The Susquehanna football team returned to just about full strength in time for Saturday’s Homecoming and it showed.
Austin White led an improving offense and joined Zach Conrad and Jarred Mills in highlighting a suffocating defensive effort that led the Sabers to a 34-0 romp over Mid Valley at William Emminger Memorial Field.
Susquehanna forced six turnovers and did not allow the opponent to take a snap from inside the 20 for the second straight game. The Sabers have shut out two straight opponents and held the last three scoreless through more than three quarters.
Montrose did not get closer than the Susquehanna 34 before marching up the field against the Sabers reserves in Week Five to score with 4:06 left in a 31-6 Susquehanna win. Holy Redeemer never got closer than the 29 last week when Susquehanna won, 13-0.
Mid Valley did not cross midfield in the first half and did not have a first down through five possessions and the game’s first 19:27. The Spartans put together their best threat with the help of 29- and 18-yard gains in the final four plays of the third quarter to reach the Susquehanna 17.
Officiating errors when the teams switched ends of the field turned fourth-and-six at the 17 into fourth-and-two at the 22. An incomplete pass ended the drive there.
Mills had a hand in half the turnovers with an interception, a fumble recovery and a forced fumble. White and Craig Stanley also intercepted passes while Wes Richardson and Evan Aldrich recovered fumbles on a day when the Susquehanna offense did not commit a turnover.
The three-game winning streak has put Susquehanna at 5-2 overall and 2-0 in Division 3 of the Lackawanna Football Conference. Saturday’s win started a stretch where the final four games are in the division, including home games against fellow contenders Lackawanna Trail and Old Forge.
Susquehanna went from a three-way tie for the division lead to two when Lackawanna Trail, this week’s opponent, fell, 17-14, to defending champion Old Forge, the league’s only unbeaten team overall.
“We held them in check and they didn’t really have any big plays, just a couple nice pass plays,” Sabers coach Kyle Cook said. “The kids are starting to practice harder. They’re starting to understand what’s at stake with the division games and it’s really starting to show.”
The Sabers jumped on the Spartans early, scoring the first touchdown in just 2:20 despite kicking off to start the game.
Mills recovered a fumbled snap on the game’s second play and the Sabers moved 22 yards in four plays.
White’s 16-yard run took the ball to the 1 where Austin Felter scored the first of his two touchdowns for a 6-0 lead.
The advantage reached 12-0 midway through the first quarter.
Susquehanna pinned Mid Valley after Steve Jesse put his second straight kickoff in the end zone and again took over in Spartans territory.
White ran 14 yards to start a six-play, 49-yard drive and completed it with a 24-yard touchdown pass on which Brady Towner reached high to pull in the ball in the right side of the end zone.
For the second straight week, the Sabers built a distinct field position advantage. Mid Valley started from its 18, on average, in the first half while Susquehanna started from the Mid Valley 46. For the game, the Sabers started the average drive from their 43 while the Spartans started from their 24.
The Sabers added two touchdowns in the final 3:33 of the second quarter for a 27-0 halftime lead.
White was 3-for-3 passing for 38 yards and carried five times for 18 more yards during an 11-play, 72-yard drive to the third touchdown of the day.
Brett Hepler ran the final 7 yards and White added a two-point conversion run for a 20-0 lead.
Mills made a diving interception two plays later and Susquehanna scored again with 1:29 left in the half.
Felter went 27 yards with a pass from White on the first play of the four-play, 45-yard scoring drive and ran 5 yards for the touchdown. Jesse added the kick.
On the first play after Stanley made a brilliant interception by tipping the ball high into the air, then pulling it in, White closed the scoring with a 70-yard sprint up the middle with 6:54 remaining.
The Sabers had 229 of their 355 yards total offense in the first half.
“We’re finally back to healthy,” Cook said. “We’re starting to jell.”
White carried 13 times for 123 yards and a touchdown while hitting seven of 11 passes for 97 yards and another score. Hepler ran outside more often than usual and picked up 74 yards on 11 carries.
“It’s been a struggle all season for us offensively,” Cook said. “We changed it up a little, went to a few different sets and it seemed to work well (Saturday).
“We blocked harder. We had our five starting linemen back and that helps.”
The 258 yards rushing and 355 yards total offense for the team were both season-highs.
Conrad again led the defense in tackles, making six while assisting on four others. He forced a fumble and made two of his tackles for losses.
Mills had two tackles and two assists in addition to his role in the turnovers.
White added to his interception with five tackles and three assists.
Richardson had three tackles and two assists. He had a sack and another tackle for a loss while also recovering a fumble and rushing the passer into an incompletion.
Christian Miller had three tackles, including two for six yards in losses, and rushed the passer twice.
WEEK IN REVIEW
Montrose’s Austin Smith and Kory Morrison advanced to the Pennsylvania Interscholastic Athletic Association East Regional by finishing in the top six out of 32 players in Class AA boys in the District 2 Individual Golf Championships at Fox Hill Country Club Monday.
Smith shot 78 to place third, three shots behind Holy Redeemer’s Ryan Crossin.
Morrison shot 81 to take fifth.
Lauren Wallis, a Scranton Prep golfer from Clifford, shot 87 to finish second in Class AA girls and also advanced.
The PIAA East Regional was scheduled to be played Tuesday at Golden Oaks Country Club in Fleetwood.
Players had to make it through an earlier Lackawanna League qualifying tournament just to reach the district event.
Dylan O’Dell of Forest City was 10th with an 84 and teammate Adam Kowaleski was tied for 11th one stroke behind him.
Elk Lake’s Cole Tyler was 24th with a 93, Montrose’s Bradley Wayman tied for 26th with a 96, Montrose’s Caleb Hoal tied for 30th with 100 and Forest City’s Mitchell Blake 32nd with a 101.
Blue Ridge’s Olivia Rockwell was fifth in the nine-player Class AA girls field with a 107.
Wyoming Area’s Maddy Wharton shot 86 to beat Wallis by one stroke.
Brianna Baker from Montrose was ninth with 110.
In girls tennis, both Montrose teams won one match before being eliminated from the District 2 Class AA doubles tournament.
Victoria Hinds-Anneliese Mittman defeated Christina Brannon-Antonio Corma from Holy Cross, 6-0, 6-0, before losing in three sets. They fell to fourth-seeded Grace Schaub-Kajal Patel of Dallas, 7-6 (11-9), 3-6, 6-2.
Bethany Evans-Allie Arnold beat GAR’s Paige Garlin-Diane Lopez, 6-0, 6-3, before losing to second-seeded Madison Nardone-Jacqui Meuser of Wyoming Seminary, 6-2, 6-0.
Both Montrose teams received first-round byes before winning in the second round.
The Elk Lake teams were eliminated in the first round.
West Scranton’s Heather Schmidt-Ashley Dunning defeated Rebecca Warholic-Shayla Griffiths, 4-6, 6-2, 6-3. MMI Prep’s Clare Sheen-Kelsy Donaldson topped Katie Burke-Kayla Mosier, 6-1, 6-1.
In girls’ cross country, Elk Lake defeated Abington Heights, North Pocono and host Valley View, teams with combined records of 37-11, to improve to 16-0 and remain alone in first place in the Lackawanna League.
In road running, Fred Joslyn from East Syracuse, N.Y. defended his Steamtown Marathon title Sunday by making the 26.2-mile run from Forest City to downtown Scranton in 2:22:37.
Peter Kemboi from Hebron, Ky., the 2011 champion, was second for the second straight year.
Jen Rock from Macomb, Mich. won the women’s title in 2:39:46 while Scranton’s Heidi Peoples, a three-time champion, was second in 2:46:30. Rock also beat the women’s course record, held by Peoples, by four seconds.
Matthew Nebzydoski from Montrose was the first Susquehanna County finisher while Brackney’s Paula Fitch and Fred Bostrom had impressive age group performances.
Nebzydoski was 70th out of a record 2,182 finishers, breaking the three-hour mark in 2:58.56.
Fitch, 64, was 805th overall and first among the 13 women’s finishers in the 60-64 age group in 3:49:35.
Bostrom, 77, was second among the five men 75-and-over who finished. He completed the course in 5:04.50.
Several country runners joined Nebzydoski and Fitch among the top 1000 finishers. Their results by place, name, age, male/female, hometown, and time: 141st, Aaron Griggs, 28M, Montrose, 3:09.25; 200th, Robert Davis, 49M, Montrose, 3:14:34; 254th, Dominik Maida, 21M, Hallstead, 3:19:28; 404th, Fred Malloy, 49M, Montrose, 3:29:33; 926th, Caitlin Ely, 25F, Montrose, 3:54:56.
The finishers included 1,252 men and 930 women.
In professional hockey, the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins had their American Hockey League season get off to a rough start.
The Penguins fell to Lehigh Valley, 5-2, in a Saturday night opener that was also the debut of the relocated Phantoms franchise.
The Manchester Monarchs then stopped the Penguins, 4-1, Sunday afternoon.
The Binghamton Senators and Worcester Sharks were the first to test the AHL’s new 3-on-3 overtime procedure.
Matt Taormina scored at 6:34 of overtime to lift Worcester to a 3-2 win over Binghamton Satuday night.
Ryan Dzingel scored both goals for Binghamton, which got 45 saves from Andrew Hammond.
COLLEGE CORNER
Montrose graduate Jared Winn is a junior on the Baptist Bible College men’s cross country team.
Winn helped the Defenders finish third of four teams in their most recent meet, the Bryan Athyn Invitational. He finished the 8-kilometer course in 26:53 to finish second on the team and seventh overall.
THE WEEK AHEAD
Susquehanna is home for one of the two biggest games of the season that will determine the Sabers’ hopes of winning or sharing in the LFC Division 3 title.
The Sabers (2-0 in the division, 5-2 overall) host Lackawanna Trail (1-1, 5-2) Saturday at 1.
Montrose (0-2, 1-6) is also home for its LFC Division 2 game against Riverside (1-1, 1-6) Friday night at 7.
Our predictions on last week’s games were 10-0, making us 20-1 (95.2 percent) over the past two weeks and improving our season record to 69-20 (77.5 percent).
This week’s predictions with home teams in CAPS: Riverside 30, MONTROSE 3 … Lackawanna Trail 18, SUSQUEHANNA 14 … OLD FORGE 45, Carbondale 0 … MID VALLEY 43, Holy Cross 14 … DUNMORE 43, Western Wayne 15 … Lakeland 22, HONESDALE 17 … DELAWARE VALLEY 39, Scranton 33 … Wallenpaupack 22, NORTH POCONO 14 … Scranton Prep 34, VALLEY VIEW 12 … Abington Heights 15, WEST SCRANTON 7.
In golf, the PIAA Championships are Monday through Wednesday, October 20-22 at Heritage Hills Golf Resort in York.
In girls’ soccer, the District 2 Class AA playoffs begin with a play-in game Monday, October 20 and the full first round the next day.
In boys’ soccer, the District 2 Class AA playoffs open with a play-in game Tuesday, October 21.
In field hockey, the District 2 Class AA playoffs will open Tuesday, October 21, but Elk Lake has not qualified.
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.
