Montrose graduate Chris Snee was inducted into the New York Giants Ring of Fame Sunday night during ceremonies at halftime of the Giants’ home game against the San Francisco 49ers.
Snee, who retired prior to the start of the 2014 season, was inducted along with former teammate Usi Umenyiora. John Johnson and Jack Lummus were also added to the Ring of Honor, which was created when the Giants moved into Met Life Stadium in 2010.
There were 30 original Ring of Honor members. This year’s class brings the total to 39. Snee is one of four offensive linemen in that group.
During 10 years as right offensive guard for the Giants, Snee was a four-time Pro Bowl player, three-time All-Pro selection and two-time Super Bowl champion.
Snee helped Montrose to the 1998 Lackawanna Football Conference Division 3 title, the school’s last football championship. He earned all-state in 1999 and represented Pennsylvania in the 2000 Big 33 Football Classic against Ohio.
DISTRICT 2 GOLF
EXETER – Two District 2 golf teams made it through the regular season with unbeaten records.
Forest City took care of both, beating Holy Cross and Wyoming Seminary to claim the Lackawanna League, then District 2 Class AA team golf championships.
“It was a dream come true,” first-year Foresters coach Art McLain said after Wednesday’s 7-2 romp over Holy Cross in the Lackawanna League final at Elmhurst Country Club. “It was a great day for the team. Everybody played really well.”
The Foresters kept going after avenging their only loss.
Switching to a medal play format in the District 2 championship match, they finished strong to defeat Wyoming Seminary, 339-366, at Fox Hill Country Club.
The teams were tied through nine holes.
Dylan O’Dell posted birdie 3s on the 17th and 18th holes to complete the best back nine out of any of the 20 players at Fox Hill that day in the Class AAA and AA district finals.
O’Dell shot 42-38—80 for the best round in the AA match.
Adam Kowalewski and Chris Bebla, O’Dell’s Forest City teammates, were next best with 84.
Kowalewski, Bebla and Mitchell Blake played in the final two groups and outscored the players they were paired with by 21 shots to break open what had been a tight match.
“Everybody kept their composure,” McLain said.
Blake shot 42 on the back to finish with a 91.
Forest City won its last golf title in 1992 as a Northeast Athletic Conference member.
The Foresters quickly put away the two-time defending Lackawanna Class AA champs.
O’Dell made one of the biggest shots of the season with a birdie on 15 to stop the last Holy Cross chance to building momentum.
Angelo Mancinelli, who was going against O’Dell in the match play format, was in with his second straight birdie at 15. O’Dell matched Mancinelli’s birdie to lock up a 4 and 3 better-ball win with Collin Ennis and move closer to his 3 and 2 singles victory.
Ennis also finished his singles victory over Mike Rogers at 16, 3 and 2. The wins by O’Dell and Ennis clinched the team victory.
Mitchell Blake had won a point in the first foursome and Kowalewski had clinched a win early in the final foursome.
Blake beat Justin Reed, 6 and 5.
Kowalewski routed Declan Tokash, 9 and 8, while joining Bebla for a 7 and 6 better-ball win over Tokash-Jim Tressler. Bebla beat Tressler, 2 up.
FOOTBALL RECAP
Jarred Mills is often one of the smallest players on the field.
Mills, however, takes on one of the biggest workloads.
The 5-foot-6, 158-pound junior running back/outside linebacker had the most carries and was in on the most tackles of any player on either team Saturday while leading the Sabers to a 14-7, Homecoming Day victory over visiting Holy Redeemer at William Emminger Memorial Field.
Most importantly, Mills picked up the most yards and accounted for the most points. He carried 19 times for 119 yards and two touchdowns.
“He gets a lot of snaps, but he’s a very durable kid,” Susquehanna coach Kyle Cook said. “He’s so small playing on the edge that a lot of times, I don’t think they seem him until the last second. He’s a great open-field tackler.”
Mills made six tackles, including two for five yards in losses, and assisted seven others. He also broke up two passes.
The defense, which held Montrose to just three points in a loss a week earlier, continued to play well.
“Everybody did their job,” Mills said.
That work resulted in the Sabers holding the Royals without a first down on six straight possessions at one point. They threw Holy Redeemer for losses on 13 plays, totaling 52 yards, forced four turnovers and limited the Royals to 89 yards total offense, even though one play produced 53.
Zach Conrad had seven tackles, including two for losses, four assists, a forced fumble and a broken-up pass.
Evan Aldrich made timely contributions with a sack, two other tackles for losses, a fumble recovery and three pass rushes.
The three tackles for losses by Aldrich all came on one possession in the second quarter to drive Holy Redeemer backward and give Susquehanna good field position, leading to the second touchdown. One of the pass rushes came on fourth down to end the Royals’ only trip into Sabers territory after closing within seven points. The fumble recovery, with 2:18 left, came on Holy Redeemer’s final offensive play and gave the Sabers a chance to run out the clock.
Susquehanna still had to overcome 102 yards in penalties and five lost fumbles, but in freshman Canyon Stone’s first start at quarterback, it produced a season-high 234 yards rushing.
Stone took some losses and was responsible for some fumbles, but he had four runs of at least eight yards while carrying 16 times for 52 yards.
“He made a lot of freshmen mistakes, which we knew he was going to,” Cook said. “But he did well. When we clean the fumbles up and each week get a little better with him, I think we’re going to be OK.”
The Sabers reached the Royals 25 before fumbling on their first drive, then scored on the next two possessions while breaking a four-game losing streak in which they had been shut out three times.
Wes Richardson provided 64 yards on 13 carries. He had an 11-yard run and a four-yarder on a fourth-and-three during a 13-play, 60-yard scoring drive.
The touchdown came when Mills took an option pitch to the left and went 11 yards for the score on fourth-and-three with 10:16 left in the half.
For the first time in three games since the old school bell was mounted below the scoreboard, the bell was rung in celebration of a Sabers touchdown. Dan Braun added the first of his two extra-point kicks.
Aldrich set up the field position and Mills raced 45 yards through a gaping hole on the left side on the next play to make it 14-0.
“My line made a huge hole for me and C.J. Stone made a great call,” Mills said of an audible by the freshman quarterback.
Stone’s final contribution to the win came after Holy Redeemer had hit a 53-yard touchdown pass on the first play of the fourth quarter.
With the Sabers trying to run out the clock, he converted a fourth-and-10 from the Holy Redeemer 15 with a 14-yard run.
Cook then had Stone kneel down to run out the remaining time rather than try to go for an unneeded score from the 1 and take any risks.
Adam Roe had four tackles, three assists and two pass rushes.
Richardson made three tackles for losses and had two assists.
Shaun Andersen intercepted a pass and Chris Graf and Dylan Stout joined Aldrich with fumble recoveries.
Holy Redeemer has lost five straight since shutting out Holy Cross, 21-0, in the opener.
Susquehanna broke its four-game losing streak one day after Montrose had its four-game winning streak snapped.
Garth Estadt scored touchdowns in each of the first three quarters as Lakeland pounded the host Meteors, 53-13, in a Lackawanna Football Conference Division 2 opener.
Estadt caught a 79-yard pass from Cody Rupp, then ran 54 and 42 yards for scores, helping Lakeland open a 46-0 lead less than two minutes into the second half.
The Chiefs ran for 427 yards.
Montrose played without leading rusher and inside linebacker Derek Nunez.
The Meteors were held scoreless until Maverick Tims scored on a 5-yard run with 22 seconds left in the third quarter.
Tyler Dovin added the other Montrose touchdown with 6:45 left.
WEEK IN REVIEW
Fred Joslyn won his third straight overall title and Heidi Peoples won her fourth women’s title during Sunday’s 20th annual Steamtown Marathon.
The 26.2-mile race starts at Forest City High School and finishes in downtown Scranton.
Joslyn, a 31-year-old from Mount Holly Springs, led a record 2,227 runners to the finish line in 2:25:21.08.
Peoples, 35, from Scranton, finished in 2:50:34.23.
Forest City graduate Carly (Graytock) Shea, a 37-year-old, now living in Cambridge, Mass., was the third finisher among women in 2:52:46.51.
Matt Nebzydoski from Montrose was the first Susquehanna County finisher, placing 58th in 3:00:08.71. He was also fourth in the Male 40-44 division.
Aaron Griggs, 29, from Montrose, was 93rd in 3:04:28.
Paula Fitch from Brackney won the Female 65-69 Division in 3:56:48.72.
Mary Ann Lawrenson from Thompson was sixth in the Female 50-54 Division in 3:44:23.95.
In boys’ cross country, Owen Brewer set a course record when Montrose won a battle of Lackawanna League unbeatens from Wallenpaupack, 26-29, at Blue Ridge October 6.
Brewer finished the 3.1-mile course in 17:09 and teammate Brandon Curley was just a second behind him in second place.
Montrose also defeated Delaware Valley, 15-50, to improve to 14-0.
Elk Lake was 1-1 on the day with a 15-44 win over Delaware Valley and a 19-36 loss to Wallenpaupack.
Hunter Bedell was fourth for Elk Lake in the five-team meet. Seth Owens and Cody Oswald were 11th and 12th.
Montrose also placed Zach Mead fifth and Eric Bixby 10th.
Blue Ridge’s Travis Hickling set a school record in 18:17 to finish 13th.
Montrose (14-0) was scheduled to face Abington Heights, the league’s only other unbeaten at 15-0, in a Tuesday meet.
In girls’ cross country, Elk Lake’s Keri Jones ran a Blue Ridge course record of 19:22 while leading her team to a sweep of Wallenpaupack, 19-37, and Delaware Valley, 19-42.
Elk Lake’s Justine Johns, Katie Bennett and Shyanna Bennett were third, fourth and sixth in the five-team cluster meet.
Georgia Smith led Montrose and freshman Karris Fazzi led Blue Ridge by taking seventh and eighth.
In girls’ tennis, Montrose finished fifth and Elk Lake ninth out of 12 teams in the Lackawanna League Class AA Division.
The final standings were: Scranton Prep 15-0, Valley View 12-3, North Pocono 11-4, Holy Cross 10-5, Montrose 8-7, Dunmore 7-8, Honesdale 7-8, Mid Valley 5-10, Elk Lake 3-12, West Scranton 2-13, Western Wayne 1-14, Riverside 0-15.
COLLEGE CORNER
Colby Thomas scored his third goal of the season Oct. 6 when Messiah College defeated Lebanon Valley, 4-1.
The sophomore from Mountain View had scored twice in the first four games. His latest goal helped Messiah, a national finalist a year ago, improve to 8-3-1.
Thomas has played in all 12 games, starting six. He also has an assist.
Zeb Cross, who joined Thomas on the Mountain View teams that won a state Class A title in 2012 and returned to the state final in 2013, has appeared in 10 games. He is scoreless.
THE WEEK AHEAD
Susquehanna and Montrose each hit the road for Lackawanna Football Conference games Friday night.
Susquehanna (0-1 in the division, 2-4 overall) is at Mid Valley (0-1, 1-5) in a Division 3 game. Montrose (0-1, 4-2) is at Western Wayne (0-1, 2-4).
Our high school football predictions last week were 8-1 (88.9 percent), bringing our season record to 54-21 (72.0).
This week’s predictions, with home teams in CAPS: MID VALLEY 20, Susquehanna 10 … Montrose 26, WESTERN WAYNE 18 … Scranton 18, NORTH POCONO 0 … WALLENPAUPACK 32, West Scranton 0 … Riverside 31, HONESDALE 6 … DUNMORE 22, Lakeland 20 … CARBONDALE 40, Holy Cross 6 … OLD FORGE 36, Lackawanna Trail 0 … SCRANTON PREP 22, Abington Heights 0 … Valley View 16, DELAWARE VALLEY 13.
In high school golf, Forest City will meet the District 4 champion Thursday at Eagles Mere Country Club for a state tournament berth.
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.
