Montrose’s offense is built around the triple option.
The Meteors, however, were forced into a fourth option when it came time to determine a quarterback to open the season.
Injuries to the top three quarterbacks forced sophomore Cayden Myers to return to the position he played in junior high.
Myers, listed on the preseason roster as a wide receiver, took over with little time to prepare and by the second week produced a game-winning touchdown when the Meteors upset host Carbondale, 27-26, Friday night.
The Meteors had not completed a pass in the first two games until they needed it most, in the final two minutes after Carbondale’s Jason Jablonowski returned a punt to break a tie and give the Chargers a six-point lead.
Bryden Jerauld reached high to pull in a Myers pass and took it the rest of the way for a 54-yard touchdown. Matt Saravitz added the decisive extra-point kick.
Second-year Meteors coach Lou Cella also credited Seth Bulkley with helping make the winning play happen when Myers faked a pitch, ran a bootleg the other way and found Jerauld deep.
“We faked a toss and ran a boot,” Cella said. “Our sophomore guard was a personal escort for our sophomore quarterback and he threw a corner route to a sophomore receiver.”
With Carbondale intent on stacking the middle with defenders, Montrose went to several pitch plays with Derek Nunez, who averaged more than 10 yards per carry while running for nearly 200 yards and scoring three touchdowns.
The Meteors scored first and took the lead three times against Carbondale, which was coming off an upset win of its own in the opener at Hanover Area.
Carbondale took its first lead on Jason Jablonowski’s 53-yard punt return.
“We had guys in coverage who were behind their returner,” Cella said. “Jablonowski did a great job.
“They got that score, but we didn’t panic.”
Myers may remain at quarterback.
Joe Igo, originally expected to be the starter, suffered a broken collarbone in the preseason and will miss at the majority, if not all, of the season.
“That stinks because he worked very hard for this,” said Cella, who had praised the way Igo mastered the offense in the offseason to be ready to run the attack in his senior year.
SUSQUEHANNA FOOTBALL
WILKES-BARRE – Susquehanna’s offense came to a virtual halt Friday night, applying pressure to a defense that eventually broke down in a 32-0, non-league road loss to Wilkes-Barre Meyers.
The Sabers offense and special teams combined for two turnovers in just one offensive play to open the game.
Susquehanna’s defense turned aside Meyers possessions that started at the Sabers 18 and 38 in the first quarter and 44 in the third quarter, but eventually the Mohawks broke the game open.
Mark Robinson carried 18 times for 174 yards for Meyers, including a 69-yard touchdown in the second quarter for a 13-0 halftime lead.
Fahbian Biggs ran 62 yards for the final Meyers touchdown with 3:30 remaining.
The Mohawks held the Sabers to just five first downs, 33 yards rushing and 61 yards total offense.
Susquehanna crossed midfield just once in the first half, never getting closer than the Meyers 29. The Sabers never moved past their own 43 in the second half.
Zach Conrad led the defense with 10 tackles, including three for nine yards in losses, and two assists. He also rushed the passer once.
Jarred Mills, Wesley Richardson and Evan Aldrich also played well defensively.
Mills had six tackles, including one for a loss, and three assists. Richardson had six tackles, including a six-yard loss, and two assists. Aldrich had four tackles, including a sack and another tackle for a loss, and made four assists.
WEEK IN REVIEW
SCRANTON – Forest City’s Jennifer Korty finished fourth out of 72 runners Saturday in the varsity girls race of the 22nd annual Lackawanna County Commissioners’ Cross Country Invitational at McDade Park.
Korty finished the 3.1-mile course in 20:37.67.
The meet drew nine girls’ teams plus runners from five other schools, including Forest City.
Susquehanna was last of the nine teams with 259 points.
Liz Delaney was the top finisher for the Lady Sabers in 51st place.
Abigail Haines won the individual title in 19:39.89 while leading North Pocono to the team championship over Wallenpaupack, 38-69.
Forest City finished eighth out of 12 teams in the varsity boys meet, which also drew runners from three other schools.
William Westgate led the Foresters, finishing 23rd out of 87 in 18:34.80.
Alex McCuch, Susquehanna’s only entrant, finished 50th.
Matt Kravitz and David Haines finished 1-2 for North Pocono, but Wallenpaupack beat the Trojans out of the team title, 49-78.
Susquehanna finished sixth out of 16 junior high boys’ teams while Elk Lake was 10th and Forest City was last.
Elk Lake’s Peyton Jones finished fourth out of 176 entries.
The Sabers were led by Gavin Crawford and Dylan Crawford in 25th and 26th places.
Susquehanna was 11th out of 15 junior high girls’ teams, led by Taylor Huyck, who took 12th out of 160.
Elk Lake did not have a full team, but Maddie SIckler placed 25th.
The Wallenpaupack boys, Andrew Healey from Holy Cross, the Danville girls and Trina Barcarola from Western Wayne won junior high titles.
Earlier in the week, the Elk Lake boys and girls and Montrose boys all started the Lackawanna League season by going 3-0 in a cluster meet at Montrose.
The Elk Lake boys beat Scranton, 26-29; West Scranton, 18-41; and Mid Valley, 15-49. Montrose beat the same three teams, 20-41, 18-45, and 15-50.
Elk Lake won the girls’ meets, 18-41 over Scranton, 15-50 over West Scranton and 15-46 over Mid Valley.
In professional baseball, the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre RailRiders and Binghamton Mets were each swept in three games in league semifinal series.
The Indianapolis Indians rallied to defeat the Rail Riders, 4-2, Friday night at PNC Field in Moosic to finish off the best-of-five International League semifinals.
Kyle Davis allowed just two hits and one walk while striking out five in eight scoreless innings for the Rail Riders. He did not allow a runner past second base but Indianapolis scored four times in the ninth off the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre bullpen.
The RailRiders loaded the bases in the bottom of the ninth, but could not score on Indianapolis closer Blake Wood. They finished the night 1-for-13 with runners in scoring position while leaving 15 men on base.
IL Rookie of the Year Ben Gamel went 4-for-4 with a walk in the loss.
The Indians won the first two games at home. They opened the playoffs with a six-run first inning on the way to a 7-3 victory, then defeated the RailRiders, 6-1, in Game Two.
Binghamton’s season came to a similar conclusion.
The Mets lost their final game, 4-2, Saturday night in Reading when they went 0-for-11 with runners in scoring position in an Eastern League semifinal loss to the Phillies.
Binghamton went hitless in its last 18 at-bats in the series with runners in scoring position.
Reading began the series by winning, 9-4 and 3-0.
Prior to the playoffs, Scranton/Wilkes-Barre infielder Ali Castillo was named IL Batter of the Week for August 31-September 7.
During that time, Castillo batting .484 (15-for-31) with seven extra-base hits and eight RBI. He had three or more hits in a game four times during the week.</p>
LOOKING BACK
Susquehanna opened its football season with a big defensive effort September 6 in a 28-6 romp over visiting Nanticoke in a non-league game.
The Sabers forced seven turnovers, turning the last one into a touchdown on a Mills fumble recovery with 2:25 left to close the scoring.
Mills, Conrad, Noah Jennings and Aldrich led the way as the defense helped the Sabers pull out a victory despite managing just six first downs and 143 yards on offense.
In addition to his fumble recovery for a touchdown, Mills made six tackles and assisted on four others. His tackle on a conversion attempt kept the Sabers ahead, 7-6, at halftime.
Conrad made six tackles, assisted on five others, recovered two fumbles and rushed the passer.
Jennings rushed from his defensive end position to bat a pass into the air then intercept it. He also recovered a fumble and made five tackles, two of which were for losses.
Aldrich domination from his nose guard position appeared to be responsible for five straight fumbled snaps by Nanticoke, starting from when it was within, 14-6, midway through the fourth quarter.
“He’s so quick,” Sabers coach Kyle Cook said. “He’s so physical, getting off the ball. They couldn’t even get a snap off, not even a shot gun snap.”
Kyle Donovan led the offense in his first start at quarterback, carrying 15 times for 57 yards and hitting four of nine passes for 51 yards and a touchdown.
Following one of Zach Conrad’s fumble recoveries, Donovan rolled left and took his time for Logan Conrad to get open in the end zone for a 13-yard touchdown on third down in the third quarter.
The Sabers then scored twice in 20 seconds with less than three minutes remaining in the game.
Nolan Hausser, who ran 1 yard for a score in the first quarter, scored again from the 5 with 2:45 left.
Derek Nunez, a transfer from Wilkes-Barre Coughlin, made his Montrose debut by scoring both of the Meteors’ touchdowns in a 41-17, opening-night loss to visiting Meyers.
Robinson rushed for 142 yards and scored three touchdowns to lead the Mohawks. He scored touchdowns 38 seconds part to end the first half and start the second half, turning a 20-3 lead into a 34-3 blowout.
Matt Saravitz had hit a 37-yard field goal to get Montrose out of the first quarter trailing just 6-3.
Nunez finished with 99 yards and two touchdowns on just seven carries to lead Montrose. He scored from 10 and 65 yards.
In cross country, Owen Brewer led the way as Montrose finished second out of 28 boys’ teams at the season-opening Cliff Robbins Invitational at Misericordia University’s Letterkenny Fields.
Owen Brewer was eighth, Zack Mead 11th and Brandon Curley 14th out of 282 runners when the Meteors used an all-underclassmen lineup for the runner-up finish in the prestigious event.
Brewer and Mead are juniors, Brandon Curley, Eric Bixby and Jerome Washo are sophomores and Liam Mead and Max Brewer are freshmen. They all finished in the top 50.
Dallas won with 79 points. Montrose beat out Hazleton Area, 104-113, for second place.
Elk Lake was seventh with 235 points, Forest City 23rd with 583 and Blue Ridge 27th with 760.
Hunter Bedell led Elk Lake, placing ninth.
Defending state Class AA champion Dominic Hockenbury won the title.
Elk Lake was fourth out of 16 girls’ teams.
Scranton Prep edged Holy Cross, 68-69. Lake-Lehman was third with 110, followed by Elk Lake with 137.
Justine Johns was fifth, Keri Jones 11th and Katie Bennett 17th for Elk Lake.
Forest City did not compete as a full team, but Jennifer Korty placed sixth.
Susquehanna was third and Elk Lake was seventh out of 18 junior high boys’ teams.
Peyton Jones was second and Devin Bennett 10th for Elk Lake.
Forest City’s Matthew Korty was seventh.
Susquehanna was 13th of 16 teams in junior high girls.
Montrose’s Hannah Perkins was sixth and Susquehanna’s Huyck was ninth.
THE WEEK AHEAD
Susquehanna opens Lackawanna Football Conference Division 3 play Saturday at 1 at Holy Cross.
The Sabers are 1-1 and the Crusaders are 0-2.
Montrose is home Friday night against Lackawanna Trail in a non-league game between LFC opponents.
The Meteors are 1-1 and the Lions are 0-2.
Our high school football predictions were 12-3 (80.0 percent) for the first week and 11-5 (68.8 percent) for the second week for a total of 23-8 (74.2 percent).
This week’s picks, with the home teams in CAPS: MONTROSE 31, Lackawanna Trail 12 … Susquehanna 24, HOLY CROSS 0 … DELAWARE VALLEY 12, Hazleton Area 0 … WEST SCRANTON 18, Dunmore 6 … WILLIAMSPORT 15, Abington Heights 6 … HONESDALE 26, Mid Valley 19 … NORTH POCONO 31, Wyoming Area 20 … VALLEY VIEW 30, Lakeland 18 … NORTHWEST 34, Western Wayne 31 … WILKES-BARRE GAR 43, Carbondale 25 … Old Forge 34, HANOVER AREA 22 … WALLENPAUPACK 28, Scranton 22 … SCRANTON PREP 33, Tunkhannock 14 … WILKES-BARRE MEYERS 30, Riverside 20.
In boys’ and girls’ cross country, Scranton Prep and Holy Cross travel to Blue Ridge Wednesday to compete in meets against Blue Ridge, Montrose and Elk Lake.
Scranton Prep is the defending boys’ champion. Elk Lake, Holy Cross and Scranton Prep finished 1-2-3 in order in the girls’ league last year and all three swept their opening cluster meets.
In high school golf, Montrose is at Forest City Monday, September 21.
TOM ROBINSON writes a weekly local sports column for the Susquehanna County Transcript. He can be reached online at RobbyTR@aol.com and followed on Twitter at @tomjrobinson.
