WILKES-BARRE – Susquehanna’s defense allowed Holy Redeemer nothing in Saturday’s non-league high school football game at Memorial Stadium.
The Sabers allowed less than zero on the ground.
Susquehanna held Holy Redeemer to minus-17 yards rushing for the game and just 11 yards total offense in the second half on the way to a 13-0 shutout victory.
Zach Conrad, Craig Stanley and Christian Miller led a strong team defensive effort that allowed the Sabers to improve to 4-2 overall.
Nolan Hausser scored a pair of touchdowns on passes from Austin White, but the Sabers struggled at times offensively while playing with a makeshift line for the second straight week.
The defense made sure they were never in jeopardy.
Susquehanna has not allowed a point in the first three quarters of the past two games and has held opponents scoreless in the first half during each of its past three wins.
The Sabers did not let the Royals even get close Saturday.
Holy Redeemer never got inside the Susquehanna 29.
The offense did its part by holding the ball for a 30:43-19:17 advantage in time of possession, including maintaining possession for more than two-thirds of the time in the first half.
There were many different statistics to illustrate the dominance of Susquehanna’s defense.
* Holy Redeemer gained yardage on less than half its plays, both running and passing.
* The Royals did not run for more than 5 yards on any of their 21 attempts. The longest of their 25 pass plays covered 16 yards.
* Overall, the Sabers threw Holy Redeemer for losses seven times, stopped the Royals for no gain 19 times and allowed only 20 of 46 offensive plays to produce positive yardage.
* Holy Redeemer gained just one first down and did not cross midfield during its first five possessions of the second half.
There were many contributors to the defensive effort.
Conrad, the middle linebacker, once again led the team with seven tackles and five assists.
Stanley led the secondary, making six tackles, assisting on another and breaking up three passes.
Miller continued to provide the big plays with pressure from his defensive end position. He had a sack for a 10-yard loss, had another tackle for a 5-yard loss, batted down a pass and rushed the passer into two other errant throws. Miller, who finished with three tackles and an assist, was also there applying pressure to make sure Holy Redeemer had no choice but to cover a bad snap for a 25-yard loss at the 1-yard line.
Wes Richardson, Jarred Mills, Hausser, Brett Hepler and White also played key roles in the effort.
Richardson recovered a fumble while also providing three tackles and two assists.
Mills had four tackles and two assists.
Hausser had four tackles, including a sack when he came up to stop a scramble by quarterback Chad Fahey, and broke up a pass.
Hepler’s time at fullback, punter and kick returner was limited by minor injuries suffered during the game, but he went most of the way at free safety. He intercepted a pass on the final play of the first half and returned in 40 yards. Hepler broke up two other passes and assisted on a tackle.
White contributed a tackle for a loss, five assists and a broken-up pass while having a busy day running the offense from his quarterback position.
White carried 16 times for a game-high 87 yards. He finished 5-for-11 for 66 yards and two touchdowns passing on a day when two other completions, totaling 47 yards, were nullified by penalties to wipe out strong scoring opportunities.
Hausser carried 11 times for 66 yards and caught three passes for 26 yards, including the two touchdowns.
The losses forced by the defense combined with strong special teams play meant that, on average, Susquehanna’s drives started from field position more than 20 yards better than those of Holy Redeemer.
The Sabers went 50 yards in six plays to score on a drive that started in the first quarter and ended with 10:05 left in the half.
Hausser pulled in a 23-yard touchdown pass to open the scoring. Steve Jesse, who had been perfect on extra points for the season, missed wide right, keeping the score at 6-0 through halftime.
The Sabers were unable to add to the score until 1:09 remained in the third quarter.
Miller batted down a pass and came up with his sack on consecutive plays, leading to a short Holy Redeemer punt from its 15.
The Sabers covered 39 yards in six plays. White had runs of 18 and 10 yards and hit two passes for 12 yards.
The touchdown was designed to be an option run, but White was stopped near the line of scrimmage as Hausser, the pitch back, passed him. White flipped the ball ahead and Hausser carried it in for a 5-yard touchdown. Jesse added the kick.
Jesse’s 34-yard field goal attempt from a difficult angle midway through the fourth quarter had plenty of distance but hooked wide left.
Lucas Brinton, who had been working as a reserve running back and cornerback, traded in his number 25 jersey for number 71 and made the start at right guard in the offensive line. Brinton had made his first start as a defensive tackle a week earlier.
The Sabers played the Holy Redeemer game without three projected starters in the line, one because of injury and two because of illness.
WEEK IN REVIEW
Montrose’s Annelise Mittmann won a match at the District 2 Class AA girls’ tennis singles tournament at Kirby Park Thursday before being eliminated.
Mittmann received a first-round bye, then defeated Wilkes-Barre GAR’s Raquel Sosa, 6-1, 6-2. She was eliminated by fourth-seeded Meghan McGraw from Holy Redeemer, 6-1, 6-0.
The other three Susquehanna County singles players lost in their first matches.
Victoria Hinds from Montrose also had a first-round bye before falling to MMI Prep’s Katie McGuire, 7-5, 6-3.
Both Elk Lake players received first-round byes then lost against players from West Scranton. Becca Phillips lost to Nicole Sinclair, 7-5, 6-2. Darci Warner was defeated by Devinne Scott, 6-3, 6-3.
The final Lackawanna League Class AA Division standings were: Scranton Prep 14-1, North Pocono 12-3, Honesdale 11-4, Valley View 9-6, Montrose 7-8, Dunmore 6-9, Elk Lake, Mid Valley, West Scranton and Holy Cross 4-11, Western Wayne 2-13, and Riverside 0-15.
In high school football, Mike Didato ran for one touchdown and returned a fumble for another when Lakeland shut out Montrose, 48-0, Friday night in the Lackawanna Football Conference Division 2 opener for each team.
The Chiefs opened a 42-0 halftime lead by scoring 35 second-quarter points, ensuring the entire second half would be played under the Mercy Rule.
In girls’ cross country, Elk Lake won a home meet, beating Lackawanna Trail, Lakeland, Mountain View and Susquehanna to remain in first place and improve to 14-0 in the Lackawanna League.
In high school golf, Adam Kowalewski and Dylan Odell won individual matches but Forest City fell to Holy Cross, 6 ½-2 ½, September 30 in the District 2 Class AA team championship match at Elmhurst Country Club.
Holy Cross went on to win the District 2 title.
COLLEGE CORNER
Messiah College’s Colby Thomas scored the first two goals of his college career in consecutive games Sept. 24 against York College and Sept. 27 in his closest visit to home at Misericordia University in Dallas.
Zeb Cross then gave Messiah goals from former Mountain View standouts in three straight games when he connected Saturday in a 3-0 win over Widener.
Thomas and Cross helped the defending national champion and top-ranked NCAA Division III team improve to 11-0 by a margin of 34-3.
Thomas had a goal and an assist in the 5-0 win over York. His first college goal came in the final minute when Thomas picked up a loose ball just inside midfield, dribbled in and fired a shot from the right top of the penalty area.
The freshman forward scored again late in the first half against Misericordia when he pulled in a pass and went down the left-center on a partial breakaway.
Thomas has come off the bench in all 10 games, posting two goals and two assists. He made his first college start Saturday against Widener.
Zeb Cross, who joined Thomas in helping to lead Mountain View to a 2012 state title and 2013 state final appearance, has played in 10 games. His first college points came on the only Messiah goal of the second half against Widener, when he ripped a hard shot from 20 yards out into the upper corner of the net.
THE WEEK AHEAD
Susquehanna will try to hold on to a share of first place in the LFC Division 3 standings when the Sabers play their Homecoming Day game Saturday afternoon at 2:30 against Mid Valley.
Mid Valley is 0-1 in the division and 0-6 overall against a difficult schedule that has included the two reigning District 2 small school champions – Lake-Lehman and Old Forge – as well as Valley View from Division 1 of the LFC and two teams with winning records in Division 2. While Susquehanna has played opponents with combined records of 14-22, Mid Valley’s opponents have been a combined 23-13.
Susquehanna is 1-0 in the division and 4-2 overall.
Montrose (0-1, 1-5) is home Friday night at 7 in an LFC Division 2 game against Western Wayne (1-0, 4-2).
Our predictions on last week’s games were 10-1 (90.9 percent), bringing our season record to 59-20 (74.7).
This week’s predictions, with home teams in CAPS: Western Wayne 35, MONTROSE 17 … SUSQUEHANNA 27, Mid Valley 10 … RIVERSIDE 21, Honesdale 17 … Dunmore 24, LAKELAND 16 … Old Forge 19, LACKAWANNA TRAIL 10 … Delaware Valley 50, VALLEY VIEW 16 … Scranton 35, NORTH POCONO 10 … Wallenpaupack 18, WEST SCRANTON 13 … Carbondale 32, HOLY CROSS 24 … SCRANTON PREP 20, Abington Heights 8.
In running, the 19th annual Steamtown Marathon is scheduled for Sunday, starting in Forest City and finishing in downtown Scranton. The race, featuring an anticipated field of more than 2,000 runners, begins at 8 a.m.
In professional hockey, the Lehigh Valley Phantoms make their American Hockey League debut Saturday night at 7:05 at the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins. The Binghamton Senators open at home at the same time against the Worcester Sharks.
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.
