Winter high school sports opened practice November 17 in preparation for Friday’s official Opening Night of non-league competition in swimming, wrestling and basketball.

Elk Lake competes in Division 2 in both boys’ and girls’ swimming, which opens Lackawanna League competition Dec. 9.

Mountain View has rejoined Lackawanna League wrestling, which opens December 17. The Eagles join Blue Ridge, Elk Lake and Montrose in competing in Division 2 along with Lackawanna Trail, Scranton Prep, Valley View and Western Wayne.

By adding double-duals this season, the Lackawanna League is down to just four dates for the league season.

The six county high schools join Lackawanna Trail in Division 4 of Lackawanna League basketball. The league portions of the schedules do not begin until after the New Year with the girls opening league play January 2 and the boys January 3.

WEEK IN REVIEW

Colin Holmes ran for two touchdowns and Dunmore limited Neumann-Goretti to just 70 yards rushing Saturday afternoon while posting a 30-18 victory in the Pennsylvania Interscholastic Athletic Association Class AA football quarterfinals.

Dunmore won its 13th straight since a season-opening loss to reach the state semifinals.

The Bucks opened a 23-6 lead early in the fourth quarter on the second Holmes touchdown, then recovered after the Saints closed within 23-18.

COLLEGE CORNER

Messiah College’s hopes of a third straight National College Athletic Association Division III men’s soccer championship fell short when a goal in the first minute Nov. 22 held up for Tufts University in a 1-0 victory in the national quarterfinals.

Tufts scored 53 seconds into the game, then withstood several late chances by Messiah, including three generated by Colby Thomas, a freshman from Mountain View.

Thomas redirected a shot past goalkeeper Scott Greenwood in the 67th minute only to have defender Zach Halliday knock the ball away just short of the goalline.

Thomas beat his defender on the right side in the 80th minute. His initial shot was blocked, but the rebound came right back to Thomas, whose shot from six yards away deflected off the crossbar.

“I thought one or two of our chances were in, but they did a great job clearing them off the line,” Messiah coach Brad McCarty said, according to a story on the school’s website. “Then, hitting the crossbar was a tough moment.”

Thomas started the first two of four NCAA Tournament games for Messiah, which was top-ranked in the nation all season before suffering its only loss to finish 21-1-1.

On the season, Thomas played in all 23 games, starting six. He had five goals and two assists.

Zeb Cross, a teammate of Thomas’ on the 2012 Mountain View state champions and 2013 state runner-ups, came off the bench in 21 games. He had a goal and an assist.

THE WEEK AHEAD

Dunmore will play District 3 champion Wyomissing in a meeting of 13-1 teams Saturday at 1 at Northern Lehigh for a berth in the state Class AA football championship game.

Last week’s high school football prediction was 1-0, improving our record to 11-3 (78.6 percent) for the playoffs and 100-34 (74.6) for the season overall.

This week’s prediction: Wyomissing 33, Dunmore 14.

In boys’ basketball, the season gets underway Friday night with Elk Lake at Carbondale in the annual Red Wallace Memorial Scholarship Game.

Montrose also opens Friday, at home against Riverside.

Susquehanna is home Saturday at 5 against Freedom Village. Mountain View is at Northeast Bradford that night.

Forest City opens by playing in the Finan Tournament at Carbondale. The Foresters meet the host Chargers Sunday in the opening round and play against the next night.

In girls’ basketball, Blue Ridge opens at the Towanda Tournament Friday and Saturday.

Elk Lake plays in the Tunkhannock Tournament Saturday and Sunday.

Forest City, Montrose and Mountain View each have non-league games Friday. Forest City is at Lakeland in the afternoon. Montrose is at Valley View and Mountain View is at Holy Cross at night.

In wrestling, Elk Lake and Blue Ridge open at the Wyalusing Duals Saturday.

Mountain View’s first match is Tuesday, Dec. 9 at Hanover Area.

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.

WOOD BROTHERS READYING FOR 2015

Leonard, Glen, and Eddie Wood in 1979

The Wood Brothers race team is still in business. After 64 years of fielding cars in NASCAR’s top ranks, they will start the 2015 sprint Cup season off with Ryan Blaney behind the wheel of their No. 21 Ford.

The team was formed in 1950 by brothers from the Blue Ridge Mountains of Southwest Virginia. Walter and Ada Wood owned a family farm between Woolwine and Stuart, Virginia. They had five sons (Glen, Leonard, Delano, Clay, and Ray Lee) and one daughter (Crystal). The sons worked with their father as mechanics, farmers, and lumbermen. Glen Wood cut timber and hauled lumber to local sawmills. The boys had a talent for auto mechanics and spent much time at their father's garage. With each brother serving as a mechanic, they formed a stock car racing team. Curtis Turner, a local sawmill operator from nearby Floyd, Virginia, inspired them. Turner became a champion racecar driver with a "win or crash" style and later was co-owner of Charlotte Motor Speedway. Coincidentally, Turner would later drive for the Wood Brothers.

In the early 1950s, none of the Wood boys wanted to drive, so they asked their friend John Conway, of nearby Stuart, to drive. Unfortunately, he declined the offer. Then they got fellow lumberman, Chris Williams, as their driver. In the early days of stock car racing, teams drove their cars to the track, raced them, and drove them home. Williams and the Wood Brothers bought their first car for $50, inspiring them to number their car No. 50, many years before they adopted their famous No. 21.

Chris Williams and Glen Wood each drove a few races. The team consisted of Williams, some of his brothers, and the Wood boys. They became successful, winning races at Bowman Gray Stadium in Winston-Salem, NC, and Martinsville Speedway in Martinsville, Virginia.

Shortly after their early success, Chris Williams sold his share of the team to Glen Wood to focus on his lumber business. To fill team slots, the Wood Brothers enlisted help from Stuart area friends and neighbors including Ralph Edwards, a Wood cousin.

Over the early years, the Wood Brothers Racing Team evolved from a weekend hobby into a full-time business. Glen and Leonard worked full-time building and preparing cars, while the other brothers and crew worked nights and weekends apart from their regular jobs. Their first permanent racing shop was at the town limits of Stuart, Va.

The team adopted the No. 21 permanently, and would become as notorious as any number in NASCAR history (along with the Petty No. 43 and Earnhardt No. 3). The Wood Brothers also found themselves lured to the big-ticket cash prizes offered by the growing Superspeedway races in cities such as Daytona, Fla.; Charlotte, NC; and Darlington, SC. Glen Wood soon stepped out from behind the wheel of the No. 21 Ford, and they began hiring drivers with reputations as winners at the different tracks.

The team soon began competing on the highest levels of the sport. Victories were won with the mechanical genius of the team of brothers, relatives, and friends. Leonard Wood's talent in the engine department soon brought the team acclaim and was second in the early years only to the fabled Holman-Moody engine building and the Petty racing dynasty of Lee Petty and son Richard Petty.

In 2011, Trevor Bayne became the youngest driver in Wood Brothers history, taking over duties of piloting the No. 21 in at least 17 races. On February 20, one day after his 20th birthday, Bayne won the 2011 Daytona 500. It was the first win for Wood Brothers Racing since Elliott Sadler at Bristol during the 2001 season. The win brought additional sponsorship for several races, including the All-Star Race. Ricky Stenhouse, Jr. replaced his Roush teammate at the Coca-Cola 600, when Bayne was diagnosed with what was thought to be Lyme Disease but later revealed to be multiple sclerosis.

The team lost the extra sponsorship for 2012, and for the rest of the season, they ran a limited schedule.

Bayne continued to run a limited schedule in both 2013 and 2014, however the team failed to return to victory lane. It was later announced that Bayne would compete in Roush-Fenway’s No. 6 Cup car full time in 2015.

Ryan Blaney, who won races in both Nationwide and truck in 2014, doesn't have full sponsorship for any series. He will run at least 12 Sprint Cup races for Wood Brothers Racing and will split time in Xfinity with Brad Keselowski and Joey Logano and maybe run a few truck races for Keselowski's team. Blaney isn't even worrying about running full time anywhere next season. He sees Cup as his future and is working on finding more money to add Cup races, whether that be with the Wood Brothers or a third Penske car for select events, for next season.

“I hope we can get it upwards to 17 to 20 (Cup races),” Blaney said. “We're working really hard to get that done. I'm going to be racing a lot next year and fortunate to be in great cars, so I can't worry about it too much. My mindset is try to do more Cup races. That is the ultimate goal, obviously, and try to get more experience in that. I want to try to find more Cup races instead of Nationwide just because it progresses you a lot faster learning those cars.”

ESPN GETS CHECKERED FLAG

After 28 years and 398 races, ESPN’s live telecasts of NASCAR Sprint Cup racing took the checkered flag Sunday at Homestead-Miami Speedway with the telecast of the 2014 season finale. Kevin Harvick won the NASCAR Sprint Cup championship.

The race marked the end of ESPN’s eight-year contract with NASCAR, which began in 2007. Previously, ESPN had televised live NASCAR racing from 1981-2000. Beginning in 2015, Fox and NBC will split the NASCAR season.

“We’ve enjoyed a long and mutually beneficial relationship with NASCAR,” said John Skipper, ESPN president. “NASCAR was a fundamental building block for ESPN during our first two decades and will always be an important part of our history. We have tremendous respect for all in the sport and wish them well.

“While we won’t be televising NASCAR races after this season, the only thing ending in our relationship with NASCAR is the live racing. NASCAR coverage will continue to live on all ESPN platforms going into the future.”

NBC signed a 10-year contract to broadcast the Sprint Series. In 2015, all telecasts will be on NBC and Fox. The Truck Series will continue to be carried by Fox Sports1.

SPRINT CUP AWARDS BANQUET

The 2014 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Awards and Banquet will be held at the Wynn Hotel in Las Vegas, Friday, Dec. 5. The drivers and stars will walk the red carpet from 4-5 pm and NASCAR.com will stream the arrivals live from 4:30- 5:00 pm ET.

FOX Sports 1 will air the show on live television beginning at 9 pm ET. Motor Racing Network and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio will begin coverage at 8 pm ET.

Racing Trivia Question: Kevin Harvick started his Cup career with Richard Childress after the death of Dale Earnhardt. Where was his first win?

Last Week’s Question: In what years did Stewart win his three Cup championships? Answer. His three Cup championships came in 2002, 2005, and 2011.

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