Susquehanna’s biggest standouts led the Sabers to one of their most significant football wins in 19 years.

Austin White, Christian Miller and Brett Hepler led the way Friday night when Susquehanna moved within one win of its first state playoff appearance since 1995 when it defeated host Lackawanna Trail, 31-28, in the District 2 Class A semifinals.

Susquehanna advanced to Friday’s district final at unbeaten, top-seed and defending champion Old Forge. The Sabers last played in a title game in 1995 when they ripped Bishop Hafey, 46-14, in the old District 2-12 Class A Subregional for the second of their two straight state playoff appearances.

White led the offense with his second big game in four weeks against Lackawanna Trail, the team Susquehanna shared second place in the Lackawanna Football Conference Division 3 during the regular season.

Miller and Hepler joined White in making sure the Sabers got just enough from their defense and special teams to repeat a 34-19 victory over the Lions at William Emminger Memorial Field October 18.

White carried 19 times for 162 yards and three touchdowns and hit two of six passes for 51 yards, including a 41-yard touchdown.

Lackawanna Trail (7-4) tried to come up with a defensive answer for the Susquehanna quarterback after White rushed for 207 yards and three touchdowns and passed for 100 yards in the first meeting.

“The first time, they played a 3-5, and this time, they came out more of a 4-4 and kind of shaded a guy over the center,” said second-year Sabers coach Kyle Cook, who picked up his first playoff win. “I think they were trying to stop him and for the most part, a lot of times they did. It’s just that he broke away from a tackle at the line or wound up getting outside.”

After being held to minus-8 yards rushing in the first quarter and 33 in the first half, White ran for 129 yards and three touchdowns in the second half. He broke a 38-yard touchdown run in the third quarter and scored from 60 and 10 yards in the fourth.

Miller continued producing big plays on defense and special teams while also moving into the offensive backfield where he served as a lead blocker and caught a 10-yard pass.

Miller, who also has a blocked extra point this season, blocked a punt for the second straight week. He also finished with eight tackles and eight assists and had two sacks, giving him team-highs of seven sacks and 18 tackles for losses.

“We try to get some of our starters off special teams,” said Cook, who has decided not to with his all-star defensive end and leading rusher of both passes and kicks. “When we kick the ball off five times, he’s making three tackles, so it’s hard not to keep him on there.

“He finds the ball very well for being a big guy like that.”

Miller made the tackle both times Susquehanna stopped Lackawanna Trail inside the 30 on kickoff returns.

Hepler came up from the free safety position to have his most active day of the season defensively. He had a team-high nine tackles and five assists while also making an interception, forcing a fumble that was recovered in the end zone on a touchdown-saving tackle, and sacking the quarterback on a rollout.

“For our defense, it’s like having another linebacker in the box when he comes up that fast and hits people,” Cook said.

Hepler also rushed for 37 yards and handled punting and kick returning responsibilities.

White had been on limited duty, sitting out on defense in the regular-season finale against Old Forge with a hip pointer that had also slowed him in the upset loss to Carbondale the previous week. He returned to almost full-time play, adding six tackles and six assists while breaking up a pass from his linebacker position.

Cook describes White’s defensive contributions as many of the traits typically attributed to a quarterback.

“He’s a very intelligent football player,” White said. “He puts guys into position. From watching plays and watching film, he knows where pretty much the whole defense is supposed to be on each play.

“Without him in there, we lack a little bit because we have a couple younger kids in there with less experience.

“That did hurt against Old Forge last week. We were out of position a lot of times because basically we didn’t shift to their power or switch when they went in motion. He’s a huge offensive and defensive leader for us.”

White brought the Sabers right back after Lackawanna Trail opened the scoring on a 16-yard run by Cooper Rosiak with 10:37 left in the half. He ran 16 yards for a first down, then hit Austin Felter down the left side on a third-and-22 play that turned into a 41-yard touchdown for a 7-7 tie midway through the second quarter.

Susquehanna hurried up the field in the final minute of the half to produce the points that ultimately proved to be the margin of victory.

Hepler had runs of 13 and 14 yards and White had a 22-yarder. Steve Jesse, who also made all four of his extra points, hit a 25-yard field goal with no time on the clock for a 10-7 halftime lead.

Susquehanna opened a 10-point lead in the third quarter, but still needed one more comeback to produce the win.

After Hepler forced a fumble that Craig Stanley recovered in the end zone, the Sabers moved 80 yards on their first possession of the half. Hausser’s 23-yard run on third down led to White’s 38-yard touchdown with 6:12 left in the third quarter.

Lackawanna Trail turned the 17-7, third-quarter deficit into a 21-17 lead with 9:21 to play.

Rosiak scored his second touchdown on a 35-yard pass from Vic Mallory in the final minute of the third quarter. Ross Fauquier then scored the first of his two touchdowns.

The Lions’ lead lasted two plays and 56 seconds.

White was stopped immediately as he tried to move to the right, but he went the other way, made it to the left sideline and covered 60 yards for the go-ahead touchdown.

Hepler’s interception and Miller’s fourth-down stop, with help from Stanley and Hepler, halted the next two Lackawanna Trail possessions.

The Sabers took advantage of the failed fourth-down gamble to cover 27 yards in four plays and score on White’s 10-yard touchdown for a 31-21 lead with 1:56 left.

As they did in the loss at Susquehanna, the Lions tried to fight back.

They scored with 49 seconds left, but Miller covered the on-side kick, sealing the victory.

Susquehanna outrushed Lackawanna Trail, 284-160.

The Lions led 16-14 in first downs, 231-51 in passing yards and 391-335 in total offense.

Hausser had 63 yards on six carries.

Zach Conrad, Michael Vaccaro, Stanley and Jarred Mills contributed to the defense.

Conrad had five tackles, including a sack, and five assists.

Vaccaro had three tackles, five assists and a pass rush.

Stanley broke up three passes, including one on a fourth down, recovered the fumble, made one tackle and assisted on two others.

Mills made four tackles and assisted on three.

WEEK IN REVIEW

Olivia George’s goal with 2:51 to play October 28 lifted Warrior Run to a 2-1 victory and knocked Mountain View out of the state play with a first-round loss in the Class A girls’ soccer tournament.

Madison McConnell assisted on both goals as the Defenders overcame a halftime deficit and 13 saves by Mountain View’s Hannah Phillips.

Warrior Run held the four-time District 2 champion Lady Eagles to just three shots, none in the second half, in the game at the Balls Malls Soccer Complex in Hepburnville.

Erika Freely sent a pass through to Makenna Whitaker, who raced up the right side and beat Warrior Run goalie Madi Welliver for a 1-0 lead with eight minutes left in the first half.

McConnell set up Erika Landis for the tying goal seven minutes into the second half.

Warrior Run (18-1-2) built statistical leads of 20-3 in shots and 6-1 in corner kicks.

In girls’ volleyball, District 4 champion Troy eliminated Blue Ridge with a 25-18, 25-18, 25-14 sweep in the first round of the PIAA tournament.

Megan Houlihan, a sophomore outside hitter from Blue Ridge, was the only Susquehanna County player selected to the first team on the Lackawanna League volleyball all-star team, as selected by the league’s coaches.

Blue Ridge had three players and Susquehanna two, all seniors, named to the second team.

Outside hitter Chloe Randall, Kathryn Kempa and middle hitter Kristine Carlsen represented Blue Ridge. Outside hitter Ana Smith and setter Nicole Barnes were named from Susquehanna.

The honorable mention list included: Hayleigh Fekette and Kimberly Klym from Blue Ridge; Mikaela Peretti from Elk Lake; Lacy Nealy from Montrose, Felicia Hines from Susquehanna; Sabrina Fallon from Mountain View; and Zoey Zazzera from Forest City.

In professional hockey, Bryan Rust scored his team’s first two goals to lead the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins to a 6-4 victory over the host Binghamton Senators Saturday night.

The East Division-leading Penguins (8-5-1) won three games in less than 48 hours, beating the Hershey Bears, Binghamton and Syracuse Crunch.

COLLEGE CORNER

Elk Lake graduate Kelsey Hermick recently completed her college soccer career when Susquehanna University finished the season 6-11-2.

Hermick, a senior forward, appeared in four games this season and took one shot.

In her four-year career, Hermick played in 18 games. She scored a goal during her sophomore season and had a total of six shots.

THE WEEK AHEAD

Susquehanna (7-4) will travel to Old Forge to face the Blue Devils for the second time in three weeks.

The teams meet for the District 2 Class A football championship and a berth in the PIAA state playoffs.

Old Forge (11-0) played in the state final last year.

Our predictions were 6-2 (75.0 percent) last week on playoff openers, bringing our season record to 95-33 (74.2).

This week’s predictions, with home teams in CAPS: OLD FORGE 22, Susquehanna 13 … DUNMORE 28, Northwest 22 … Parkland 56, DELAWARE VALLEY 32.

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.

HARVICK WINS RACE, MAKES FINAL CUT

Kevin Harvick Wins Phoenix Race, Makes Final Cut. Furnished by NASCAR

PHOENIX, Ariz.—By winning Sunday’s Sprint Cup race, Kevin Harvick will join the three other drivers, Denny Hamlin, Joey Logano, and Ryan Newman, that will battle it out for the 2014 Chase Championship next week at Homestead, Florida.

Harvick, who started third, had to win the race in order to advance to the last race of the season. He led 264 laps of the 312-lap race, and finished nearly 2-seconds ahead of second-place driver Jeff Gordon.

“We had a fast car, but I knew we weren’t going to walk into it,” said Harvick. “It took a lot more than just speed on the track. Practically every time we pitted, the guys did a great job in getting me out.

“There were several times during the race I wasn’t sure about the outcome. We had talked it over with the entire team and were shooting for the win. We knew that a win would put us in. Anything less and we probably wouldn’t have made it.”

Jeff Gordon never led a lap, but gained valuable track position when he only took on two fresh tires instead of four near the end. On the last restart with 26-to-go, he was second. Despite another caution, he was not able to challenge Harvick for the lead or win. Without the win, Gordon must wait until next year to claim his fifth championship.

“I’m disappointed,” said Gordon. “We raced hard and we raced clean. I couldn’t be more proud of this team the way they’ve handled themselves this year. I’m not happy that we won’t be racing for the championship next week, but maybe we can win the race.”

Matt Kenseth was third, followed by Brad Keselowski, Denny Hamlin, Joey Logano, Kurt Busch, Dale Earnhardt Jr., Greg Biffle, and Marcos Ambrose.

Ryan Newman’s 11th-place finish allowed him to be the fourth and last driver in the final round.

“It feels good to make it,” said Newman. “I gave it my all. I wasn’t sure what was going to happen, but today, just like the rest of the season, we did our best.”

The Chase boils down to next week’s race at Homestead. All of the final four drivers have had their points rest to 5000, and whichever one finishes the highest will take home the trophy.

Several drivers had tire problems and hit the outside wall during Sunday’s race. Both of the Busch Brothers became acquainted with the concrete. Kurt hit it on lap 234, while brother, Kyle slapped it during lap 202.

Jimmie Johnson also had some problems. His team never got a handle on his race car. During lap 235, he was bumped from behind and pushed into the Turn-1 wall. He finished 39th.

Others that had problems included Jamie McMurray, Clint Bowyer, Josh Wise, Cole Whitt, and Austin Dillon. Kyle Larson was running sixth when he lost control on the last lap and wound up 13th.

Next Sunday’s race at Homestead will wrap up the 2014 racing season. It will also be ESPN’s last race. The network will be replaced by NBC in 2015.

CHASE ELLIOTT CLINCHES NATIONWIDE TITLE

Brad Keselowski won Saturday’s Nationwide Series race, but a 5th-place finish allowed Chase Elliott to clinch the 2014 Nationwide Series title.

Kyle Busch led 187 laps of the 200-lap race, but had to watch as Keselowski took the lead from him on a green-white-checkered restart and had to settle for runner-up.

Elliott Sadler was third, and then it was Ty Dillon, Chase Elliott, Erik Jones, Brian Scott, Brendan Gaughan, Trevor Bayne, and Regan Smith.

Top-10 leaders with one race left. 1. Elliott-1185, 2. Smith-1133, 3. Scott-1120, 4. Sadler-1119, 5. T. Dillon-1111, 6. Bayne-1052, 7. C. Buescher-975, 8. Gaughan-939, 9. Reed-872, 10. Kwasniewski-842.

In addition to being the first rookie to win a national title, at 18 years, 11 months, and 18 days, he is also the youngest. There is one more race left on the schedule, but Elliott’s lead of 54 points assures him of the championship no matter where he finishes next week.

ERIK JONES GETS SECOND TRUCK WIN

Erik Jones took the checkered flag in Friday night’s Phoenix truck race for his second win of the season.

The remainder of the top-10 finishers: Matt Crafton, Cole Custer, Ryan Blaney, Ben Rhodes, Darrell Wallace Jr., John Nemechek, Austin Dillon, Johnny Sauter, and Tyler Reddick.

Top-10 leaders with one race to go: 1. 1.Crafton-798, 2. Blaney-773, 3. Wallace Jr.-752, 4. Sauter-739, 5. Peters-705, 6. Coulter-659, 7. Quiroga-654, 8. Kennedy-652, 9. Burton-645, 10. Mingus-530.

KURT BUSCH ACCUSED OF DOMESTIC VIOLENCE

Say it ain’t so!

Kurt Busch has been accused of domestic assault by his ex-girlfriend.

Police in Dover, Delaware said the allegations were filed Wednesday by Busch's ex-girlfriend, Patricia Driscoll, 36. The allegations involved an incident inside his motorhome at a race at Dover International Speedway in September.

Driscoll has filed court documents asking that a judge order Busch to stay away from her and not contact her. She also is asking that Busch undergo a psychiatric evaluation and be evaluated by a certified domestic violence treatment agency.

In the documents it states that Busch was despondent the night of Sept. 26 after his poor performance at the qualifying session.

“He was verbally abusive to her and said he wished he had a gun so that he could kill himself,” Driscoll stated in the documents.

Driscoll said Busch, called her names and accused her of "having spies everywhere and having a camera on the bus to watch him." He then jumped up, grabbed her face and smashed her head three times against the wall next to the bed. Driscoll says she pushed Busch away and ran from the bedroom, going to a nearby bus to put an ice pack on her head and neck. She said the incident caused her severe pain, difficulty breathing and bruising on her neck. A hearing in the case is scheduled for Dec. 2.

Weekend Racing: All three of NASCAR’s major series’ will wrap up their season next weekend at the 1.5-mile Homestead, Florida track.

Fri., Nov 14, Truck Series race 22 of 22; Staring time: 7:30 pm ET; TV: FoxSports1.

Sat., Nov. 15, Nationwide Series race 33 of 33; Starting time: 4 pm ET; TV: ESPN2.

Sun., Nov. 16, Sprint Cup race 36 of 36; Starting time: 2 pm ET; TV: ESPN.

Racing Trivia Question: Who has the most Sprint Cup wins this season?

Last Week’s Question: This driver won the 1972 Daytona 500. He never ran more than seven NASCAR races in a season, and he also had four Indianapolis 500 wins. Answer. A. J. Foyt.

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

Makenna Whitaker

Makenna Whitaker has been a big part of Mountain View sweeping both Lackawanna League divisional and District 2 Class A girls’ soccer titles in each of her four years at the school.

Whitaker made sure the Lady Eagles would complete that run when she scored both of the game’s goals in the final 19 minutes October 30 during a 2-0 victory over Lakeland in the District 2 Class A final.

For her efforts throughout October, the three-sport, all-star is the latest Susquehanna County Transcript Athlete of the Month.

Whitaker broke into the soccer starting lineup during her freshman season and started in soccer, basketball and softball from that point forward in her career at Mountain View.

This season, she complemented a standout defense by averaging close to a goal and an assist per game.

“We were definitely feeling the pressure,” Whitaker said of the scoreless district championship game. “I knew that, as a senior, I definitely didn’t want the game to be a loss.

“My defense does an amazing job of keeping them from scoring any goals. I just kept thinking I need a goal for my team because our defense does so much, our midfield does so much. I just needed to put the ball in the back of the net.”

Mountain View allowed just three goals in league and district play this season.

“They work so hard that I need to work hard for them,” Whitaker said.

A teammate did the work to set up Whitaker to take a penalty shot that produced the final margin.

“One of our freshman, Erika Freely, did an awesome job of working her way into a call, which definitely changed the game around and made it a little bit more of a margin and made us more comfortable,” Whitaker said. “Her hustle play really changed the game around.”

Whitaker was recently named as a Lackawanna League Division 3 first-team soccer all-star. She led the basketball division in scoring last winter with 20 points per game. In addition to her high school success in softball, Whitaker is part of the Binghamton, N.Y.-based Diamond Dusters 18-Under team that captured the American Softball Association Eastern National Championship in Sterling, Va.

Makenna, the daughter of Roger and Maureen Whitaker, lives in Harford.

In order to qualify for the Grand Championship, teams must compete in all three competitions and compete in both categories, Hometown Cheer and Cheer/Dance Routine. Susquehanna Junior Saber Cheerleaders competed in all three competitions at Owego, Susquehanna and Windsor and our cheerleaders competed in both categories, Hometown Cheer and Cheer/Dance Routine.

Pictured (l-r) are the Susquehanna Junior Sabers C-Team: front row - Meghan Slocum, Leah Roe, Camryn Sellitto, Madison Butts, Kyla Seidel; middle row - Madeline Schell, Alexandria Hall, Abilene Pearson; back row - Sara Barnes, Rebecca Haley, Olivia Steffens, Meghan Perry, Gianna Bullick, Assistant Coach Shannon Martin, Head Coach Bridget Perry.

After the three competitions, the total scores for each squad that qualified within the C Team category are compiled, and the squad with the highest combined totals, were awarded individual Grand Championship Trophies. The C Team category consists of small squads (1-12 girls) and large squads (13 + girls). Susquehanna Junior Sabers C Team has worked extremely hard and it's great to see their hard work pay off. It's a great accomplishment for all involved.