The Susquehanna Sabers struggled to find offensive consistency for the second straight week and this time were unable to come up with the one big defensive play needed to pull out a victory.

Wilkes-Barre Meyers used touchdowns of 90 and 75 yards to come up with a 19-14 road victory in the first meeting between the two schools.

Susquehanna managed just six first downs and 35 yards rushing combined in the first halves of their first two games while splitting with Wyoming Valley Conference opponents.

The Sabers were unable to get their option game moving as quarterback Austin White was held to negative rushing yards in the first half for the second consecutive week. The only offense came from one brief series of consecutive power running plays and a handful of successful counters in the second half.

“Probably a lot of it is going to have to be figured out on film,” said Susquehanna coach Kyle Cook. “These are plays we practice all week.”

Cook was uncertain whether to point to missed assignments in the line, missed holes by the backs or a combination of the two.

The defense got off to an outstanding start and yielded just two first downs while helping the Sabers to their second straight 7-6 halftime lead.

Meyers was still at negative yardage total offense until Josh Schiowitz got behind the defense on a third-and-seven play with 7:38 left in the half to pull in a 90-yard touchdown pass from Zahir Dunell.

“We shot ourselves in the foot,” Cook said. “We had a big play, then we fumbled.

“And, we had a blown coverage on third down.”

Dunell led the way for Meyers. He carried 20 times for 163 yards, including a 75-yard touchdown run down the left sideline with 11:03 left for a 19-7 lead. He also hit three of five passes for 112 yards.

After controlling play in the first half, the Susquehanna defense gave up a 14-play, 71-yard drive to begin the second half and appeared to wear down some against a ball-control Meyers attack in hot, humid conditions.

Meyers converted three third-down situations before Mark Robinson got just enough to produce the touchdown from the 1 on fourth-and-goal. The nine-minute drive to open the second half put the Mohawks ahead to stay.

The Sabers stayed within range of their second straight comeback victory in part because Christian Miller stopped a pair of two-point conversions, one with a tackle for no gain and another with a 12-yard sack.

After rallying from 10 down in the final 16 minutes of a 21-17 opening victory over Nanticoke, the Sabers tried to produce a repeat.

They responded to Dunell’s touchdown run with the best drive of the game, moving 69 yards in eight plays, picking up first downs on three straight plays at one point. White carried five times for 34 yards, including a 1-yard touchdown, in the drive.

Nolan Hausser ran 13 yards and Austin Felter went 22 on counters on consecutive plays in the middle of the drive.

Susquehanna forced a punt which traveled just two yards, taking over at the Meyers 46 with five minutes left. Two shots at the winning score, however, were unsuccessful.

Felter ran nine yards on the first play after the short punt, but Robinson made the hit for Meyers, forcing a fumble that Tyler Patronick recovered.

Zach Conrad got help from Brett Hepler for a fourth-down stop with 1:14 left to give the Sabers one more shot from their 18.

White ran 22 yards and a late hit by Meyers added 15 more to put the Sabers at the Mohawks 45 after just one play. White’s only completion in 11 attempts, pulled in by Hausser, picked up five more.

Three straight incompletions ended the threat with 30.1 seconds left.

Susquehanna took the early lead by what is becoming a common method in Cook’s two years as coach. They gained a field position edge through special teams, particularly the play of Brett Hepler.

Hepler, who had three punts of at least 50 yards in the game, returned a Meyers punt 15 yards to the Mohawks 27.

Hausser’s 20-yard run set up a 5-yard touchdown by Hepler. Steve Jesse added the first of his two extra points with 2:47 left in the first quarter.

Meyers finished with statistical advantages of 10-7 in first downs, 223-138 in rushing yards, 112-5 in passing yards and 335-143 in total offense.

The Mohawks gained 165 yards on their two long touchdowns and 170 total on their other 51 plays.

Conrad led the defense with 11 tackles and six assists. He had three tackles for losses, including an eight-yard sack.

Miller, White, Hepler and Jared Mills also were in on at least 10 tackles each.

Miller made nine tackles, including two for losses, and assisted on one. White had six tackles, including three for losses, and five assists. Hepler and Mills each finished with six tackles and four assists.

WEEK IN REVIEW

BINGHAMTON, N.Y. – The Binghamton Mets and Portland Sea Dogs battled to a fifth and deciding game in the Eastern League Eastern Division playoff series before the Mets reached the league championship series with Sunday’s 8-5 victory.

Darrell Ceciliani and Brandon Nimmo helped the Mets win the final two games.

Ceciliani had a three-run double in the six-run fourth inning that pave the way to Sunday’s victory. He had four hits and six RBI in the last two games.

Nimmo had three hits in each of the last two games.

Binghamton jumped ahead in the series Wednesday at home by scoring the game’s last seven runs to rally for an 8-5 victory. T.J. Rivera ended the game with a three-run homer to finish a 4-for-5 effort in which he drove in five runs and scored three.

Portland tied the series before heading home when it homered four times in the first five innings, including two by Stefan Welch, in a 7-0 romp Thursday at NYSEG Stadium.

The Sea Dogs took the series lead Friday when Eduardo Rodriguez held the Mets hitless for the first five innings of a 6-3 victory.

Binghamton forced the fifth game by scoring seven runs in the sixth inning of Saturday’s 11-4 victory.

The Scranton/Wilkes-Barre RailRiders missed the International League playoffs for the second straight season and lost their IronRail Trophy series to the rival Lehigh Valley IronPigs.

The RailRiders finished fifth in the six-team IL North with a 68-76 record, placing ahead of only the IronPigs.

Lehigh Valley won 10 of its 16 games between the two teams.

Montrose graduate Rich Thompson had his professional career, which included two stops in the Major Leagues, end in 2013.

The Lackawanna League has a new Major Leaguer this year with the September call-up of Abington Heights graduate Cory Spangenberg to the San Diego Padres.

Spangenberg started with a bang, going 1-for-4, driving in two runs and making two outstanding defensive plays at third base for the Padres Sept. 1 in a 3-1 win over the Arizona Diamondbacks.

The next day, Spangenberg hit a game-winning, pinch-hit home run on the first pitch he saw in the bottom of the ninth.

By the time his first week in the big leagues ended, Spangenberg hit another pinch hit home run and was 5-for-14 (.353) with five RBI. Spangenberg led off for the first time Sunday and picked up his first career stolen base.

Spangenberg led Abington Heights to the 2009 state Class AAA title as a shortstop and relief pitcher. He played primarily at second base in the minor leagues and made one start there along with three at third base in his first week.

In high school football, Carbondale defeated host Montrose, 19-6, Friday night.

Patrick Parks scored Montrose’s first touchdown of the season for a 6-6 tie early in the second quarter.

In high school cross country, Elk Lake opened the season Wednesday by going 3-0 in a boys’ cluster meet and 2-0 in a girls’ cluster meet at Montrose.

The Warriors beat Honesdale and Western Wayne in both and also had a girls’ win over Forest City.

In high school golf, Forest City improved to 6-0 in the Lackawanna League Class AA Division, behind only Holy Cross (8-0).

A LOOK BACK

Emma Washo from Montrose finished fifth out of 195 runners in the varsity girls’ race of the season-opening Cliff Robbins Invitational cross country meet August 30 in Dallas.

Washo finished the 3.1-mile course in 20:41.

Forest City’s Jennifer Korty was 12th in 21:01.

Erin Feeney of Scranton Prep won the individual title and led the Classics to the team championship.

Montrose finished 17th out of 20 teams. Forest City did not have enough runners for a team score.

Sophomore Owen Brewer from Montrose was 11th of 261 in the boys’ race in 17:31.

Lake-Lehman’s Dominic Hockenbury, the reigning state Class AA 3200-meter run champion in track season, set a meet record while winning in 15:51.

Scranton Prep won the team title. Montrose placed 10th and Forest City 20th out of 25 teams.

In high school football, Susquehanna and Montrose each traveled to Luzerne County to face Wyoming Valley Conference teams August 29 in season openers that were not available for last week’s editions because of holiday deadlines.

The Sabers and Meteors came away with much different results.

Susquehanna rallied from 10 points down in the final 16 minutes to pull out a 21-17 win over the same Nanticoke team that it edged for the final District 2 Class AA playoff spot last season.

Montrose was never in its game in Lou Cella’s debut as coach of the Meteors. Montrose fell behind by 50 points in the first 21 minutes on the way to a 58-0 loss to Wilkes-Barre Meyers, a team that went just 3-7 last season.

Hepler returned an interception 52 yards for Susquehanna's winning touchdown with 5:54 left and White ran for one touchdown and threw to Austin Darrow for the other.

Conrad led the defense with nine tackles and seven assists. He made the tackle that stopped Nanticoke short on fourth down on its last possession.

COLLEGE CORNER

Colby Thomas played 59 minutes in two games on the first weekend of his college men’s soccer career when Messiah College opened defense of its NCAA Division III title as the nation’s top-ranked team.

Thomas, the reigning Susquehanna County Transcript Athlete of the Year, had two shots in each game as Messiah defeated College of New Jersey, 2-1, and Rowan University, 3-0.

Thomas led Mountain View to the last two Pennsylvania Interscholastic Athletic Association Class AA state finals, including a state title in 2012.

Messiah has won 10 national titles, including the last two.

THE WEEK AHEAD

Susquehanna (1-1) will open the Lackawanna Football Conference Division 3 schedule with its only night game of the season, playing Friday night under portable lights at

Montrose (0-2) is at Lackawanna Trail (2-0) in a non-league game.

Our high school football predictions were 12-3 (80.0 percent) on the opening weekend and 10-6 (62.5) on the second week for a total of 22-9 (71.0).

Predictions for this week’s games, with home teams in CAPS: SUSQUEHANNA 44, Holy Cross 0 … LACKAWANNA TRAIL 37, Montrose 0 … SCRANTON 19, Wallenpaupack 18 … Delaware Valley 49, HAZLETON AREA 20 … West Scranton 10, DUNMORE 3 … North Pocono 22, WALLENPAUPACK 12 … LAKELAND 16, Valley View 3 … Scranton Prep 49, TUNKHANNOCK 8 … WESTERN WAYNE 32, Northwest 15 … Honesdale 43, MID VALLEY 12 … Meyers 26, RIVERSIDE 17 … GAR 26, CARBONDALE 3 … Hanover Area 27, OLD FORGE 20 … ABINGTON HEIGHTS 31, Williamsport 12.

The Wallenpaupack-Scranton game opens the Division 1 schedule.

Our predicted order of finish for the LFC Division 1: Scranton Prep, Delaware Valley, West Scranton, Abington Heights, Scranton, Wallenpaupack, North Pocono, Valley View.

The predicted finish for LFC Division 3: Susquehanna, Old Forge, Lackawanna Trail, Mid Valley, Carbondale, Holy Cross.

The Lackawanna League qualifier for the District 2 Girls’ Golf Championships will be held Thursday, beginning at 8:30 in the morning at Scranton Municipal Golf Course.

TOM ROBINSON writes a weekly local sports column for the Susquehanna County Transcript. He can be reached online at RobbyTR@aol.com.

KESELOWSKI WINS RACE, CHASE FIELD IS SET

Brad Keselowski who won his fourth Cup race of the season at Richmond

RICHMOND, Vir.—Brad Keselowski won Saturday night’s Sprint Cup race while Ryan Newman claimed the 16th and final Chase spot.

Keselowski led 383 laps of the 400-lap race, the most ever for a Richmond race, while the win was the 400th for Penske Racing.

“What a night,” said Keselowski, who started on the pole. “I couldn’t ask for better luck to get my fourth win and start the Chase. What an awesome car the team gave me. The whole team did a great job getting me in and out of the pits first.”

Jeff Gordon did not lead a lap, but was running a strong second when the checkered flag waved.

“This wasn’t a win, but I’m very confident of our chances the rest of the year,” said Gordon. “I’m ready for the Chase. I can’t wait until next weekend.”

Clint Bowyer realized going into the race that he needed a win in order to make the Chase. He was unable to challenge the leaders and finished third.

“You know we would have liked to have made this year’s Chase, but all we can do is build on what we have done so far,” said Bowyer. “There’s still enough races left, that maybe we can win a couple to show how determined we are.”

Jamie McMurray was fourth, followed by Kevin Harvick, Joey Logano, and Kurt Busch.

Jimmie Johnson finished 8th. After getting out of his car on pit road under his own power, he sat down on pit road. He tried to get up and collapsed. He was taken to the infield care center where he was administered an IV for dehydration and released.

“I was definitely dry,” said Johnson. “I will have to dig in and understand what happened in the car. I was hot in the car so I will have to make sure all my fans were working and stuff like that. Scary moment and I hate that it happened, but have to learn from it and make sure it doesn't happen again.”

Ryan Newman, who finished ninth claimed the 16th, and last starting position in the Chase.

“We’ve had some good calls, and I think we’ve done the best with what we’ve got,” said Newman. “We’re in the Chase and we’ll see what we can do. This team is 100 per cent right now and getting better.”

Aric Almirola, who also made the Chase finished 10th.

Here is the 2014 Chase field for the final 10-races with the Chase points reset. 1. Keselowski-2012, 2. Gordon-2009, 3. Earnhardt-2009, 4. Johnson-2009, 5. Logano-2009, 6. Harvick-2006, 7. Edwards-2006, 8. Kyle Busch-2003, 9. Hamlin-2003, 10. Kurt Busch-2003, 11. Kahne-2003, 12. Almirola-2003, 13. Allmindinger-2003, 14. Kenseth-2000, 15. Biffle-2000, 16. Newman-2000.

KYLE BUSCH GOES WIRE TO WIRE

Kyle Busch started on the pole in Friday’s Nationwide Series race, and led all 250 laps on the way to his fourth win of the season and 67th of his career.

“Had a good car and good execution all night,” said Busch. “I knew that going into tonight’s race it was going to be different than some of the others. We had a good race car from the beginning, and it showed.”

Busch completely dominated the field, and finished over 2-seconds ahead of Chase Elliott.

“I thought we had a good car,” said Elliott. “We got better there at the end, but so did Kyle.”

Kevin Harvick was third, followed by Ryan Blaney, Brian Scott, Regan Smith, Dakoda Armstrong, Elliott Sadler, Ty Dillon and Chris Buescher.

Top-10 leaders after 25 of 33: 1. Elliott-916, 2. Smith-897, 3. T. Dillon-874, 4. Sadler-862, 5. Scott-859, 6. Bayne-832, 7. C. Buescher-747, 8. Gaughan-720, 9. Reed-686, 10. J. Buescher-671.

NATIONWIDE SERIES TO CHANGE TO XFINITY

The Nationwide Series will become the Xfinity Series in 2015.

NASCAR and Comcast announced an agreement that will make Comcast's XFINITY brand the title sponsor of what is now known as the NASCAR Nationwide Series through 2024. The 10-year deal is worth over 200-million dollars.

XFINITY is Comcast's residential service brand and is the nation's largest video and high-speed Internet provider.

Nationwide, which has served as title sponsor for the past seven years will continue its relationship in NASCAR as a sponsor on Dale Earnhardt’s No. 88 and remain the official insurance company of NASCAR.

SOUVENIR ROW MIGHT BE ON WAY OUT

For decades, walking along “Souvenir Row” prior to the start of a race has been part of a race fan's day at the track. Large haulers, loaded with racing merchandise line up end-to-end outside the track, forming a chain of retail outlets. Fans can buy goods emblazoned with images of their favorite driver and his car.

After two decades of growth, the bottom has dropped out of the souvenir business. In June, Street & Smith's Sports Business Journal reported that sales dropped from more than $2 billion in 2008 to $1 billion in 2010. Since then, it has dropped even more.

This past week NASCAR and other business executives met in Daytona, to discuss the future track souvenir business. Sales of T-shirts, caps, jackets, miniature die-cast cars and other racing souvenirs have lagged as NASCAR race attendance has diminished and fans have grown more reluctant to spend big bucks for their favorite driver paraphernalia. As a result, stock car racing's leaders are contemplating changes to the on-site merchandising of apparel and other souvenirs.

This is just one of several changes that you might see at tracks in the future.

The legacy of Junie Donlavey was honored at Richmond this past week. The Sprint Cup garage has been named the Junie Donlavey garage in honor of the owner who was a competitor at NASCAR's highest level for more than 50 years. The track placed a sign over the entrance to the garage that says "Donlavey Garage" with the words separated by the number "90." That was the number on Donlavey's cars for almost all of his races. Above the "90" is "Junie" and below it is "Chief". Donlavey died June 9 at 90.

David Stremme drove the No. 90 car in Sunday’s Cup race in honor of Donlavey.

Weekend Racing: All three of NASCAR’s major series’ will be at the 1.5-mile Chicagoland Speedway.

Fri., Sept 12; Truck Series race 15 of 22; Starting time: 8 pm ET; TV: FoxSports1.

Sat., Sept. 13; Nationwide Series race 26 of 33; Starting time: 3:30 pm ET; TV: ESPN2.

Sun., Sept. 14; Sprint Cup race 27 of 36; Starting time: 1 pm ET; TV: ESPN.

Racing Trivia Question: What year did Chicagoland Speedway open?

Last Week’s Question: Who won the September 2013 Cup race at Richmond? Answer. It was Carl Edwards.

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

Pictured (l-r) are McCain Trucking League Champions: front row - Jamie Decker, Rich Bouron, Manny Chapman, Matt Pomes, Billy Marvin; back row - Bill Ingrahm, Mike Crawford, Chris Link, Tom Fancher, Sean Hennessey, Rod Andrews.

Pictured (l-r) are League Runners Up Hallstead Sanitary Services: front row - Jason Stermensky, Brian Bartels, Paul Grosvenor, Randy Austin, Shane Decker, Bryan Birtch, Dave Birtch; back row - Shannon Birtch, Dave Stoddard, Jory Wheeler, Hank Wood, Gene Walker, Matt Walker, Brad Page.

Brett Hepler.

NANTICOKE – Brett Hepler says he could have played better when Susquehanna opened its high school football season August 29 at Nanticoke.

There is one play in particular that Hepler would like to have back.

The Blue Ridge senior, who plays with the Sabers as part of the schools’ cooperative sponsorship in the sport, did the next best thing.

With an accurate read and a quick jump on the ball, Hepler erased the impact of an earlier Nanticoke touchdown pass and lifted the Sabers to a come-from-behind, 21-17 victory with a 52-yard interception return for the winning touchdown with 5:54 remaining.

Hepler made subtle contributions to the opening win when his punting shifted the field position and allowed the Sabers to take a halftime lead. He put his emphatic stamp on the victory with the interception.

For his efforts, Hepler is the Susquehanna County Transcript Athlete of the Month for August.

“That was my guy and I blew it,” Hepler said of Tyler Hanna’s 67-yard pass reception to put Nanticoke ahead, 17-7, in the third quarter. “That was the exact same play.”

The second time around, Hepler jumped in front of Hanna and won the footrace to the flag with quarterback T.J. Hunter chasing him.

Hepler is in his third year as a two-way starter for the Sabers. He was a second-team Lackawanna Football Conference Division 3 all-star at both fullback and punter last season, according to www.northeastpafootball.com.

The Sabers rallied for a 7-6 halftime lead despite being outplayed in the first two quarters. They managed to do so after Hepler pinned Nanticoke at the 14, 15 and 4 with three consecutive second-quarter punts. It was a knack he displayed last year when out of 38 punts, he placed 17 inside the opponent’s 20, 10 inside the 10 and six at the 6 or closer.

“He did the same thing in our first game last year,” Sabers coach Kyle Cook said. “He kept us in the game against Western Wayne with his punting putting them back.

“When we’re stuck at midfield, he’s putting it inside the 10.”

Hepler, who averaged more than eight yards per carry as the team’s second-leading rusher last season, ran for 30 yards on four carries against Nanticoke. He also returned a kickoff 17 yards and a punt 11.

From his free safety position, Hepler led the team in tackles in 2013 with 60. Against Nanticoke, he had three tackles and three assists.

Hepler has also been a thrower and jumper on the Blue Ridge track team for three seasons. He finished 12th in the state in Class AA in the discus last spring after winning that event and finishing second in the javelin at the District 2 championships.

Brett is the son of Brian the Trudi Hepler of Hallstead.