DIMOCK – Freshman Cody Oswald and sophomore Dan Bell led the way Wednesday when Elk Lake won the Class A boys’ title on its home course in the District 2 Cross Country Championships.
Oswald and Bell finished 2-3 behind Dunmore’s Matt Murray while helping the Warriors run away with the team championship, 40-81, over Holy Cross.
The Elk Lake girls also qualified for Saturday’s Pennsylvania Interscholastic Athletic Association by taking the district’s second berth in Class A. They were outscored 27-44 by Holy Cross in a meeting of the last two state champions.
Elk Lake won the 2012 Class A girls’ state title and Holy Cross won last year to highlight a meet in which District 2 accounted for three of the six team and two of the six individual state championships.
The two Elk Lake teams earned their latest shots at the state meet along with nine Susquehanna County individuals, who advanced by being among the top 10 in their races from schools other than the two state qualifiers.
Forest City’s Tyler Debrino and William Westgate, Blue Ridge’s Travis Hickling and Mountain View’s Joe Nally from Class A boys; Susquehanna’s Skyla Wilson and Mikayla Hargett, Forest City’s Jennifer Korty and Blue Ridge’s Casey Purdum in Class A girls; and Montrose’s Emma Washo in Class AA girls qualified to compete in Hershey.
Oswald finished the 3.1-mile course in 18:02 and Bell finished in 18:11, but they also got plenty of help.
The first five Warriors finished ahead of the third runner from any of the other 12 schools in the field and the whole seven-runner lineup came in before the fourth runner on any of their rivals.
Hunter Bedell placed 11th, Dalton Sherman 12th, Seth Owen 15th and Dylan Benscoter 18th to earn district medals. Hunter Watkins was 23rd. Owen and Benscoter are sophomores giving Elk Lake three sophomores and a freshman in the district championship lineup.
Forest City was third out of 13 teams with 121 points.
The Foresters were led by Debrino in fourth place and Hickling in eighth.
Mountain View was sixth with 167 points and Susquehanna was 12th with 273.
Nally finished 14th to make the state meet.
Blue Ridge did not run a complete team but freshman Travis Hickling qualified for the PIAA Championships with his ninth-place finish in 18:45.
Susquehanna’s top runner was Justin Acone in 22nd place, three spots and eight seconds away from a trip to Hershey.
Elk Lake defeated Holy Cross by a point on the way to a win that helped the Lady Warriors finish as unbeaten champions in the Lackawanna League. The two schools had also split, beating each other, at major invitationals.
Holy Cross won the latest battle behind a 1-2 finish by Mackenzie Greenfield and Lexi Walsh.
Elk Lake was led by Katie Bennett, Justine Johns and Kenzie Jones in third, fifth and seventh places. Keri Jones and Jenny Vanetten also medaled, in 14th and 15th place, to help Elk Lake beat out Wyoming Seminary by 47 points for the second state berth.
Susquehanna took fifth out of 10 teams with 258 points.
Wilson, a freshman, was 13th and Hargett was four seconds behind her in 14th.
Forest City, Blue Ridge and Mountain View did not field enough runners for a team score, but that did not stop Korty or Casey Purdum. They placed 17th and 18th.
Blue Ridge’s Jessie Purdum was 22nd, one spot and two seconds behind the last state qualifier.
Montrose placed ninth out of 17 teams in Class AA boys where defending state champion Tunkhannock had to settle for fourth place.
Scranton Prep (74) and Dallas (110) claimed the team berths over Berwick (121) and Tunkhannock (132).
Montrose had a team score of 240.
Owen Brewer earned a medal by finishing 17th in 17:34, but fell short of qualifying for the state meet.
Lake-Lehman’s Dominic Hockenbury, who was second in the state last year as a sophomore, won in 16:08.
Freshman Brandon Curley finished 38th out of 119 runners in the race to finish as Montrose’s second runner, behind Brewer, a sophomore.
Scranton Prep won the Class AA girls’ title with 57 points.
Defending state champion Dallas edged Abington Heights, the District 2 Class AAA champion before dropping in enrollment after last season, 86-88, for the second state spot.
The Montrose girls were 11th out of 15 teams with 279.
Washo took 10th in 20:25.
Ally Rome of Dallas won in 19:10.
Montrose’s Angela Russell was 36th out of 104 runners.
Williamsport was added to the Class AAA races this year, making them into a District 2-4 Subregional.
Because of the fewer teams, only one team and five individuals qualify in Class AAA.
The Hazleton Area boys and Delaware Valley girls won team titles.
Scranton’s Andrew Lopez and Wallenpaupack’s Alyssa LaFave won individual titles.
WEEK IN REVIEW
Susquehanna and Montrose each suffered losses in Lackawanna Football Conference games Friday night.
A week after knocking Lackawanna Trail out of a share of the Division 3 lead, Susquehanna suffered a 15-5 upset loss at Carbondale, which entered the game with a 2-6 overall record.
Montrose fell, 53-21, to visiting Dunmore which clinched a share of the Division 2 title with its eighth straight win.
The Chargers used a pair of big offensive plays in the fourth quarter to rally for the victory and end Susquehanna’s four-game winning streak.
The loss means that instead of playing for sole possession of the LFC Division 3 title in the season finale, Susquehanna will be trying to share the title with Old Forge by beating the Blue Devils head-to-head Saturday.
Susquehanna had dominated the first three quarters against Carbondale but missed several opportunities and led just, 5-0.
The Sabers lost a fumble at the 1, had a touchdown called back by a penalty and missed a field goal attempt.
Susquehanna led in rushing yardage, 116-to-minus 1, and total offense, 195-16, through three quarters before losing a fumble on the first play of the fourth quarter. It was one of three turnovers by the Sabers, who fumbled five times and lost two.
Carbondale used a 40-yard completion on a third-and-nine double pass to set up the go-ahead touchdown on a 5-yard Brad Sales run. Sales also ran for the two-pointer and an 8-5 lead.
The Sabers marched right back down the field, using four straight runs for 34 yards by Nolan Hausser and a 20-yard Austin White-to-Austin Felter pass to reach the Carbondale 3 with five minutes left.
Carbondale then stopped Susquehanna on four straight runs into the line to protect the lead.
Sales raced 91 yards on the second play, picking up more than half his team’s yardage on the night and giving the Chargers a 15-5 lead.
White completed three straight passes to reach midfield before an interception ended any comeback hopes. White finished 7-for-18 for 137 yards passing.
Felter carried 12 times for 59 yards and Hausser nine times for 56 yards.
Even with the fourth-quarter struggles, Susquehanna finished with statistical advantages of 13-5 in first downs, 147-110 in rushing yards, 137-57 in passing yards and 284-167 in total offense.
The Sabers did all their scoring in the second quarter.
White tackled Sales in the end zone on the first play after the fumble was lost at the 1, giving the Sabers a safety and a 2-0 lead.
After missing one field goal attempt from 27 yards, Steve Jesse made a 38-yarder on the last play of the second quarter for a 5-0 halftime lead.
White led the defense with five tackles and three assists. Two of the tackles were for losses, including the safety, and he also recovered a fumble.
Felter, Zach Conrad and Christian Miller also made defensive contributions.
Felter had four tackles and five assists. He made two tackles for losses and rushed the passer into an incompletion.
Conrad made six tackles, including one for a loss, and assisted on three others.
Miller had two tackles for 11 yards in losses. He had a total of three tackles and an assist, along with rushing one pass and breaking up another.
At Montrose, Dunmore opened a 35-0 halftime lead, ensuring the entire second half would be played under the Mercy Rule.
Billy Hewes ran for 112 yards and two touchdowns to lead the Meteors offense.
In high school golf, Montrose junior Austin Smith finished tied for 19th in the state in the Class AA boys’ division at the Pennsylvania Interscholastic Athletic Association Championships.
Smith was one of 36 Class AA boys to qualify for the state tournament at the Heritage Hills Golf Resort in York.
After shooting 11-over-par, 83 in the October 20 opening round, Smith shot 80 the next day to climb past six players in the final standings.
Clifford resident Lauren Wallis shot 103 for Scranton Prep’s best score Wednesday when the Classics finished fifth out of six teams in Class AA girls’ team division.
In boys’ soccer, Montrose and Mountain View each won a pair of games to reach the semifinals of the District 2 Class A tournament where they were scheduled to meet Tuesday.
Top-seeded Montrose posted two straight shutouts, 11-0 over Riverside and 5-0 over Forest City.
Defending champion Mountain View blanked Old Forge, 10-0, and Dunmore, 3-1.
Forest City had defeated Blue Ridge, 5-1, in the opening round. Holy Redeemer shut out Elk Lake, 4-0, in another opener.
In girls’ soccer, Mountain View and Montrose each posted quarterfinal shutouts to set up their semifinal meeting, which was scheduled to be played Tuesday.
Mountain View handled Elk Lake, 8-0, and Montrose got past Forest City, 1-0.
Elk Lake had defeated Carbondale, 2-1, in double overtime in a preliminary round matchup.
In professional hockey, Andrew Ebbett scored at 3:50 of the third period Sunday afternoon to lift the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins to a 3-2 win over the visiting Binghamton Senators in the season’s first meeting between the two American Hockey League rivals.
Derrick Pouliot had a goal and an assist in the first period for the Penguins.
Wilkes-Barre/Scranton finished with a 40-23 shot advantage, including 31-13 in the last two periods.
Eric Hartzell made 21 saves in the win.
Chris Wideman had a goal and an assist and Andrew Hammond made 37 saves for Binghamton.
COLLEGE CORNER
Devin Breese, a freshman outside hitter/defensive specialist from Susquehanna, has appeared in all but one match for the Keystone College women’s volleyball team.
The Lady Giants are 10-17.
Breese is seventh on the team with 39 digs. She also has three assists.
THE WEEK AHEAD
Susquehanna will play for a share of the Lackawanna Football Conference Division 3 title when it hosts Old Forge in the regular-season finale Saturday.
The Sabers are 3-1 in the division and 6-3 overall. Old Forge, a state finalist last year in Class A, is 4-0 in the division and 9-0 overall.
Old Forge is on winning streaks of 15 games in the regular season, 17 games within District 2 and 19 games within LFC Division 3 play. The last time the Blue Devils lost a Division 3 game was in the 2010 regular-season finale at Susquehanna, giving the Sabers their most recent division championship.
The best Susquehanna can do this year is a share of the title.
Montrose (0-4, 1-8) concludes its season with a Friday night LFC Division 2 game at Honesdale (2-2, 6-3).
Our high school football predictions last week were just 6-5 (54.5 percent), dropping our season record to 81-29 (73.6).
This week’s predictions, with home teams in CAPS: Old Forge 16, SUSQUEHANNA 6 … HONESDALE 49, Montrose 16 … CARBONDALE 29, Mid Valley 25 … LACKAWANNA TRAIL 50, Holy Cross 0 … LAKELAND 18, Western Wayne 12 … Valley View 19, NORTH POCONO 18 … Dunmore 29, RIVERSIDE 12 … SCRANTON 33, Abington Heights 6 … SCRANTON PREP 34, West Scranton 3 … Delaware Valley 38, WALLENPAUPACK 18.
In cross country, the PIAA Championships are scheduled for Saturday morning and afternoon at the Parkview Cross Country Course in Hershey.
The Elk Lake team, Wilson, Hargett, Korty and Purdum will compete in Class A girls at 9:30 a.m.
Washo runs in the Class AA girls’ race at 10:15 a.m.
The Elk Lake team, Debrino, Westgate, Hickling and Nally are in the Class A boys’ race at 11:45.
In girls’ volleyball, the District 2 Class A championship is scheduled for Wednesday at 5 p.m. Top-seeded Blue Ridge was set to host the semifinals with a match against MMI Prep while Susquehanna was taken on Lackawanna Trail Monday.
In boys’ soccer, the District 2 Class A championship game that will include either Montrose or Mountain View is scheduled for Thursday.
In girls’ soccer, the same scenario exists. Either Montrose or Mountain View will play in the District 2 Class A championship Thursday.
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.
