Montrose and Holy Cross produced breakthrough wins on the football field during the weekend.
The Meteors posted back-to-back victories for the first time since the first two weeks of the 2008 season when they downed visiting Lackawanna Trail, 26-14, Friday night in a non-league game between Lackawanna Football Conference teams.
Montrose had gone 6-63 between that two-game winning streak and an upset of Carbondale in Week Two of this season.
“It’s a good start to this point,” Montrose coach Lou Cella said in an interview with the NPF Scoreboard Show on Fox Sports Radio – The Game 1400 AM in Scranton.
Holy Cross won for just the second time in four seasons and came up with its first home victory since 2010 when it downed Susquehanna, 35-33, in double overtime Saturday afternoon.
MONTROSE FOOTBALL
Derek Nunez ran for more than 100 yards for the second straight game and scored two touchdowns to lead the Meteors to their victory.
Nunez scored on touchdown runs of 38 yards in the first quarter and 58 yards in the third quarter.
Matt Saravitz kicked two field goals for the Meteors, who also got a clinching, 31-yard touchdown run from sophomore quarterback Cayden Myers with 59 seconds left.
Nunez and Saravitz helped Montrose open a 10-0 lead before a 9-yard Anthony Berrios run brought Lackawanna Trail back within, 10-6, at halftime.
After another touchdown by Nunez and field goal by Saravitz, the Meteors led, 19-6.
Lackawanna Trail closed to within 19-14 with 3:51 when remaining on a 7-yard, Nathan Rolka-to-Steve Scioscia touchdown pass.
SUSQUEHANNA FOOTBALL
DUNMORE – The longest game in the history of Susquehanna Sabers football was officially decided when Holy Cross made a two-point conversion stop at the end of the second overtime to escape with a win in the first Lackawanna Football Conference Division 3 game played this season.
The bulk of the damage that produced the Susquehanna loss, however, was self-inflicted much earlier in the game.
Two turnovers and three personal fouls helped put the Sabers in a 13-0 hole just 3:35 into the game.
“It was too many mistakes in the first half – penalties, interceptions, (four) turnovers,” Susquehanna coach Kyle Cook said.
By halftime, the Sabers had committed seven penalties for 71 yards, taking away one of their own scoring threats and extending a Crusaders drive that had otherwise been halted.
Susquehanna rallied from 14 down in the final 15:04 of regulation and was a play away from the win after scoring to start overtime and forcing Holy Cross into three straight incompletions.
“I’m proud of them,” Cook said. “We were down, 21-7. We’re a young team, so they don’t know what it’s like to come back.”
The Crusaders, however, had a comeback of their own left.
Cory Miller, 1-for-7 passing to that point, threw touchdowns on consecutive plays and ran for the winning two-point conversion.
Miller threw to Bailey Simrell on fourth-and-10 at the end of the first overtime series in the National Federation 10-Yard-Line Tiebreaker.
Holy Cross missed its kick attempt, sending the game into a second overtime where the Crusaders had possession first.
Miller threw to Kevin Kizis for a score on the first play, then ran for the two points and an eight-point lead.
The Sabers needed four plays to score on a 2-yard sneak by Kyle Donovan, but another sneak on the two-point attempt came up well short.
Donovan had scored four touchdowns on sneaks and the Sabers had gone 7-for-7 using the play, including to convert third and fourth downs, while outrushing the Crusaders, 255-14.
The trouble started early for the Sabers.
They crossed midfield on the first play only to be moved back by a personal foul after the whistle.
On the third play, Donovan’s pass was intercepted and returned 44 yards for a touchdown by Josh Mies. Mies added the kick for a 7-0 lead 1:19 into the game.
In another two plays, after a personal foul on the kickoff, a bad exchange in the backfield cost the Sabers possession again on a fumble.
Holy Cross took over at the 12 and got help from yet another penalty to score on a 1-yard Deion Lewis win for a 13-0 lead.
A Canyon Stone 56-yard kickoff return and a Jarred Mills run appeared to put the Sabers on the 5, but another penalty erased Mills’ run and the Sabers did not get the comeback started until the second quarter.
Wes Richardson’s 34-yard run and a 13-yarder by Mills on third-and-six set up an 8-yard Donovan touchdown. Mills added the kick to make it 13-7 with 4:09 left in the half.
The fourth Sabers turnover of the half led to a Holy Cross touchdown on the next play.
Miller threw a 36-yard touchdown pass to Kizis and hit Simrell for the two-pointer and a 21-7 lead.
The Sabers had a 19:21-4:39 time of possession edge in the second half when they scored on two of their first three drives to set up overtime.
Mills, playing tailback in place of the injured Nolan Hausser, carried 25 times for 142 yards in the game. He was 8-for-68 in the first drive of the half when the Sabers overcame two penalties to move 62 yards in 11 plays and score on a 2-yard Donovan run.
The kick was no good with 3:04 left in the third quarter, leaving the Sabers in need of both a touchdown and two-pointer to extend the game.
Susquehanna picked up two straight first downs on the next drive before consecutive fumbled snaps spoiled the drive.
The Sabers got the ball right back, however, when Jeffrey Morris made the stop on the next play, Zach Conrad forced a fumble and Mills ran it back nine yards to the Crusaders 22.
Donovan ran seven yards on third-and-five then scored the 2-yard touchdown on third-and-goal. Mills ran for the tying two-pointer.
The Sabers scored in two plays in overtime on a 5-yard Richardson run, but missed the kick.
After Holy Cross scored eight points to start the second overtime, the Sabers got six of the eight points they needed to force a third overtime.
Conrad and Mills led the defense.
Conrad made nine tackles, assisted on two, forced the fumble, broke up a pass and rushed the passer. Mills had three tackles, including a sack, along with four assists, the fumble recovery and a broken up pass.
Susquehanna led in first downs, 12-4, and outgained Holy Cross, 255-83, allowing just four yards in the second half.
WEEK IN REVIEW
Zach Mead finished fifth out of 99 runners and was joined by two teammates in the top 10 Saturday when Montrose finished second out of 12 teams in the seeded varsity boys’ race at the McDaniel-Baxter Cross Country Invitational at Chenango Valley, N.Y.
Zach Mead and Brandon Curley finished ninth and 10th.
The Montrose girls competed in the unseeded race and took fourth out of 11 teams with freshman Georgia Smith placing fifth out of 90 runners.
Earlier in the week, Montrose and Elk Lake improved to 5-0 in Lackawanna League boys’ cross country by sweeping Scranton Prep and Holy Cross.
Montrose beat defending champion Scranton Prep, 16-46, and Holy Cross, 23-39, in the Wednesday meet at Blue Ridge. Elk Lake edged Scranton Prep, 27-28, and defeated Holy Cross, 22-33.
In girls cross country, defending champion Elk Lake suffered its first two losses, 24-31 to Holy Cross and 27-30 to Scranton Prep.
In high school golf, Forest City defeated Dunmore, 7-2, in a meeting of two of the top four teams to remain unbeaten in the Lackawanna League Class AA Division.
Brianna Baker and Emily Hare from Montrose and Isabella Cosmello from Blue Ridge qualified for the District 2 Individual Championships with their efforts September 15 at Scranton Municipal Golf Course.
Baker shot an 89 for the best qualifying score by a Class AA player. Cosmello shot 96 and Hare shot 98.
Players had to finish in the top half of the field and shoot 100 or better to qualify.
COLLEGE CORNER
Kenzie Jones has helped Misericordia University get off to an impressive start in women’s cross country.
The freshman from Elk Lake has been the team’s fifth runner, figuring in the scoring of each meet as Misericordia has won 15-team and 10-team events and finished second out of nine teams in another.
Jones finished seventh out of 188 runners when Misericordia won the Cougar Classic Sept. 12. She was 11th of 173 and 13th out of 115 in the first two meets.
At Elk Lake, Jones was part of the 2012 team state champions and 2013 state runner-ups and was an individual state medalist last year.
THE WEEK AHEAD
Montrose will go after a third straight football victory Friday night when it hosts Holy Cross in a non-league game between Lackawanna Football Conference teams.
The Meteors are 2-1 and the Crusaders are 1-2.
Susquehanna is home Saturday against Dunmore in another non-league LFC crossover.
Dunmore, a state Class AA finalist a year ago, has won two straight to improve to 2-1. Susquehanna is 1-2.
Our high school football predictions were 11-3 (78.6 percent) last week for a season record of 34-11 (75.6).
This week’s picks, with the home teams in CAPS: MONTROSE 47, Holy Cross 7 … Dunmore 23, SUSQUEHANNA 9 … Scranton Prep 22, SCRANTON 6 … NORTH POCONO 32, West Scranton 7 … VALLEY VIEW 29, Wallenpaupack 8 … MID VALLEY 17, Western Wayne 8 … LAKELAND 44, Nanticoke 0 … RIVERSIDE 35, Hanover Area 10 … CARBONDALE 36, Honesdale 15 … Meyers 26, LACKAWANNA TRAIL 9 … OLD FORGE 38, Lake-Lehman 20 … ABINGTON HEIGHTS 3, Delaware Valley 0.
In high school golf, the Lackawanna League boys qualifier for the District 2 tournament is scheduled for Wednesday morning at Elmhurst Country Club.
Holy Cross is at Forest City Thursday in a match that could decide the Lackawanna League Class AA Division regular-season title. The defending champion Crusaders entered the week 8-0-1 while the Foresters were 7-0-1.
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.
