PECKVILLE – There were just three Susquehanna County football players selected to participate in the 82nd annual Dream Game.

As far as the County team’s offense was concerned that was too many.

Zach Conrad, Derek Nunez and Evan Aldrich led the defense as the City continued its recent dominance in the game with a 35-8 romp over the County Wednesday night before a crowd of 7,468 at John Henzes/Veterans Memorial Stadium.

Nunez, an Elk Lake graduate who played for Montrose, was the game’s dominant player in the first quarter when the City was establishing control.

Conrad made it two straight years that a former Susquehanna player was the leading tackler in the Scranton Lions Club-sponsored all-star game for recent Lackawanna Football Conference graduates.

Both Conrad and Aldrich, Blue Ridge graduates who played for the Sabers, landed starting spots in the City defense.

Together, the Susquehanna County contingent combined for 19 tackles and seven assists. They had more tackles than any other three players combined in the game.

Of the City’s eight tackles for losses, five were made by Susquehanna County players.

“I had a great time,” said Conrad, who is preparing to play at Marietta College in Ohio. “I loved playing in front of the big crowd. It’s amazing.

“We had a couple playoff games, but they weren’t nearly what this was. It’s really something incredible.”

Conrad, a second-team Pennsylvania Football News all-state selection while playing middle linebacker at Susquehanna, started at outside linebacker. He spent most of his time there, although he did move to the middle when Scranton Prep’s Tyler Stafursky was out of the game.

Nunez did not start, but once he was in the game, the County could not stop him on the perimeter.

Playing defensive end, instead of his high school position of linebacker, Nunez threw County backs for nine-yard losses twice while making six tackles in the first quarter.

“We had some wrecking balls in our defensive line,” said Aldrich, who thought that Nunez’s speed combined well with that strength. “Nunez helped flush things toward the middle toward the tackles and it helped him individually have success.”

Aldrich also made his way into the County offensive backfield. He made two tackles, including one for a loss, assisted four others and rushed the quarterback into two incompletions.

West Scranton’s Matt Gaul threw for two touchdowns and a two-point conversion to lead the City offense.

Gaul threw touchdown passes of 24 yards to Scranton Prep’s Kevin Holmes in the first quarter and 26 yards to North Pocono’s Timmy Blaine in the final minute of the first half.

North Pocono’s Matt Kelly returned an interception 81 yards for a third-quarter touchdown and a 28-0 lead. Conrad helped Kelly break free on the play.

All the County scoring came midway through the third when Jordan Hollander from Abington Heights and Brandon Tuite from Western Wayne connected on a 23-yard pass, then a two-point conversion.

The other City touchdowns came on a 1-yard run by Delaware Valley’s Austin Cernek and a 7-yard run by Dunmore’s Garrett Murray.

The City was coached by Josh Watters from Holy Cross. It included players from Susquehanna, Montrose, West Scranton, Scranton Prep, North Pocono, Dunmore, Delaware Valley, West Scranton, Wallenpaupack and Holy Cross.

Larry Gabriel III from Carbondale coached the County team. It included players from Abington Heights, Western Wayne, Old Forge, Riverside, Carbondale, Lakeland, Lackawanna Trail, Valley View and Mid Valley.

Proceeds from the game benefit sight preservation programs.

WEEK IN REVIEW

The Scranton/Wilkes-Barre RailRiders had their franchise record 12-game road winning streak come to an end July 18 in Charlotte, but came back to tie another record later in the week.

The RailRiders, who have the top record in all of Triple-A baseball, the top level of the minor leagues, still managed to go 5-2 on the road trip. They did so with the help of a franchise record-tying 12 runs in the sixth inning of Wednesday night’s 14-2 victory over the Charlotte Knights.

Leadoff hitter Ben Gamel had his league-leading 16-game hitting streak come to an end during the streak-snapping loss.

Luis Severino improved to 7-1 when he struck out a career-high 11 in six innings to get the win in the Wednesday rout.

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.

KENSETH WINS BIG AT NEW HAMPSHIRE

Matt Kenseth, Sprint Cup Winner at New Hampshire

LOUDON, N.H.--Matt Kenseth took the lead from Martin Truex Jr. on lap 255 of Sunday's 301-lap Sprint Cup race, and led the remaining 45 laps for his second victory of the season.

“It don't get any better than this,” said Kenseth. “The guys really gave me a good race car there at the end. I could run high or low. It was just a great handling car. If I hadn't won this one, it would have been my fault.”

Tony Stewart, who started the race from the 12th spot, ran in the middle of the pack for most of the race, but near the end passed Joey Logano for second.

“We were much better today,” said Stewart. “The only problem I had was on the restarts. The team made the right choices. When you can do things like we did today, it gives you more confidence.”

Logano held on for third, while Kevin Harvick was fourth. Greg Biffle was fifth, followed by Jamie McMurray, and Ryan Newman.

Kyle Busch, the eighth-place driver led 4 times for 138 laps, but had problems with a loose handling car near the end.

Denny Hamlin and Ricky Stenhouse were the remaining top-10 drivers. 

Jimmie Johnson started on the pole, led one lap and finished 12th.

Martin Truex Jr. would have won the Bad Luck Award if it had been offered. He qualified third, led 123 laps, but near the end, his car developed a gear-shifting problem that caused him problems on the last four restarts.

The race had only two cautions during the first 252 laps, then there were five before it ended. Overall, it was the type race that you'd rather nap through, with only six lead changes and very few exciting moments.

Top-16 Chase leaders after 19 of 26: 1. Harvick-636, 2. Keselowski-622, 3. Kurt Busch-602, 4. Edwards-587, 5. Logano-571, 6. Kyle Busch-556, 7. Truex-540, 8. Kenseth-521, 9. Johnson-514, 10. Hamlin-505, 11. Elliott-499, 12. Newman-497, 13. Austin Dillon-488, 14. McMurray-474, 15. Earnhardt-461, 16. Bayne-447.

“ROWDY” KYLE GETS 82nd XFINITY WIN

Kyle Busch took the checkered flag ahead of his teammate Erik Jones at New Hampshire for his sixth Xfinity Series win of the season, and 82nd career series victory.

Busch’s Toyota humbled the rest of the competitors. He led 190 of the 200 laps, and with three quarters of the race over, there were only nine cars on the lead lap. A series of late cautions brought the number to 13.

“(Crew chief) Chris (Gayle) made some great calls today, some really good calls, and we had a stout car and a stout engine,” Busch said. “I think (the key) was having a really good car and being with a great team.”

Brad Keselowski, Daniel Suarez, Austin Dillon, Brennan Poole, Justin Allgaier, Alex Bowman, Brendan Gaughan, and Elliott Sadler were the remaining top-10.

Top-10 leaders after 17 of 33: 1. Suarez-574, 2. Sadler-559, 3. T. Dillon-526, 4. E. Jones-520, 5. Gaughan-509, 6. Allgaier-506, 7. B. Poole-489, 8. B. Jones-4890, 9. Wallace-459, 10. Reed-405.

WHAT DOES THE FUTURE HOLD FOR EARNHARDT

Dale Earnhardt Jr. did not drive this past weekend at New Hampshire due to concussion-like symptoms that occurred last week. He was replaced by Alex Bowman, who finished 26th in Sunday\s Sprint Cup race.

Earnhardt developed a concussion following two hard crashes in 2012. One came during a crash in a test session at Kansas Speedway, and the other was after a multicar crash in the Fall race at Talladega Super Speedway.

After the last hit, he was examined by a team of medical experts in Charlotte, North Carolina, who determined that he had indeed suffered one and possibly more concussions. As a result of that examination, Earnhardt sat out the next two weeks, and missed the Chase for the Sprint Cup races at Charlotte and Kansas in 2012 because of the effects of his concussions.

He recovered and has never publicly complained about any more dizziness, until last week. At first Earnhardt said he thought it was allergies, but he continued to feel bad.

Prior to the Kentucky race, Doug Duchardt Hendrick General Manager said Earnhardt told crew chief Greg Ives that he wasn't feeling well. On Tuesday morning he told the team that he still wasn't feeling well and that the team might need to be thinking of backup plans. At that point, it was just a plan for a driver to fill in if Earnhardt started the race and could not do the entire event.

But after consultation with a neurologist in Charlotte, it was determined that he would not be able to race at all this weekend.

“I wasn't feeling great the week going into Kentucky (Speedway) and thought it was possibly severe allergies,” said Earnhardt. “I saw a family doctor and was given medication for allergies and a sinus infection. When that didn't help, I decided to dig a little deeper. Because of my symptoms and my history with concussions, and after my recent wrecks at Michigan and Daytona, I reached out and met with a neurological specialist. After further evaluation, they felt it was best for me to sit out.”

How long Earnhardt must sit out is not known at this time, but he will need approval from a independent, board-certified neurologist before he is allowed to return to NASCAR racing.

Earnhardt has yet to win a race this season. He stands 15th among Sprint Cup Chase drivers, just 14 points ahead of Trevor Bayne after missing Sunday's New Hampshire race. The top-16 in driver standings after the season's 26th race, at Richmond, will qualify for the Chase for the Sprint Cup. That 10-race series begins Sept. 18 at Chicagoland.

Duchardt says they won't speculate on the long term impact of this on Earnhardt, Jr's career, but they will make a decision by Wednesday as to whether Earnhardt will drive at Indianapolis.

Should Earnhardt, Jr. not be able to race next week, Jeff Gordon will drive the No. 88 at Indianapolis Motor Speedway.

Gordon, who has five Brickyard wins, retired at the end of last season and spent the first half of 2016 working in the broadcast booth as a Fox analyst.

We'll have to wait and see what happens, but the single most important part of this scenario, is Earnhardt's long-term health. But whether Earnhardt races in one week, one month, one year or never again, his legacy is established.

There have been no public statement from Gordon, who is vacationing with his family in France.

The Truck Series had an off week, but here are the top-10 drivers after 10 of 23: 1. Byron-263, 2. Crafton-250, 3. Hemric-246, 4. Peters-246, 5. Sauter-233, 6. Nemechek-223, 7. Reddick-215, 8. Bell-214, 9. Kennedy-203, 10. Rhodes-201.

Weekend Racing: The Cup and Xfinity teams are at the 2.5-mile Indianapolis Motor Speedway, while the Truck Series races on the clay surface at the half-mile Eldora Speedway in New Weston, Ohio.

Wed., July 20, Truck Series race 11 of 23; Starting time: 9 pm ET; TV: Foxsports1.

Sat., July 23, Xfinity Series race 18 of 33; Starting time: 3:30 pm ET; TV: NBCSN.

Sun., July 24, Sprint Cup Series race 20 of 36; Starting time: 3 pm ET; TV; NBCSN.

Racing Trivia Question: Who won the first NASCAR race at Indianapolis?

Last Week's Question? When was the first NASCAR race held at New Hampshire? Answer. The first race was held on July 11, 1993, and it was won by Rusty Wallace.

You may contact the Racing Reporter by e-mail at: hodges@race500.com