jack Roush when he founded his NASCAR operation in 1988.
Martin piloted the Roush Fenway No. 6 Ford from 1988 until 2006. During that time he accumulated 35 NSCS victories. At the end of his tenure at Roush Fenway he held a record five prestigious IROC (International Race of Champions) Championships and a then record 47 NASCAR Nationwide Series wins. For his career Martin posted 96 career NASCAR victories.
“I’m excited to return to Roush Fenway Racing, as it feels like I’m going home to where I belong,” said Martin. “I was fortunate to help build this team from the beginning and it’s very humbling to be a part of Jack’s team again. When Jack first hired me in 1988 we didn’t talk about salary or benefits or perks, we talked about testing, tires and putting the right personnel into place to win on the track. That commitment is what stood out to me then and it’s still what stands out to me today.”
Martin said his new role will be strictly as a coach, not that of a driver.
Weekend Racing: The Cup and Nationwide teams are at the 2.45-mile, 11-turn Watkins Glen road course. The trucks have the week off.
Sat., Aug. 9, Nationwide Series race 21 of 33; Starting time: 2 pm ET; TV: ABC.
Sun., Aug. 10, Sprint Cup race 22 of 36; Starting time: 12 noon ET; TV: ESPN.
Racing Trivia Question: Who won the 2013 race at Watkins Glen?
Last Week’s Question: When was the first NASCAR race held at Pocono? The year was 1974, and the race was won by Richard Petty.
You may contact the Racing Reporter at: hodges@race500.com.
