Susquehanna kicker Steve Jesse was added to the City roster for the July 29 Dream Game.
Jesse’s addition gives the District 2 Class A finalist Sabers four representatives in the 81 st annual Scranton Lions Club-sponsored all-star game. The game, which features recent graduates of Lackawanna Football Conference teams, will be played for the second straight year at Valley View’s John Henzes Veterans Memorial Stadium in Peckville.
During his senior season, Jesse made three of seven field goals and hit 26 of 31 extra-point attempts to earn first-team www.nepafootball.com LFC Division 3 all-star honors.
Jesse joins LFC Division 3 Offensive Player of the Year Austin White, a quarterback, and two-way Division 3 first-team, all-star Christian Miller, a defensive end, as well as defensive back Craig Stanley on the roster.
Only Class AAAA teams Delaware Valley and Scranton and Class AA state finalist Dunmore have more players on the City roster than Susquehanna.
Scranton Prep, Wallenpaupack, North Pocono, Holy Cross, West Scranton and Montrose also have players on the City team, which is coached by West Scranton’s Brian Fahey.
Running back Billy Hewes is the lone Montrose player in the game.
Western Wayne’s Donnie McDonough is coaching the County team, which includes his players along with those from Lakeland, Lackawanna Trail, Honesdale, Old Forge, Mid Valley, Carbondale, Valley View, Abington Heights and Riverside.
The series has been evenly played through the years. The County won 14-7, last year but the City has a 39-37-4 lead in the series after winning the previous four games.
LOOKING BACK
Sebastian Cimoch from Forest City finished tied for first and Austin Smith from Montrose was alone in third place July 13 when the Anthracite Golf Association’s Lawler Junior Tour stopped at Scranton Municipal Golf Course.
Cimoch shot an even-par, 72 to tie Alex Pillar from Hawley for first place.
Smith used a 5-under-par, 31 to rally for a 73 and third place.
Three other players from Forest City tied for 15 th in the 54-player field. Adam Motovidlak, Chris Bebla and Dylan O’Dell all shot 80s.
Bebla and O’Dell shot 80 again July 20 at Elkview Country Club to tie for 12 th out of 50 players.
Cimoch tied for 15 th with an 81.
LOOKING AHEAD
The 34 th annual Keystone State Games are being held July 29-August 2 in the Greater York area.
The Keystone State Summer Games feature 50 sports and games – angling, archery, badminton, baseball, basketball, basketball shooting, bocce, bowling, Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, cornhole, cycling, darts, dodgeball, fencing, field hockey, firefighter challenge, fitness challenge, football combine and lineman challenge, football/softball throw, football 7v7, fun run, golf scramble, gymnastics, horseshoes, ice hockey, judo, karate, lacrosse, marathon, masters swimming, paintball, pickleball, police challenge, powerlifting, racquetball, shooting, shuffleboard, soccer, softball slowpitch, strongman, swimming, synchronized swimming, table pong, Taekwondo, table tennis, tennis, Texas hold’em, tug of war, track and field, volleyball, weightlifting, wrestling, wrestling duals, and wrist wrestling.
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 SWEEPS THE INDY BRICKS
INDIANAPOLIS, Ind.—Kyle Busch won both weekend races at the famed Brickyard. He has now won four of the last five Sprint Cup races, and is without a doubt the hottest driver on the Sprint Cup circuit.
“It took a lot to win this one,” said Busch. “I can’t believe we’ve come this far in such a short time. It’s really a treat to win here at Indy. I want to thank all my fans for sticking with me.
“Sweeping Indy has got to be the biggest weekend of my life.”
After breaking a foot and leg prior to the Daytona 500, Busch was out for eleven weeks. NASCAR said he would have to win at least one race, and finish in the top-30 in order to make this year’s Chase. He is currently 32nd in points, and only needs to pick up 23 more points over the next six races.
Busch grabbed the lead from Kevin Harvick on a restart with eight laps to go in Sunday’s 164-lap race. There were two more restarts, and the race ended under a green-white-checkered finish.
On the last restart, Joey Logano remained in Busch’s rear-view mirror, but did not have the speed to get around for the lead.
“It’s all about winning,” said Logano, who finished second. “The last restart was a good one for us, but I just couldn’t get under him. It was close, but it wasn’t a win.”
Kevin Harvick, who led the most laps (75) finished third. He had a strong car, and looked like the one to beat earlier in the race, but fizzled at the end.
“The restarts killed us,” said Harvick. “We had the same problem last week. We’ve got to get better. One time someone got into the back of me, and I couldn’t get going, but we’ve got to show improvement.”
Martin Truex, Denny Hamlin, Clint Bowyer, Matt Kenseth, Kurt Busch, Kyle Larson, and Brad Keselowski were the remaining top-10 finishers.
Polesitter Carl Edwards finished 13th after leading 20 laps.
Dale Earnhardt Jr. spun out on lap 159, but managed to stay on the lead lap and finished 22nd.
Jeff Gordon, who has five Indy wins got caught up in a Clint Bowyer spinout on lap 50, and finished 42nd.
“I don’t know what happened to him (Clint Bowyer),” said Gordon. “It got sideways on me and I had no place to go. I really hate it, but we’re not giving up. There’s a lot of racing left in this season.”
Top-10 leaders after 20 of 36: 1. Harvick-777, 2. Logano-708, 3. Earnhardt-677, 4. Johnson-675, 5. Truex-668, 6. Keselowski-638, 7. Kenseth-615, 8. Kurt Busch-612, 9. McMurray-602, 10. Hamlin-591.
KYLE BUSCH BEATS BLANEY IN XFINITY
Kyle Busch made a last lap pass on Ryan Blaney to win Saturday’s Xfinity race at Indianapolis. Busch, who led 53 laps of the 100-lap race was trailing Blaney as the field took the white flag, signifying one more lap.
Busch caught Blaney as the two drivers came out of turn-2, and was able to make the pass for the lead as the cars headed down the backstretch.
“I was able to get up some momentum coming out of the corner,” said Busch. “He was running higher than I was, and it allowed me to get under him.”
As Busch passed, the draft from Busch’s car caused Blaney’s No. 22 Ford to wiggle a little, and he was not able to retake the lead.
“I am very disappointed,” said Blaney. “I don’t know what happened on that last lap. Maybe I drifted up. Maybe I got a little loose. I know we should have won the race.”
Daniel Suarez, who started second, finished third.
“Man, we really had a super car today,” he said. “I mean, it was really fast. We kept trying to find a little more speed, but it was still a good finish.”
Paul Menard was fourth, followed by Elliott Sadler, Kevin Harvick, Kyle Larson, Regan Smith, Ty Dillon, and Chase Elliott.
Top-10 leaders after 18 of 33: 1. C. Buescher-651, 2. Elliott-626, 3. T. Dillon-621, 4. Smith-600, 5. Sadler-594, 6. Wallace-568, 7. Suarez-558, 8. Gaughan-537, 9. Scott-527, 10. Reed-526.
BELL CLAIMS ELDORA TRUCK RACE
Christopher Bell won Wednesday’s Truck Series race at Eldora Speedway.
Top-10 finishers: 1. Christopher Bell, 2. Bobby Pierce, 3. Tyler Reddick, 4. Eric Jones, 5. Daniel Hemric, 6. Austin Dillon, 7. John Nemechek, 8. Cameron Hayley, 9. Matt Crafton, 10. Ty Dillon.
Top-10 leaders after 11 of 23: 1. Crafton-452, 2. Reddick-438, 3. E. Jones-428, 4. Sauter-381, 5. Townley-360, 6. Hayley-351, 7. Hemric-347, 8. Peters-343, 9. Gallagher-335, 10. Kennedy-329.
GORDON HONORED IN HOMETOWN
Jeff Gordon, who will retire at the end of this season made a visit to his hometown of Pittsboro Indiana, to be guest of honor in a parade, and receive recognition from the residents and officials.
“The coolest thing is driving down the main street and seeing all those people, that blew my mind,” said Gordon. “To be able to share with some high school friends of mine, made my day, made their day.
“It does mean a lot to me. When I am surrounded by people who supported me so much, I start thinking, what got me here and how it all happened, I get emotional at things like that.”
Among the many honors and accolades given him, was an official police badge from the chief of police.
“They better rethink this badge,” Gordon said. “And the friends of mine that are here better rethink some things. How far back can I go on some citizen arrests? Of course, I'd be pulling myself into that as well.”
Weekend Racing: The Sprint and Truck teams are at the 2.5-mile tri-oval in Pocono, Pennsylvania, while the Xfinity Series is at Iowa Speedway, a seven-eighths mile oval.
Sat., Aug. 1; Truck Series race 12 of 23; Starting time: 1 pm ET; TV: Foxsports1.
Sat., Aug. 1; Xfinity Series race 19 of 33; Starting time: 8 pm ET; TV: NBCS.
Sun., Aug. 2; Sprint Cup Series race 21 of 36; Starting time: 1:30 pm ET; TV: NBCS.
Note: Last week we reported that the NBCS Sports Channel was located at channel 60 on Time Warner cable. According to some readers in upstate New York, channel 50 is the right one.
Racing Trivia Question: Can a driver make the Sprint Cup Chase without winning a race?
Last Week’s Question: At what track does the 10-race Chase for the Sprint Cup Championship begin? It begins Sept. 20 at Chicago.
You may contact the Racing Reporter by e-mail at: hodges@race500.com.
