NANTICOKE – Susquehanna used passing games, its own and Nanticoke’s, to rally from 10 points down in the final 16 minutes Friday night while pulling out a 21-17 road victory to open the high school football season.
Brett Hepler returned an interception 52 yards for the game-winning touchdown with 5:54 remaining.
“He burned me last time,” Hepler said. “He wasn’t going to burn me again.”
Nanticoke’s defense held the Susquehanna option game to minus-3 yards rushing in the first half, but the Sabers moved the ball through the air, completing four passes for 78 yards, including two that set up their only touchdown.
“They were shutting our run game down pretty well and they were just playing man coverage on the outside, so we thought we could take advantage of that,” Sabers coach Kyle Cook said. “We dropped a few balls and ran a couple of wrong routes, but overall I think the passing game opened things up.”
The scenario changed in the second half when Susquehanna gained 127 yards rushing but completed just one of eight passes. That completion, however, started a comeback from a 17-7 deficit.
Nanticoke went from a 7-6 halftime deficit to the 10-point lead by scoring twice in less than two minutes midway through the third quarter.
Alec Norton kicked a go-ahead, 37-yard field goal. Damon Beckhorn recovered a fumble three plays later and, two plays after that, Tyler Hanna took an A.J. Hunter pass 67 yards for a touchdown.
The Sabers produced an immediate response with two big third-down conversions.
Austin White took a quarterback keeper 45 yards on third-and-10. White then lofted a third-and-14 pass to the right corner where Austin Darrow got his defender turned around and was able to make a move to the ball to pull in the 20-yard touchdown.
Stephen Jesse made the second of his three extra-point kicks to cut the deficit to 17-14.
Susquehanna ran for two first downs to get inside the Nanticoke 30 before stalling with nine minutes remaining.
The Trojans converted a fourth-down situation from their own end of the field, then ran into third-and-eight.
When Hunter tried to throw an out pattern to the left side, Hepler jumped in front and raced down the sideline with the winning interception return.
Zach Conrad and freshman linebacker Jarred Mills stopped Blake Balderrama after six yards on a fourth-and-nine screen pass and the Sabers ran the final 3:18 off the clock.
Nanticoke controlled the first half with statistical edges of 8-4 in first downs, 130-minus 3 in rushing yards, 130-75 in total offense and 14:51-9:09 in time of possession.
The Trojans scored first on Balderrama’s 37-yard touchdown run with 1:45 left in the first quarter, but special teams made sure Susquehanna took a halftime lead.
Nanticoke missed its extra point and Jesse later connected for the one-point difference.
Hepler pinned Nanticoke at the 14, 15 and 5 on successive second-quarter punts to give the Sabers the field position edge.
The Trojans failed on a fourth-down attempt from their own 48 when Evan Aldrich and Conrad made a tackle for a loss. Then, they got only 21 yards on a third-down quick kick to set up the Sabers at the 25.
White completed consecutive 12-yard passes to Austin Felter and Darrow to move the ball to the 1. After a first-down incompletion, he scored on a quarterback sneak.
White finished with 62 yards rushing on 17 carries while going 5-for-18 passing for 98 yards. Hepler added 30 yards on four carries. Darrow and Felter caught two passes each while Craig Stanley led in receiving yards with 39 on his only catch.
With Nanticoke running 51 times and in possession for 27:25 while the Susquehanna offense struggled at times, the Sabers defense was put to the test.
Conrad, White, Hepler, Aldrich, Mills, Miller and Felter all made frequent contributions.
Conrad had nine tackles and seven assists. White made 11 tackles, including one for a loss, and assisted another. Hepler added to his interception return for a touchdown by also making three tackles and assisting three others.
Aldrich had six tackles, including two for losses, three assists, and a pass rush before leaving the game on a stretcher in the third quarter because of neck pain.
Mills made six tackles, including one for a loss, and assisted on five. Miller made six tackles, including a sack, and assisted on three. Felter had six tackles and two assists.
While Susquehanna went to Luzerne County and beat a Wyoming Valley Conference opponent, Montrose made a similar trip, but was roughed up less than 10 miles away.
Wilkes-Barre Meyers spoiled Lou Cella’s debut as Montrose head coach with a 58-0 rout in which it opened a 50-0 lead with 3:23 remaining in the first half.
Mark Robinson got Meyers off to a 24-0 lead after one quarter by running 25, 3, and 27 yards for touchdowns and adding two-point conversion runs after each touchdown.
Robinson finished with 36 points on five touchdowns, including four rushing. He was finished at halftime after carrying nine times for 168 yards. He ran 60 yards and returned an interception 70 yards for second-quarter touchdowns.
Montrose had a punt blocked on its first possession and Robinson ran 25 yards on the first play for Meyers, which was 3-7 last season.
Billy Hewes carried eight times for 52 yards to lead Montrose, which did not complete a pass.
WEEK IN REVIEW
Scranton/Wilkes-Barre RailRiders leadoff hitter Jose Pirela was selected as the International League all-star second baseman.
With the end of the season approaching, Pirela led the league in hits (159) and runs scored (85) at the time of his selection while ranking second in total bases (231) and fourth in batting average (.308).
Pirela, a 24-year-old from Venezuela, also spent some time at shortstop, first base, all three outfield spots and designated hitter while developing into a potential utility player in the future.
The all-star team was determined by voting among managers, coaches, the media and team representatives.
COLLEGE CORNER
King’s College wide receiver Dan Kempa is a first-team selection on the USA College Football Division III Pre-Season All-American Team.
Kempa, a senior who graduated from Blue Ridge and played his high school football as a quarterback at Susquehanna as part of the cooperative sponsorship between the two schools, set school records at King’s during his junior season.
The 5-foot-11, 190-pounder was a first-team All-MAC selection as a receiver in 2013. He caught 58 passes for 1,057 yards, both single-season records, while leading the team with nine touchdowns scored.
Kempa nearly doubled his production from his first year as a starter in 2012 when he set a school record for receiving yards in a game with 237 against crosstown rival Wilkes and finished the season with 31 catches for 648 yards and four touchdowns.
Going into his senior season, Kempa is well within range of becoming the King’s career leader in receiving. He has 91 catches for 1,714 yards to approach the totals of 117 catches for 1,965 yards established by Julian Walker 2002-05.
Kempa averaged 168.9 all-purpose yards per game last season by also making major contributions as a kick returner.
Quarterback Tyler Hartranft is back to pursue the all-time King’s passing records, which could make Kempa even more dangerous.
During his career at King’s, Kempa also has four carries for 15 yards; 13 receiving touchdowns plus one on a return, along with a field goal and extra point for 88 points; 3,066 all-purpose yards; 59 kickoff returns for a 17-yard average; and 36 punt returns for a 9.3 average; three unassisted tackles, and a blocked kick.
King’s will open the season Saturday in Bethlehem with a 1 p.m. game against host Moravian College. The Monarchs are picked sixth out of 10 teams in a preseason poll of coaches in the highly competitive Middle Atlantic Conference.
THE WEEK AHEAD
Montrose and Susquehanna each play their high school football home openers this weekend.
Montrose faces Carbondale Friday night and Susquehanna plays Wilkes-Barre Meyers Saturday at 1.
Because of the early presstime for the holiday, results of the first weekend of high school football were not available for this edition.
Predictions for the second week with home team in CAPS: Carbondale 28, Montrose 12 … SUSQUEHANNA 20, Meyers 10 … CRESTWOOD 27, Abington Heights 17 … Wyoming Valley West 24, DELAWARE VALLEY 20 … DUNMORE 14, Northwest 13 … GAR 37, Holy Cross 6 … LACKAWANNA TRAIL 21, Riverside 19 …Lake-Lehman 34, MID VALLEY 12 … NORTH POCONO 20, Honesdale 19 … Lakeland 19, OLD FORGE 14 … SCRANTON 30, Hazleton Area 12 … VALLEY VIEW 21, Pittston Area 13 … Dallas 21, WALLENPAUPACK 12 … Tunkhannock 20, WESTERN WAYNE 16 … Scranton Prep 32, WYOMING AREA 12 … West Scranton 23, Coughlin 20.
In professional baseball, the Binghamton Mets and Portland Sea Dogs open the best-of-five Eastern League Eastern Division playoff series.
Barring a major change in the last few days of the season, Binghamton will host the first two games Wednesday and Thursday nights.
SEASON OPENER; METEORS FALL
NANTICOKE – Susquehanna used passing games, its own and Nanticoke’s, to rally from 10 points down in the final 16 minutes Friday night while pulling out a 21-17 road victory to open the high school football season.
Brett Hepler returned an interception 52 yards for the game-winning touchdown with 5:54 remaining.
“He burned me last time,” Hepler said. “He wasn’t going to burn me again.”
Nanticoke’s defense held the Susquehanna option game to minus-3 yards rushing in the first half, but the Sabers moved the ball through the air, completing four passes for 78 yards, including two that set up their only touchdown.
“They were shutting our run game down pretty well and they were just playing man coverage on the outside, so we thought we could take advantage of that,” Sabers coach Kyle Cook said. “We dropped a few balls and ran a couple of wrong routes, but overall I think the passing game opened things up.”
The scenario changed in the second half when Susquehanna gained 127 yards rushing but completed just one of eight passes. That completion, however, started a comeback from a 17-7 deficit.
Nanticoke went from a 7-6 halftime deficit to the 10-point lead by scoring twice in less than two minutes midway through the third quarter.
Alec Norton kicked a go-ahead, 37-yard field goal. Damon Beckhorn recovered a fumble three plays later and, two plays after that, Tyler Hanna took an A.J. Hunter pass 67 yards for a touchdown.
The Sabers produced an immediate response with two big third-down conversions.
Austin White took a quarterback keeper 45 yards on third-and-10. White then lofted a third-and-14 pass to the right corner where Austin Darrow got his defender turned around and was able to make a move to the ball to pull in the 20-yard touchdown.
Stephen Jesse made the second of his three extra-point kicks to cut the deficit to 17-14.
Susquehanna ran for two first downs to get inside the Nanticoke 30 before stalling with nine minutes remaining.
The Trojans converted a fourth-down situation from their own end of the field, then ran into third-and-eight.
When Hunter tried to throw an out pattern to the left side, Hepler jumped in front and raced down the sideline with the winning interception return.
Zach Conrad and freshman linebacker Jarred Mills stopped Blake Balderrama after six yards on a fourth-and-nine screen pass and the Sabers ran the final 3:18 off the clock.
Nanticoke controlled the first half with statistical edges of 8-4 in first downs, 130-minus 3 in rushing yards, 130-75 in total offense and 14:51-9:09 in time of possession.
The Trojans scored first on Balderrama’s 37-yard touchdown run with 1:45 left in the first quarter, but special teams made sure Susquehanna took a halftime lead.
Nanticoke missed its extra point and Jesse later connected for the one-point difference.
Hepler pinned Nanticoke at the 14, 15 and 5 on successive second-quarter punts to give the Sabers the field position edge.
The Trojans failed on a fourth-down attempt from their own 48 when Evan Aldrich and Conrad made a tackle for a loss. Then, they got only 21 yards on a third-down quick kick to set up the Sabers at the 25.
White completed consecutive 12-yard passes to Austin Felter and Darrow to move the ball to the 1. After a first-down incompletion, he scored on a quarterback sneak.
White finished with 62 yards rushing on 17 carries while going 5-for-18 passing for 98 yards. Hepler added 30 yards on four carries. Darrow and Felter caught two passes each while Craig Stanley led in receiving yards with 39 on his only catch.
With Nanticoke running 51 times and in possession for 27:25 while the Susquehanna offense struggled at times, the Sabers defense was put to the test.
Conrad, White, Hepler, Aldrich, Mills, Miller and Felter all made frequent contributions.
Conrad had nine tackles and seven assists. White made 11 tackles, including one for a loss, and assisted another. Hepler added to his interception return for a touchdown by also making three tackles and assisting three others.
Aldrich had six tackles, including two for losses, three assists, and a pass rush before leaving the game on a stretcher in the third quarter because of neck pain.
Mills made six tackles, including one for a loss, and assisted on five. Miller made six tackles, including a sack, and assisted on three. Felter had six tackles and two assists.
While Susquehanna went to Luzerne County and beat a Wyoming Valley Conference opponent, Montrose made a similar trip, but was roughed up less than 10 miles away.
Wilkes-Barre Meyers spoiled Lou Cella’s debut as Montrose head coach with a 58-0 rout in which it opened a 50-0 lead with 3:23 remaining in the first half.
Mark Robinson got Meyers off to a 24-0 lead after one quarter by running 25, 3, and 27 yards for touchdowns and adding two-point conversion runs after each touchdown.
Robinson finished with 36 points on five touchdowns, including four rushing. He was finished at halftime after carrying nine times for 168 yards. He ran 60 yards and returned an interception 70 yards for second-quarter touchdowns.
Montrose had a punt blocked on its first possession and Robinson ran 25 yards on the first play for Meyers, which was 3-7 last season.
Billy Hewes carried eight times for 52 yards to lead Montrose, which did not complete a pass.
WEEK IN REVIEW
Scranton/Wilkes-Barre RailRiders leadoff hitter Jose Pirela was selected as the International League all-star second baseman.
With the end of the season approaching, Pirela led the league in hits (159) and runs scored (85) at the time of his selection while ranking second in total bases (231) and fourth in batting average (.308).
Pirela, a 24-year-old from Venezuela, also spent some time at shortstop, first base, all three outfield spots and designated hitter while developing into a potential utility player in the future.
The all-star team was determined by voting among managers, coaches, the media and team representatives.
COLLEGE CORNER
King’s College wide receiver Dan Kempa is a first-team selection on the USA College Football Division III Pre-Season All-American Team.
Kempa, a senior who graduated from Blue Ridge and played his high school football as a quarterback at Susquehanna as part of the cooperative sponsorship between the two schools, set school records at King’s during his junior season.
The 5-foot-11, 190-pounder was a first-team All-MAC selection as a receiver in 2013. He caught 58 passes for 1,057 yards, both single-season records, while leading the team with nine touchdowns scored.
Kempa nearly doubled his production from his first year as a starter in 2012 when he set a school record for receiving yards in a game with 237 against crosstown rival Wilkes and finished the season with 31 catches for 648 yards and four touchdowns.
Going into his senior season, Kempa is well within range of becoming the King’s career leader in receiving. He has 91 catches for 1,714 yards to approach the totals of 117 catches for 1,965 yards established by Julian Walker 2002-05.
Kempa averaged 168.9 all-purpose yards per game last season by also making major contributions as a kick returner.
Quarterback Tyler Hartranft is back to pursue the all-time King’s passing records, which could make Kempa even more dangerous.
During his career at King’s, Kempa also has four carries for 15 yards; 13 receiving touchdowns plus one on a return, along with a field goal and extra point for 88 points; 3,066 all-purpose yards; 59 kickoff returns for a 17-yard average; and 36 punt returns for a 9.3 average; three unassisted tackles, and a blocked kick.
King’s will open the season Saturday in Bethlehem with a 1 p.m. game against host Moravian College. The Monarchs are picked sixth out of 10 teams in a preseason poll of coaches in the highly competitive Middle Atlantic Conference.
THE WEEK AHEAD
Montrose and Susquehanna each play their high school football home openers this weekend.
Montrose faces Carbondale Friday night and Susquehanna plays Wilkes-Barre Meyers Saturday at 1.
Because of the early presstime for the holiday, results of the first weekend of high school football were not available for this edition.
Predictions for the second week with home team in CAPS: Carbondale 28, Montrose 12 … SUSQUEHANNA 20, Meyers 10 … CRESTWOOD 27, Abington Heights 17 … Wyoming Valley West 24, DELAWARE VALLEY 20 … DUNMORE 14, Northwest 13 … GAR 37, Holy Cross 6 … LACKAWANNA TRAIL 21, Riverside 19 …Lake-Lehman 34, MID VALLEY 12 … NORTH POCONO 20, Honesdale 19 … Lakeland 19, OLD FORGE 14 … SCRANTON 30, Hazleton Area 12 … VALLEY VIEW 21, Pittston Area 13 … Dallas 21, WALLENPAUPACK 12 … Tunkhannock 20, WESTERN WAYNE 16 … Scranton Prep 32, WYOMING AREA 12 … West Scranton 23, Coughlin 20.
In professional baseball, the Binghamton Mets and Portland Sea Dogs open the best-of-five Eastern League Eastern Division playoff series.
Barring a major change in the last few days of the season, Binghamton will host the first two games Wednesday and Thursday nights.
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.
