Two Susquehanna Sabers and one Montrose Meteor have been selected to play on the City team July 20 in the 82nd annual Scranton Lions Club-sponsored Dream Game.
Linebacker/center Zach Conrad and defensive end Evan Aldrich, Blue Ridge graduates who played at Susquehanna as part of the schools’ cooperative sponsorship of the sport, are part of the City roster along with Elk Lake graduate Derek Nunez, a running back/linebacker who played at Montrose under the same arrangement.
The Dream Game matches two teams of 2016 Lackawanna Football Conference graduates against each other.
LFC Division 3 and District 2 Class AA champion Dunmore has seven players while LFC Division 1 and District 2 Class AAA champion Scranton Prep has six players on the City roster.
Josh Watters from Holy Cross will coach the City team, which has players from Scranton, West Scranton, North Pocono, Wallenpaupack and Delaware Valley, in addition to Susquehanna, Montrose, Dunmore, Scranton Prep and Holy Cross.
Larry Gabriel III will coach the County team made up of players from Old Forge, Valley View, Riverside, Western Wayne, Honesdale, Lackawanna Trail, Mid Valley, Lakeland, Abington Heights and his Carbondale team.
Conrad was named second-team Class A all-state linebacker by the Pennsylvania Football News. He was also a first-team LFC Division 4 all-star linebacker and second-team center, according to NPFSports.com.
Aldrich was a first-team LFC Division 4 all-star defensive end selection by NPFSports.com.
The website made Nunez, a first-team division all-star selection in LFC Division 3.
MORE ALL-STARS
Susquehanna sophomore hurdler/sprinter Skyla Wilson, Blue Ridge senior sprinter/hurdler Lindsey Rupakus and Carbondale junior distance runner Jenn Korty were among those selected first-team District 2 girls’ track and field all-stars by NPFSports.com.
The website honored the top 23 athletes, regardless of classification.
Elk Lake sophomore middle distance runner Lydia Ofalt was selected to the second team.
All of the county athletes competed on the Class AA level.
Wilson won the 300-meter hurdles district title and finished third in the state in the 100-meter hurdles. She was 12th in the state in the 300 hurdles.
Rupakus was a three-event state qualifier, taking 15th in the 300 hurdles. She was part of District 2 championship teams in the 400 and 1600 relays.
Korty, a home-schooled student in the Forest City School District, won the 800 and 1600 titles in districts and medaled with an eighth-place state finish in the 1600. She was also sixth in the district in the 3200.
Ofalt won the district championship in the 400. She helped the Lady Warriors to the Lackawanna League Division 4 title.
In boys’ track and field, Elk Lake senior thrower/hurdler Hunter Watkins and Mountain View senior pole vaulter Joe Nally were named to the All-District 2 team by NPFSports.com.
Montrose junior distance runner Zach Mead was a second-team selection.
Watkins earned his second straight state medal, placing third in the javelin. He won the District 2 javelin title and placed sixth in the 300 hurdles.
Nally placed third in the state in the pole vault after finishing second in District 2.
Mead reached the state final in the 1600 run where he placed 11th. He helped the Meteors to the Lackawanna Division 4 title.
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.
SAM HORNISH GETS XFINITY VICTORY
Sam Hornish at Phoenix in 2015 Furnished by NASCAR
NEWTON, Ia.--Sam Hornish, who was filling in for an injured Matt Tifft won Sunday's Xfinity Series race. Hornish, who was making his first NASCAR start of the season led 183 laps of the 250 lap race in the No. 18 Joe Gibbs Toyota.
The win was his fourth career series victory and first since 2014. He raced full-time in the Sprint Cup Series for Richard Petty Motorsports last year.
He has been working as a substitute teacher in Ohio. He got a call on Monday to race for Gibbs as a replacement driver, and jumped at the opportunity. Gibbs planned to use Matt Tifft in the No. 18 car but doctors recommended he not race due to a disc condition in his back.
“It's unbelievable,” said Hornish. “First, the unexpected phone call asking me to drive for Matt, and then this win. The team had done a great job preparing the car. I've couldn't have asked for anything better.”
When asked if he might consider getting back into NASCAR racing, he replied, “I'd love to get another phone call.”
Ty Dillon finished second 1.443-seconds back.
Rounding out the top-10 were Brad Keselowski, Daniel Suarez, Alex Bowman, Elliott Sadler, Justin Allgaier, Brennan Poole, Darrell Wallace Jr., and Ben Kennedy.
Top-10 leaders after 14 of 33: 1. Suarez-490, 2. Sadler-469, 3. A. Dillon-455, 4. Allgaier-422, 5. B. Jones-417, 6. Gaughan-412, 7. E. Jones-411, 8. Poole-407, 9. Wallace-373, 10. Reed-331.
BYRON CLAIMS THIRD TRUCK WIN
William Byron moved from fourth to first in a late race restart to win Saturday night's Truck Series race at Iowa, for his third win of the season.
Byron, gained the lead from Cole Custer on a restart with nine laps remaining, but a caution three laps later saw him have to fight off the rest of the field.
In the ensuing shootout, the 18-year-old Byron held off challengers Custer and Cameron Hayley for a series-high third win in just his ninth Truck Series start.
“My gosh, it's awesome just to be a part of Kyle Busch Motorsports and to have the group of guys I do,” said Byron. “It's amazing. I'm so fortunate to be in this position.
“We had a couple setbacks there. I stalled it on pit road and I had a few setbacks on some restarts, but we kept after it until that last restart. It's awesome.”
Custer finished second, followed by Hayley, Ben Rhodes, Tyler Reddick, Daniel Suarez, Ben Kennedy, Matt Crafton, Christopher Bell, and Johnny Sauter.
Top-10 leaders after 8 of 23: 1. Crafton-219, 2. Byron-208, 3. Peters-198, 4. Hemric-186, 5. Reddick-182, 6. Nemechek-175, 7. Sauter-174, 8. Kennedy-168, 9. Gallagher-165, 10. Hayley-158.
EARNHARDT HOPING TO BREAK SLUMP
Dale Earnhardt Jr. and his fiance, Amy Reimann flew to Germany, for a few days, during the off weekend for Sprint Cup drivers.
Earnhardt is hopeful the break in the action will allow him to return refreshed, because he needs a win. He won a Daytona Exhibition race in February, but after 15 regular season races, he has no wins and no poles.
He vented his frustration, beginning at Dover on May 15.
In audio posted as part of his weekly web channel show, Earnhardt didn't hide his frustration.
“We have a problem, Houston,” he said. “It's time to start understanding how severe this situation is and really get to owning it.
"I'm clearly disappointed. All of the guys on the team are in the same boat, and all the guys on the team are also very positive. You have to be for us to be able to get better -- we all have got to work together. We know we can do it. I believe in all my guys. I believe in Greg and they believe in me. And we'll figure it out. We've been down before.
“But it's time to own it. It's time to get after it. We've been working hard. But we've got to look ourselves in the mirror and really get to it and figure out what's going on.”
At Charlotte the next week, he finished 14th.
A week later at Pocono, he had a strong runner-up finish, and it looked like the team might have found something.
Then came Michigan. After being involved in a wreck, which did not allow him to finish, he came in 39th.
So naturally, Earnhardt's frustration continued.
“We were in the middle there and the No. 34 (Buescher) ran into the left-rear quarter panel and knocked us in the fence,” Earnhardt said. “He must have just lost the nose of his car. I hate it, but you try to take care of each other out there. We all try to race hard and I wish he would have taken better care of us. It happens, though.
“I’m angry, but I won’t be too upset about it later. It’s frustrating right now because we had a good car and I was happy with the way the car drove. We had good speed, we just needed to continue to work on getting our track position and we were doing that. We won’t get a chance to get the finish I think we could have got today.”
While he is still 11th in points, he is winless and slipping. He’s only two points ahead of 12th-place Austin Dillon and three ahead of 13th Denny Hamlin. Unless he wins, he must finish in the top-16 to make the Chase for the Sprint Cup.
Meanwhile Kyle Larson and his No. 42 Sprint Cup team hopes to bounce back from a NASCAR penalty after the Michigan race.
Larson dropped from 19th to 21st in points after NASCAR penalized his team 15 points for a rules violation after his car failed a post-race inspection at Michigan last weekend.
The car was unable to successfully pass a laser inspection at Michigan that gauges the compliance of bodywork.
This was the second week in a row the No. 42 team had been penalized. One week earlier, crew chief Chad Johnston was suspended for one race because of a lug nut violation.
Interim crew chief Philip Surgen was also fined $25,000.
Surgen, a team engineer was a replacement crew chief for Chad Johnston.
The Sprint Cup teams had Father's Day off. Their next race will be at Sonoma on June 26.
Top-10 Sprint Cup leaders after 15 of 36: 1. Harvick-526, 2. Kurt Busch-496, 3. Keselowski-480, 4. Edwards-472, 5. Logano-455, 6. Elliott-453, 7. Johnson-441, 8. Truex-433, 9. Kyle Busch-417, 10. Kenseth-409.
Weekend Racing: The Truck Series will be at Gateway Motorsports Park, just across the river from St. Louis, Missouri. The Cup teams travel to the 1.99 mile, 12 turn Sonoma, California road course. The Xfinity Series has an off week.
Sat., June 25; Truck Series race 9 of 23; Starting time: 8:30 pm ET; TV: Foxsports1.
Sun., June 26; Sprint Cup race 16 of 36; Starting time: 3 pm ET; TV: Foxsports1.
Racing Trivia Question: Which team did Kevin Harvick race for before moving to Stewart-Haas Racing?
Last Week's Question? What year did the Iowa Speedway open? Answer. It opened in 2006.
You may contact the Racing Reporter by e-mail at: hodges@race500.com
