OLYPHANT – After three seasons under three different coaches, the Susquehanna Sabers are looking forward to their second year under coach Kyle Cook.
Susquehanna made the District 2 Class AA playoffs in Cook’s debut and returns several key players, giving the team a chance to continue its improvement in the upcoming season.
“Realistically, going into last year as a first-year coach, I wasn’t sure what to expect,” Cook said during the Lackawanna Football Conference’s preseason media day earlier this month. “Making the playoffs last year was a big, big bonus.
“We got a little more experience and a taste of what it was like to get there.”
Quarterback Austin White is one of three returning all-stars for the Sabers.
“It’s nice knowing we don’t have to start from scratch again,” White said. “Coming into last year, I didn’t really know how exactly we were going to do things, how practice was going to run, what we were going to do playwise.
“Coming into this year, we know what is going to happen and we can just get to work.”
White was a first-team LFC Division 3 all-star at quarterback, Christian Miller was a first-team choice at defensive end and Brett Hepler was a second-team choice as both a fullback and punter.
“We have a lot coming back on both sides of the ball,” Cook said. “Defensively, the linebacker position is where we need to coach up some kids. And, offensively, if we can get a couple people to step up in the line, we’ll be in good shape.”
The Sabers return their top three and five of their top six rushers.
White carried 157 times for 841 yards and 16 touchdowns. Hepler averaged 8.3 yards while adding 586 yards and four touchdowns. Halfback Austin Felter ran for 393 yards and three touchdowns.
Luke Brinton and Kyle Rivenburgh provide experienced depth.
White would like to help the Sabers develop a more versatile passing game after completing less than 30 percent of their passes for just 376 yards a year ago.
“If we’re going to go far in the playoffs, we need to evolve in the passing game,” said White, who worked on his footwork during summer camps. “We didn’t pass very well last year.”
Austin Darrow is back after leading the team in receiving with seven catches for 105 yards. Craig Stanley also returns at wide receiver.
Stanley said the team was hurting by the time playoffs rolled around last season.
“That’s our main concern, to stay healthy and get stronger toward the end of the year,” he said.
Many of the injury issues were in the offensive line.
Miller and Evan Aldrich return as guards.
C.J. Mallery started at center at times during some of the injury problems and could help out elsewhere in the offensive line. Michael Vaccaro also has some experience in the line.
Zach Conrad and Chris Graf are working at the center position.
The defense looks strong in the secondary and up front, but needs to rebuild at linebacker where it lost first-team, all-star Curtis Mills and Lewis Esposito, two of the team’s top three in total tackles last season.
Miller returns to lead the defense after recording 12 sacks and seven other tackles for losses.
Mallery is back at nose guard and Aldrich also saw a lot of playing time up front.
Conrad started at linebacker late in the season and played well.
Wes Richardson, who appeared promising before missing last season with a knee injury, and sophomore Jared Mills, who played well on the junior high team, are other possibilities at linebacker.
Hepler and White rank 1-2 in total tackles among returning players. Hepler is at free safety and White was at outside linebacker or strong safety depending on the defensive alignment.
Stanley returns at cornerback.
The specialists are set with Hepler at punter and Steve Jesse at kicker.
Mid Valley has replaced Montrose as a Division 3 rival of the Sabers, but Susquehanna and Montrose still meet in a non-league game.
The schedule opens Aug. 29 at Nanticoke, followed by home games Sept. 6 vs. Meyers and Sept. 12 against Holy Cross in the team’s annual Friday night home game under portable lights.
Following the division opener with Holy Cross, the Sabers play three straight on the road, going to state small school power Dunmore Sept. 19, then playing the Battle of the Bluestone at Montrose Sept. 26 and another non-league game at Holy Redeemer Oct. 4.
The schedule concludes with the other four divisional games: Oct. 11 vs. Mid Valley, Oct. 18 vs. Lackawanna Trail, Oct. 24 at Carbondale and Nov. 1 against defending champion Old Forge.
WEEK IN REVIEW
WILLIAMSPORT – Pennsylvania had its own representative at the Little League World Series for just the third time in 13 years, bringing out combined crowds of more than 50,000 for two wins on the opening weekend.
Mo’ne Davis, one of two girls appearing at this year’s World Series, and the Taney Youth Baseball Assocation from Philadelphia did not disappoint.
Davis threw a two-hit shutout with eight strikeouts and no walks while becoming the first female winning pitcher ever at the series in a 4-0 victory over South Nashville before 19,733 Friday afternoon.
Jared Sprague-Lott delivered a one-out, three-run homer in the top of the first, giving Davis a lead before she ever took the mound to try to repeat the shutout she threw in the Mid-Atlantic Region championship game.
“Going into the game I was nervous,” Davis said. “After the home run, the nerves went away and I just went out there and had fun.”
Davis retired the first six batters she faced. She finished even stronger, putting away the last nine, including the last four by strikeout.
Governor Tom Corbett was among those watching and approving of Davis’ pitching.
“I wouldn’t want to have to hit her,” Corbett said of Davis, who had a smooth delivery, excellent control, an effective curveball and a fastball that occasionally reached 70 miles per hour.
With 32,148 watching Sunday night, Taney scored four runs in the last two at-bats to pull out a 7-6 victory over Pearland East from Texas.
Zion Spearman tripled in the tying run then scored the winner with two outs in the bottom of the sixth and final inning.
In high school golf, Montrose’s Austin Smith won a playoff on the first extra hole to take the low junior title at the Jackman Memorial Golf Tournament, the first event of the 2014-15 high school sports season.
Smith shot 3-over-par at Scranton Municipal Golf Course Friday to finish fifth overall in the field made up of players from 19 Lackawanna League teams.
The Meteors finished 13th out of the 16 full teams in the field. Blue Ridge finished 16th in the tournament, which was won by Holy Cross.
Tyler Cole shot an 85 for Elk Lake, which did not have a full team.
THE WEEK AHEAD
Holy Cross is at Montrose Thursday in a meeting of two of the top three teams in last year’s Lackawanna League Class AA Division golf standings.
Holy Cross, which also won the 2012 title, finished tied for first with Dunmore in 2013. Montrose finished in third place in the 13-team division the past two seasons.
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.
