PECKVILLE – Christian Miller started off with T-ball when he was six years old.

A couple years later, he added football to the mix and began developing skills that led to him teeing off on opposing backs.

Basketball also was part of the rotation for all but his freshman and sophomore years of high school.

The competitive days are nearing an end for Miller, the Susquehanna defensive end and three-sport athlete who joined the rest of the other top recent graduates from the Lackawanna Football Conference last week in beginning preparation for the July 29 Dream Game.

Miller, Austin White and Craig Stanley will represent Susquehanna while Billy Hewes will represent Montrose on the City team that takes on the County in the 81st annual Scranton Lions Club-sponsored game.

“This is my last football game; my last game of anything,” Miller said Thursday at John Henzes Veterans Memorial Stadium, which will be the site of the Scranton Lions Club-sponsored game.

Miller played football, basketball and baseball for the Sabers. He was a two-way, first-team Lackawanna Football Conference Division 4 all-star in football, but it was on the defensive side of the ball where he excelled and where he hopes to make a mark in his last game.

During each of the past two seasons, Miller led Susquehanna in all the defensive statistics that represent creating havoc in the opposing backfield. In 2013, he has 19 tackles for losses, 12 sacks, 7 pass rushes and 2 blocked kicks. Last season with some opponents doing their best to run away from him, Miller had 18 tackles for losses, 7 sacks, 12 pass rushes and 3 blocked kicks.

“I was always like that,” Miller said. “I always went after whoever had the ball.

“I played a little bit of linebacker when I was younger, but I got moved to end and that’s where I stuck.”

White also excelled on both sides of the ball for the Sabers, but he is more likely to play quarterback in the Dream Game, along with Delaware Valley’s Brett Cohen.

City coach Brian Fahey from West Scranton said he plans to install some plays to take advantage of White’s skills.

“We’ll have some dive option schemes,” Fahey said.

White, who plays to play at King’s College in the fall, ran for 998 yards and passed for 899 last season.

Stanley was originally an alternate, but he was added to the City team prior to the first practice. He was in on 35 tackles while breaking up two passes as a defensive back last season and also caught three passes as a wide receiver.

WEEK IN REVIEW

Kyle Roller of the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre RailRiders was named top star of the International League for his role in its rally for a 4-3 victory over the Pacific Coast League in the Triple-A All-Star Game Wednesday in Omaha.

The first baseman singled through the middle to drive in two runs and tie the game, 3-3, in the top of the ninth inning. Roller came off the bench to play first base and go 2-for-2 with a walk.

Austin Romine, the other RailRider in the game, played catcher for the last three innings and went 0-for-1 with a walk.

Roller and Romine capped a strong all-star week for the RailRiders, the New York Yankees top farm team.

Scranton/Wilkes-Barre outfielder Aaron Judge started at designated hitter and went 1-for-4 with an infield single and run scored when the United States defeated the World, 10-1, July 12 in the Futures Games in Cincinnati.

The Binghamton Mets made even bigger contributions in the outfield for the United States in the win.

Michael Conforto started in left field and went 2-for-2 with a run scored.

Brandon Nimmo came off the bench and went 1-for-2 with a run and an RBI.

Binghamton players were also part of the Eastern Division team that won the Eastern League All-Star Game Wednesday in Portland, Maine in a Home Run Derby Shootout after the teams were tied, 4-4, through nine innings.

Nimmo played the entire game in center field and scored a run while going 1-for-4 with a double.

Josh Rodriguez started at second base and went 1-for-3.

Gavin Cecchini pinch hit, then stayed in the game at shortstop. He went 0-for-1 with a walk.

Dario Alvarez pitched a third of an inning, issuing a walk and striking out one.

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.

“ROWDY” KYLE BUSCH GETS THIRD WIN

"Rowdy" Kyle Busch Wins at New Hampshire. Furnished by NASCAR.

“Rowdy” Kyle Busch is the hottest driver in the Sprint Cup Series. Since coming back from a leg and knee injury at Daytona, Busch has won three Cup races. The third one came Sunday at New Hampshire, and was his second consecutive victory.

Busch was running third behind Kevin Harvick and Brad Keselowski, when the trio approached a lapped car on lap 252 of the 301-lap race. Busch went to the outside of Keselowski, cut down, and passed Harvick on the inside for the lead.

All the leaders pitted a few laps later under caution. Busch and Keselowski got two tires each, while Harvick took on four.

When racing resumed Busch was the leader, and was never threatened by either runner-up Keselowski, or third-place finisher Kevin Harvick.

“Man, this is an awesome comeback,” said Busch. “Our cars today are so much better than they were a couple years ago. We were right on it today.”

Busch is currently 32nd in points. In order to make this year’s Chase, he must be in 30th position or better at the end of seven more races. In the last three races, he has gained 70 points, and needs to pick up 58 more. If he continues at his present pace, he will make the cut with points to spare.

Keselowski had the opinion that Busch might have caused him to lose momentum when he cut in front of him on lap 252.

“I’m not going to say what he (Busch) did,” said Keselowski, who led 101 laps. “We had a very fast car. I was just hoping to catch a break.”

Kevin Harvick led 59 laps, but ran out of race track near the end.

“I think the four-tire call was the right one,” Harvick said. “We had the right strategy. It just took us a little longer to get back to the front.”

The remaining top-10 finishers: 4. Joey Logano, 5. Dale Earnhardt Jr., 6. Matt Kenseth, 7. Carl Edwards, 8. Austin Dillon, 9. Jeff Gordon, 10. Kurt Busch.

The race was pretty uneventful. While there were nine cautions for 34 laps, they were for spinouts, and a fire under Alex Bowman’s car.

Top-10 leaders after 19 of 36: 1. Harvick-734, 2. Logano-655, 3. Earnhardt-655, 4. Johnson-648, 5. Truex-628, 6. Keselowski-603, 7. Kenseth-578, 8. Kurt Busch-576, 9. McMurray-574, 10. Gordon-573.

HAMLIN IS XFINITY WINNER

Despite an early spinout, Denny Hamlin came back to win Saturday’s Xfinity race at New Hampshire. Hamlin made contact with his teammate Kyle Busch just 23-laps into the 200 lap race, and spun around. His car wasn’t damaged and by lap 63, he was the leader.

Hamlin got into Austin Dillon late in the race, causing Dillon to get loose. Hamlin went on to win, but after the race, Dillon had his own opinion of what happened.

“That wasn't good racing,” said runner-up Dillon. “He didn't want anybody racing him side-by-side for more than a lap.”

Brad Keselowski was third, followed by Kyle Busch, Daniel Suarez, Ty Dillon, Regan Smith, Darrell Wallace, Chase Elliott, and Brennan Poole.

Top-10 leaders after 17 of 33: 1. C. Buescher-623, 2. Elliott-592, 3. T. Dillon-585, 4. Smith-564, 5. Sadler-555, 6. D. Wallace-547, 7. Suarez-516, 8. Gaughan-506, 9. Reed-502, 10. Scott-494.

HALF AND HALF AT STEWART HAAS

Stewart-Haas Racing is made up of four teams; Tony Stewart, Kevin Harvick, Kurt Busch, and Danica Patrick.

Two of the drivers; Kevin Harvick and Kurt Busch are doing well. Harvick leads all drivers in the Sprint Cup Series, while Busch is eighth.

The other half of the organization isn’t doing too well. Stewart is 28th in points, while Patrick is 22nd.

Depending on which two teams you look at depends on whether their glass is half full or half empty.

If either Stewart or Patrick hope to make this year’s Chase, they need to find a win pretty quick, because both are winless, and have shown very little at the midway point of the season.

“We’re fighting the handling of our car so bad right now,” Stewart said last week during a conference call. “The whole year has been frustrating. It just seems like everywhere we go, we seem to fight the same balance.”

Stewart said the new NASCAR rules package reducing the amount of horsepower from 850 to 725 at non-restrictor-plate races has caused him problems.

“When you drive for so long and you’re used to one thing … taking the amount of horsepower they took out this year was a pretty radical change for the Cup series,” Stewart said. “The reduction of horsepower is what I think has hurt me more than anything.

“There’s no doubt in my mind, I feel like every weekend is the weekend we find it. I’m not talking about a trick pit strategy … it’s not strictly getting a win. We want to get our car working.

“As a driver, you're thinking about one thing, and that's how to win the race. But to go and be in the role that I'm in now, I try to think from everybody's angle, whether it's a fan, whether it's a driver, an owner, a sponsor. You try to think of every angle of everybody that's going to be there, not just being there as a driver.

“It definitely changes your perspective, how you look at everything.”

Meanwhile, Patrick, who had a tizzy last week after Dale Earnhardt wrecked her, has fared especially bad in the past few weeks.

After the first eight races, she was 13th in points. But in the last 10 races, she has fallen all the way to 22nd, with three finishes of 34th or worse.

“I don't think that the changes that we made for qualifying were good,” said Patrick. “You learn with every mistake and we know not to do that and waste a run tomorrow, but it would have been nice to learn it in a practice session, but we didn't. So we made the most of it.”

She qualified 20th at New Hampshire and finished 24th.

Weekend Racing: The Trucks race Wednesday, July 22 at Eldora Speedway. The Xfinity and Cup teams are at the famed, 2.5-mile Brickyard in Indianapolis.

Wed., July 22; Truck Series race 11; Starting time: 9 pm ET; TV: FoxSports1.

Sat., July 25; Xfinity Series race 18 of 36; Starting time: 3:30 pm ET; TV: NBC.

Sun., July 26; Sprint Cup race 20 of 36; Starting time: 2:30 pm ET; TV: NBCS.

Racing Trivia Question: At what track does the 10-race Chase for the Sprint Cup Championship begin?

Last Week’s Question: Who won the 2014 Xfinity Series championship? Answer. It was Chase Elliott.

You may contact the Racing Reporter by e-mail at: hodges@race500.com.