Half of the line spots were filled by newcomers Friday night, but Susquehanna still managed to produce one of its best overall efforts of the season at a time that means a lot of the Sabers.
“We play up for this game,” said Austin Felter, who scored two touchdowns on offense and helped the line on defense as Susquehanna won the Battle for the Bluestone with a 31-6 victory over host Montrose. “We mark it off on our schedule early.”
Susquehanna improved to 3-2 by winning comfortably despite playing without one lineman who was sick, another who was injured and a third, who sat out half the game for a violation of team rules.
Senior Billy Cobb, who had some experience on offense, made his first start, going both ways at tackle.
Guard Tyler Petriello and tackle Lewis Sparks formed the right side of the offensive line.
“They really stepped up and played hard,” Sabers coach Kyle Cook said.
The backfield did its part offering a boost.
Lucas Brinton, a 5-8, 172-pounder who is normally a back-up running back and cornerback, made the emergency start at defensive tackle and wound up being in on 11 tackles, second-most on the team. Felter, a 5-8, 175-pound halfback and former strong safety, started for the second time in his career at nose guard.
“I was thoroughly impressed,” Cook said. “It showed that we do have some back-ups on the line.
“Our running backs, it seemed like they ran a lot harder. They hit the holes harder.”
The Sabers got by without Michael Vaccaro, who was ill, and Evan Aldrich, who was injured. Cameron Mallery did not play the first half.
They opened a 17-0 lead by halftime and pushed it to 31-0 early in the fourth quarter with the help of a balanced attack.
Three runners had between 72 and 59 yards along with a touchdown and Susquehanna passed for 66 yards and a score.
Felter carried nine times for 72 yards and caught a 37-yard touchdown pass.
“We started getting it going offensively,” Felter said. “We tried a few new plays. We had some starting linemen out, but the line did a good job.”
Austin White had a hand in two touchdowns while carrying 14 times for 64 yards and hitting three of 11 passes for 66 yards.
Nolan Hausser rushed for 59 yards on 12 carries.
Susquehanna pinned Montrose at its 14 with the opening kickoff and White broke into the Meteors backfield to force that Zach Conrad recovered on the first play.
The Sabers needed just three plays to cover 11 yards with Felter going around left end for a 7-yard touchdown and 7-0 lead just 1:14 into the game.
White had a 10-yard run and Felter an 18-yarder to convert third-and-three situations and help the Sabers move to a score on their next possession.
Steve Jesse, who made all four extra points to improve to 15-for-15 on the season, hit a 31-yard field goal for a 10-0 lead with 1:04 remaining in the first quarter.
Susquehanna threatened to make it three scores on three possessions, but Austin Cook intercepted in the end zone for Montrose midway through the second quarter, stopping an 11-play drive.
The Sabers did add to the lead before halftime.
Consecutive runs of 13 yards by Hausser and 19 yards by White set up a 2-yard White touchdown with 1:56 left in the half.
Craig Stanley’s 59-yard interception return with 29 seconds left gave the Sabers one more shot before halftime.
Montrose’s Jack Fruehan broke in to block Jesse’s 42-yard field goal attempt.
Susquehanna added two more second-half scores.
Felter got behind the defense to pull in a 37-yard touchdown pass from White with 5:07 left in the third quarter.
“We’ve been working on pass plays a lot in practice,” Felter said. “It was good to see it finally worked out.”
White’s 20-yard pass to Austin Darrow set up a 13-yard Hausser touchdown run up the middle on second-and-goal with 9:51 left in the game.
Montrose answered with its only touchdown, running 12 straight times to cover 75 yards as Susquehanna began blending substitutes into the lineup.
The Meteors converted four third-down situations on the drive, including a 7-yard touchdown run by quarterback Patrick parks with 4:06 remaining.
Brady Towner broke in to throw the Meteors for a big loss on the two-point attempt.
Susquehanna finished with an 18-8 advantage in first downs, including 17-4 before Montrose started its fourth-quarter scoring drive.
The Sabers had yardage leads of 241-125 in rushing, 66-0 in passing and 307-125 total.
Fullback Bob Purdy led the Meteors with 82 yards rushing on 18 carries, almost all of it between the guards.
The Susquehanna defense limited the rest of the Montrose offense to 43 yards on 27 plays.
Middle linebacker Zach Conrad led the defensive effort with 13 tackles, the fumble recovery and a pass rush.
White went on from the tackle for a loss and forced fumble on the first play to finish with three tackles and three assists.
Brinton made two tackles and assisted on nine others.
“Defensively, it was the same old, same old,” Cook said. “We just didn’t give up the big plays tonight.
“They tried a deep pass and Stanley made a great play on the ball and a real good return. If we cut down a few of the penalties, we’ll be in real good shape.”
Colin Mondi, Fruehan and Jacob Hayes led the Montrose defense.
Mondi had six tackles and four assists. Fruehan added five tackles, including one for a two-yard loss, to his blocked field goal. Hayes had seven tackles and an assist.
WEEK IN REVIEW
Mitchell Blake and Dylan O’Dell won in both singles and better-ball Friday to lift Forest City to a 5-4 victory over Riverside at Pine Hills in the Lackawanna League Class AA golf semifinals.
Montrose also reached the semifinals where it lost to first-place Holy Cross, 6 ½-2 ½, at Scott Greens.
The results set up a league Class AA final and district semifinal that was scheduled to be played Tuesday at Elmhurst Country Club.
Forest City beat Dunmore, 7-2, and Montrose edged Lakeland, 5-4, in Wednesday’s division quarterfinals.
The Foresters and Meteors each knocked off higher-seeded teams with road wins during the playoffs.
The final division standings were: Holy Cross 12-0, Riverside 10-2, Forest City 9-2-1, Lakeland 9-2-1, Montrose 8-4, Dunmore 7-4-1, Old Forge 6-5-1, Carbondale 4-8, Lackawanna Trail 4-8, Blue Ridge 3-9, Elk Lake 3-9, Mountain View 1-11, Mid Valley 0-12.
In girls’ cross country, Elk Lake defeated Dunmore, Riverside and Montrose to improve to 10-0.
In boys’ soccer, Mountain View and Lakeland played to a 1-1 tie Thursday, the first time since 2011 that the Eagles did not win in a regular-season game.
In girls’ soccer, Mountain View improved to 4-0 and continued to share first place with Lakeland.
In professional baseball, Abington Heights graduate Cory Spangenberg had two-hit games in three of the final four games of the season for the San Diego Padres.
Spangenberg, a rookie who made his debut September 1, is the only former Lackawanna League player active in Major League Baseball. The 2011 first-round draft pick finished his first season with a .290 batting average, two home runs, eight RBI and four stolen bases in 19 games.
COLLEGE CORNER
Blue Ridge graduate and former Susquehanna football player Dan Kempa has been selected as one of 167 semifinalists – and one of just 33 from the NCAA Division III level – for the William V. Campbell Trophy.
The award, presented by the National Football Foundation and College Hall of Fame (NFF), recognizes the best football scholar-athlete in the nation. Athletes from all levels are eligible.
Kempa is a senior wide receiver at King’s College where he set a school career receiving yards records Sept. 20, then helped the team to a 36-26 win over local rival Misericordia University Sept. 27.
Kempa became the school’s all-time leader with 2,029 receiving yards when he caught 10 passes for 131 yards during a 28-13 loss to Lycoming.
The win over Misericordia was the first of the season for King’s in four games.
Kempa turned his first carry of the season into a 12-yard touchdown run on a reverse. He also caught three passes for 73 yards and a touchdown and set up a score on a 57-yard kickoff return.
On the season, Kempa leads King’s in receiving (25-388, 2 TDs), kickoff returns (7-297, 42.4 average) and punt returns (3-23, 7.7 average).
THE WEEK AHEAD
The Lackawanna Football Conference Division 2 schedule opens Friday with Montrose (1-4 overall) playing at Lakeland (3-2).
Susquehanna (3-2) plays its final non-league game Saturday at 1 p.m. at Memorial Stadium in Wilkes-Barre against Holy Redeemer (2-3).
Our high school football predictions were 10-1 (90.9 percent) last week after also winning the final two games of the previous week to finish 7-5 (58.3). Our season mark is now 49-19 (72.1).
This week’s predictions, with home teams in CAPS: LAKELAND 34, Montrose 0 … Susquehanna 24, HOLY REDEEMER 7 … DUNMORE 37, Honesdale 21 … LACKAWANNA TRAIL 47, Carbondale 0 … OLD FORGE 41, Mid Valley 0 … SCRANTON 34, West Scranton 10 … Scranton Prep 23, WALLENPAUPACK 14 … Riverside 18, WESTERN WAYNE 13 … COLUMBIA-MONTOUR VO-TECH 24, Holy Cross 19 … DELAWARE VALLEY 53, North Pocono 12 … ABINGTON HEIGHTS 27, Valley View 3.
The predicted order of the LFC Division 2 finish: Dunmore; three-way tie between Lakeland, Honesdale and Riverside; Western Wayne, Montrose.
In high school golf, the District 2 team championships are scheduled for Friday at 9 a.m. at Elmhurst Country Club. The Holy Cross-Forest City winner will face defending state champion Holy Redeemer in the Class AA final.
The individual championships will be played Monday, October 6 at 9 a.m. at Fox Hill Country Club.
In girls’ tennis, The District 2 singles tournament begins Thursday at 9 a.m. at Kirby Park in Wilkes-Barre and continues through Friday.
The doubles tournament opens Tuesday, October 7 at Kirby Park.
In girls’ soccer, Lakeland is at Mountain View in a meeting of Lackawanna League Division 3 co-leaders Monday, October 6.
TOM ROBINSON writes a weekly local sports column for the Susquehanna County Transcript. He can be reached online at RobbyTR@aol.com and followed on Twitter at @tomjrobinson.
