OLYPHANT – Susquehanna returns its top two tacklers and its most productive running back as it tries to overcome some significant graduation losses and remain near the top of Division 3 of the Lackawanna Football Conference.
Coming off their first district final appearance in 19 years, the Sabers are still regarded by opposing coaches as the top threat to overwhelming division and District 2 Class A favorite Old Forge, despite those losses.
“We have a lot of guys working; a lot of guys coming up,” said two-way starter Zach Conrad, who led the team in tackles last season from his linebacker position. “We did lose a lot, but we have a lot of guys who are willing to step up.”
Conrad was a first-team nepafootball.com all-star linebacker and a second-team choice in the offensive line for his play at center. He could, however, end up moving to tight end this season.
Zach Conrad
Jarred Mills also returns at linebacker after ranking second on the team in tackles.
The defense could be the team’s strong suit while the offense is revamped to replace LFC Division 3 Offensive Player of the Year Austin White and the team’s top five wide receivers.
“We have two linebackers back and three of our defensive lineman,” third-year coach Kyle Cook said. “Safety and corner is where we need help.
“(Brett) Hepler and (Craig) Stanley were both three-year starters. … That’s our biggest need.”
Nolan Hausser could help make up for many of those shortcomings in an increased role this season after starting at the other corner and working in a rotation of running backs.
Hausser is the most experienced defensive back, actually led the team in receiving while coming out of the backfield and was the second-leading rusher behind White. He averaged 6.5 per carry while running for 458 yards and was also the team’s top kick returner.
Nolan Hausser
“Last year, we had a lot of depth at running back so I could come in and out,” said Hausser, who tried to prepare himself through offseason workouts for a more demanding season. “I definitely think about the workload because a lot of it is going to be put on me.
“It’s going to be completely different.”
The players up front defensively include interior linemen Evan Aldrich and Cameron Mallery, who started on both sides of the ball.
Wesley Richardson returns at defensive back and is likely to take over at fullback.
Kyle Donovan is the new quarterback.
Brock Blodgett could be one of the receivers and part of the rebuilt secondary.
Michael Hilkert and Chris Graf are new linemen on both sides of the ball while Logan Conrad could figure in the offensive line and by adding support at linebacker.
Others battling for significant playing time include receiver Evan Haley, offensive lineman Joel Bayle and defensive back Kyle Bayle.
Eric Peters has some experience at punter while Dan Braun is expected to take over at kicker.
After Old Forge and Susquehanna, Lackawanna Trail and Carbondale are the other teams considered next most likely to get into the division race. Mid Valley and Holy Cross round out Division 3.
Susquehanna opens September 5 at home against Nanticoke. The rest of the schedule is: Sept. 11, at Meyers; Sept. 19, at Holy Cross; Sept. 26, DUNMORE; Oct. 2, MONTROSE; Oct. 10, HOLY REDEEMER; Oct. 16, at Mid Valley; Oct. 23, at Lackawanna Trail; Oct. 31, CARBONDALE; Nov. 6, at Old Forge.
WEEK IN REVIEW
MOUNT COBB – Montrose’s Austin Smith won the low senior award and Forest City had the best score by a Class AA team Friday when Lackawanna League golfers opened their season with the 52nd annual Irving Jackman Memorial Boys’ Tournament at Scranton Municipal Golf Course.
Smith shot a 3-over-par, 75 to tie for second overall in the tournament. He then went out and won the award for the low senior in a sudden-death playoff.
Forest City finished fifth in the 18-team field and first among 10 Class AA schools.
North Pocono shot 308 to win the title. Scranton Prep was second with 312, followed by Abington Heights at 313, Wallenpaupack 317 and Forest City 320.
Dylan O’Dell was also part of the second-place individual tie with a 75 while leading the way for Forest City.
Adam Kowalewski tied for 11th with a 78.
Freshmen Chris Bebla (82) and Collin Ennis (85) completed Forest City’s team score.
Montrose finished 12th with 359.
Smith shot 75 and Paul Motisko 84 to lead the Meteors.
Elk Lake and Blue Ridge were among the four schools that sent players, but not a full team, to the Jackman.
Elk Lake’s Cole Tyler shot an 85 while Blue Ridge was led by Corbin French with a 95.
Valley View’s Ron Yanoski won the individual title with a 1-under-par, 71.
THE WEEK AHEAD
Montrose will head to Holy Cross Friday in a rematch of the 2014 Lackawanna League Small School Division golf semifinals.
Holy Cross, the division champion, defeated Montrose, 6 ½-2 ½, in the semifinal match.
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.
LOGANO HOLDS OFF HARVICK AT BRISTOL
Joey Logano Holds off Harvick at Bristol
BRISTOL, Tenn.—Joey Logano captured his third Sprint Cup race of the season as he held on to finish .22-seconds ahead of Kevin Harvick, Saturday night at Bristol.
Logano led four times for 176 laps during the 500-lap race.
“Yeh, it was a little closer than I thought it would be,” said Logano. “We both found what worked for us. I thought we were going to be able to pull away because we were really good in the long run and then we didn't pull away, and I was like, uh-oh. It was all about working the lapped traffic at the end, not making mistakes and not getting bottled up in traffic and letting him get by. It was a very exciting last 20, 30 laps for sure, and neat to be able to get a checkered flag again here at Bristol.”
While Harvick did battle for the lead during the last 40 laps, he never led a lap and had to overcome a pit road speeding penalty.
“I made a mistake there on pit road and got us behind and just didn’t get our car through traffic like Joey (Logano) did,” Harvick said. “There were a couple of times when it was pretty close, but I wasn’t letting off the gas. I just needed to be a little bit closer to him to make something happen. This hasn’t been my favorite place to drive, but the team brings really fast race cars here, and that overcomes a lot of my lack of talent at this particular track.”
Polesitter Denny Hamlin was third.
“I thought we had a great shot for sure, but this track changes so much,” he said. “We practice in the mornings, the track is not rubbered up, and then we practice in the middle of the afternoon and the track's rubbered up, but it's hotter. The conditions change so much at night here that you can't just think that because you're really good in practice you're going to be good in the race.”
Jimmie Johnson was fourth, followed by Clint Bowyer, Brad Keselowski, Carl Edwards, Kyle Busch, Dale Earnhardt Jr. and Ryan Newman.
Matt Kenseth, winner of the Bristol spring race, had no chance to sweep the season. The engine in his No. 20 Toyota let go on lap 177, ending his night. He finished 42nd.
“They never warn you, it would be cool if they would send you a text or something,” Kenseth said. “It broke in the middle of the straightaway, and I knew it dropped a valve.”
There are two races left before the Chase begins. After race 26, the field will be narrowed to 16 drivers. Here are the top-20 drivers: 1. Harvick-908, 2. Logano-865, 3. Earnhardt-819, 4. Keselowski-793, 5. Johnson-792, 6. Truex-771, 7. Kenseth-753, 8. Kurt Busch713, 9. Hamlin-712, 10. McMurray-696, 11. Newman-683, 12. Menard-674, 13. Gordon-672, 14. Edwards-666, 15. Bowyer-655, 16. Almirola-620, 17. Kahne-618, 18. Biffle-572, 19. Austin Dillon-564, 20. Kyle Larson-551
In addition, NASCAR has ruled that Kyle Busch will be Chase-eligible if he is 30th or higher in the points. He is currently 29th. It is my understanding that he would be the 17th driver.
KYLE BUSCH CLAIMS XFINITY RACE
Kyle Busch won Friday night’s Xfinity Series race on a green-white-checkered restart after the leader Chris Buescher ran out of gas.
Finishing order: 1. Kyle Busch, 2. Kyle Larson, 3. Denny Hamlin, 4. Ty Dillon, 5. Daniel Suarez, 6. Brian Scott, 7. Chase Elliott, 8. Kevin Harvick, 9. Regan Smith, 10. Brendan Gaughan.
Top-10 leaders after 22 of 33: 1. C. Buescher-800, 2. T. Dillon-781, 3. Elliott-777, 4. Smith-749, 5. Sadler-718, 6. Suarez-697, 7. Wallace Jr.-697, 8. Scott-681, 9. Gaughan-676, 10. Reed-610.
REDDICK LEADS TRUCK SERIES
Top-10 Truck Series leaders after 14 of 23: 1. Reddick-550, 2. Crafton-544, 3. E. Jones-543, 4. Sauter-497, 5. Hemric-460, 6. Hayley-451, 7. Peters-448, 8. Townley-447, 9. Gallagher-416, 10. Kennedy-410.
RICHEST DRIVERS IN RACING
A financial institution known as Worthly.com has ranked the top-15 wealthiest drivers in racing. All are in NASCAR. Dale Earnhardt Jr. tops the list with 300 million dollars. The remainder are: Jeff Gordon-150; Ken Schrader-75; Kevin Harvick, Dale Earnhardt Sr., Tony Stewart and Mark Martin-70; Richard Petty and Matt Kenseth-60; Greg Biffle, Cale Yarborough, Kasey Kahne, and Carl Edwards-50; Jeff Burton-45; Jimmie Johnson-40.
SAD NEWS FROM MWR
Rob Kauffman, the majority owner of Michael Waltrip Racing announced that the organization would cease operations at the end of this season.
Kauffman, who saved MWR from closing in 2007 by purchasing half the team from Waltrip, said the team would not field Sprint Cup cars in 2016.
“Michael Waltrip Racing wouldn't have existed through today without substantial and continued financial support from me,” Kauffman said Friday at Bristol Motor Speedway. “From a business standpoint, that didn't make sense any longer. You can't have a top-10 budget and top-10 resources and not be in the top-10 for a sustained period of time. It's a performance-related business. It's all about performance. It's a great sport but a very difficult business model. From a business decision, it just made sense to not go forward with that organization, which is not commercially viable.”
Clint Bowyer, driver of the No. 15 MWR Toyota has been released from his contract and is a free agent for 2016.
“Had a great four years at this company, a great culture, great personnel, great people and I really did enjoy the years that I spent there,” said Bowyer.
Michael Waltrip spoke to the news media at Bristol.
“Our first race was here (Bristol Motor Speedway) in 1994 with Jeff Green,” said Waltrip. “We towed in here with Rodney Silver, a flatbed trailer, unloaded our car and ran third that day.
“We won Nationwide/Xfinity races from the garage behind our house and competed in the Cup Series.
“We made the Daytona 500 with Kenny Wallace in a car we built behind my house. That grew to Michael Waltrip Racing and we raced for a championship, like I said, Chase berths, race wins. I'm thankful. I'm happy. It's a great run that we've had. We'll just see what's next.”
Weekend Racing: The Xfinity Series is at Road America in Elkhart Lake, Wis., while the Trucks travel to Montreal, Canada. The Cup teams have an off week.
Sat., Aug. 29; Xfinity Series race 23 of 33; Starting time: 3 pm ET; TV: NBCS.
Sun., Aug. 30; Truck Series race 15 of 23; Starting time: 1:30 pm ET; TV: Foxsports1.
Racing Trivia Question: Who won the first Darlington race?
Last week’s question: Four female drivers have competed at Michigan International Speedway in the Sprint Cup Series. Janet Guthrie, Robin McCall, and Shawna Robinson are three of them. Who is the fourth? Answer. It is Danica Patrick.
You may contact the Racing Reporter by e-mail at: hodges@race500.com.
