ROARING BROOK TOWNSHIP – Brianna Baker had a plan for the District 2 Individual Golf Championships at Elmhurst Country Club October 12.
“Play it safe,” Baker said. “For the most part, I did that.”
By doing so, Baker came up with an accomplishment that was not necessarily in her plans going into the tournament.
The Montrose junior shot a 90 to win the District 2 Class AA girls championship and advance to the Pennsylvania Interscholastic Athletic Association East Regional, which was scheduled to be played Monday.
Baker shook off an eight on her third hole by playing the next eight in 4-over-par.
Susquehanna County players claimed half of the six PIAA East Regional berths available in Class AA boys.
Montrose’s Austin Smith, a 19th-place finisher in the state last year, advanced again by finishing second with a 77, three strokes behind district champion Tom Dzwonczyk of Holy Cross.
Dylan O’Dell and Adam Kowalewski advanced individually to the PIAA East Regional then went out three days later and landed spots in the state team championships with Forest City by winning a PIAA Subregional match against District 4 champion Montgomery-Muncy.
Baker won the Class AA girls title by two shots over Scranton Prep’s Lauren Golden.
There were three berths available in the regional.
Baker, Golden and Scranton Prep’s Reilly Ruane and Alex Fitzsimmons – Ruane took the last spot in a playoff over Fitzsimmons – made sure defending champion Madeline Wharton of Wyoming Area was unable to advance.
Montrose’s Emily Hare was 13th with a 118 and Blue Ridge’s Isabella Cosmello was last in the 14-player field with a 118. Players had to qualify through league competition just to make it to the district tournament.
O’Dell finished third in Class AA boys with a 78.
Kowalewski shot 83, then won a three-way playoff with Riverside’s Matt Torrisi and Lake-Lehman’s Adam Motovidlak to decide the district’s sixth and final regional qualifier. All three players bogeyed the first playoff hole, then Kowalewski won it with a par on the second trip back up the par-4, 18th hole.
Forest City’s Chris Bebla was one shot out of a playoff, finishing tied for ninth with an 84.
Paul Motsko from Montrose was 13th out of 32 players with an 86.
Forest City’s Mitchell Blake finished tied for 28th with a 103.
Blake bounced back in the Subregional match, contributing an 83 to Forest City’s 331-365 victory over Montgomery-Muncy at Eagles Mere Country Club.
Kowalewski led the way with a 79 and Bebla added an 82.
O’Dell and Collin Ennis each shot 87s to tie for the fourth spot in the state format, which uses the best four scores from a five-man lineup.
Forest City will play for the state team title October 28 at Heritage Hills Golf Resort in York.
WEEK IN REVIEW
KINGSTON -- Elk Lake’s Darci Warner and both Montrose players received a bye, then won once before being eliminated from the District 2 Class AA girls’ tennis singles tournament Thursday at Kirby Park.
Warner defeated Western Wayne’s Tyler Alpaugh, 6-1, 6-2. She then played a three-set match full of long points before eventually falling to fifth-seeded Angela Malinovitch from Holy Redeemer, 4-6, 6-3, 6-0.
Annelise Mittmann and Victoria Hinds from Montrose also both lost to seeded players.
Mittmann rallied past GAR’s Josmarilyn Rivas, 5-7, 7-5, 6-3, then lost to eighth-seeded Sarah Tofilska from North Pocono, 6-1, 6-0.
Hinds beat Honesdale’s Sabrina Woods, 7-5, 6-1, then was eliminated by Wyoming Seminary’s Megan Obeid, 6-0, 6-3.
North Pocono’s Sarah Sposito knocked out Elk Lake’s Shayla Griffiths, 6-1, 6-4, in the first round.
In girls’ soccer, Mountain View won its fourth straight Lackawanna League Division 3 title last year by getting through a playoff game.
The Lady Eagles clinched at least another playoff chance when they assured themselves of no worse than a tie for first with Thursday’s 2-1 victory over previously unbeaten Montrose.
Hannah Phillips made 11 saves and Mountain View scored twice late in the first half of the home-field victory.
Karlee Weeda assisted the first Mountain View goal and scored the second to erase an early Montrose lead.
The Lady Meteors took a 1-0 lead on Brianna Spence’s unassisted goal with 10:11 left in the half.
Sam Jones tied the score 48 seconds later and Weida scored the game-winner off a Hannah Richner assist with 6:22 left in the half.
Montrose led in shots, 12-9, and corner kicks, 11-4.
Both Montrose and Lakeland had a chance to join Mountain View in the tie for first when they played their regular-season finales on the road in games that were scheduled for Tuesday.
In high school football, Susquehanna and Montrose each lost divisional games on the road.
It took an 8-yard run by Susquehanna’s Jarred Mills with 5:49 remaining to avoid both teams losing by shutouts.
Mid Valley converted a pair of first-half turnovers and got all four of its touchdowns after starting at the midfield or in Susquehanna territory during a 26-7 Lackawanna Football Conference Division 3 victory.
Western Wayne got three touchdown passes from Scott Walck to defeat Montrose, 28-0, in an LFC Division 2 game.
Susquehanna picked up a first down on its second play and did not get another until it trailed, 20-0, with five minutes left in the third quarter.
The Spartans moved to 45 yards after a first-quarter interception, 20 yards after a second-quarter fumble and 35 yards after a third-quarter punt for their first three scores.
Susquehanna’s defense limited Mid Valley to 10 first downs and 3.4 yards per rushing attempt.
Zach Conrad led the defense with 10 tackles, including a sack and another for a loss, along with four assists and a pass rush.
Mills, who led the offense with 52 yards on 16 carries, and Dylan Monks each had six tackles and two assists.
The Sabers’ longest play was a 13-yard pass from Canyon Stone to Wes Richardson. They did not gain more than nine yards on any of their 32 running plays.
Montrose was within, 7-0, midway through the third quarter. Walck then threw two of his touchdown passes, both to Brandon Tuite.
In boys’ cross country, Montrose won a battle of unbeatens from Abington Heights, 19-41, in an October 13 cluster meet at Elk Lake.
Abington Heights actually suffered its first two losses, also falling to Elk Lake, 28-29.
Montrose and Elk Lake runners combined to take fourth through eighth spots in the six-team meet.
Owen Brewer and Zach Mead were fourth and fifth for Montrose, followed by Elk Lake’s Hunter Bedell, Montrose’s Brandon Curley and Elk Lake’s Cody Oswald.
Montrose also beat two other strong opponents, North Pocono, 25-34, and Valley View, 22-39, to improve to 17-0.
Elk Lake lost to North Pocono and beat Valley View, going 2-1 on the day.
COLLEGE CORNER
Katelin Graves is a sophomore reserve forward on the Marywood University women’s soccer team, that took a six-game unbeaten streak into the weekend.
The Elk Lake graduate has appeared in five games for the Pacers, who are 4-1-2 in the Colonial States Athletic Conference and 5-5-3 overall.
As a freshman, Graves played in 11 games and took one shot. She was named to the CSAC All-Academic Honor Roll.
THE WEEK AHEAD
Both Susquehanna and Montrose will be looking for their first Lackawanna Football Conference divisional wins in road games Friday night.
Susquehanna (0-2 in the division and 2-5 overall) is Lackawanna Trail (1-1, 2-5) in Division 3 while Montrose (0-2, 4-3) is at Riverside (2-0, 4-3) in Division 2.
Our high school football predictions last week were 7-3 (70.0 percent), making our season record 61-24 (71.8).
This week’s predictions, with home teams in CAPS: RIVERSIDE 29, Montrose 0 … LACKAWANNA TRAIL 24, Susquehanna 13 … Old Forge 32, CARBONDALE 10 … SCRANTON 12, Delaware Valley 6 … WALLENPAUPACK 24, North Pocono 13 … LAKELAND 44, Honesdale 3 … Dunmore 38, WESTERN WAYNE 6 … ABINGTON HEIGHTS 10, West Scranton 0 … Mid Valley 30, HOLY CROSS 6 … SCRANTON PREP 32, Valley View 13.
In girls’ tennis, the District 2 doubles tournament concludes Wednesday, tentatively at Kirby Park, with semifinals and finals.
In high school golf, players who made it through the East Regional will play in the PIAA Individual Championships at Heritage Hills Monday and Tuesday, Oct. 26-27.
In girls’ soccer, the District 2 playoffs start Monday, Oct. 26 with the Class AA play-in round, followed by the first round the next day.
In boys’ soccer, the District 2 playoffs start Tuesday, Oct. 27 with a Class AA first-round game.
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.
