OLYPHANT – Jarred Mills proved he could produce while playing high school football the last two years at about 150 pounds.

For his senior year, Mills hopes to be just a little bigger while taking on a larger role in trying to lead the Susquehanna football team back from a down season.

“Last year, I got sick early in the season, so I really couldn’t put on any weight,” Mills said. “This year, I’ve put on about 15 pounds to help with the workload and be able to take more hits.”

Mills was the leading rusher on the Sabers a year ago with 503 yards, but he would be happy to take on a bigger load in an offense in drastic need of improvement. He was also the second-leading tackler on a defense that played well enough to deserve a better outcome than the Sabers’ 2-9 record.

The senior from Blue Ridge, who plays at Susquehanna as part of the cooperative sponsorship of the sport between the two schools, says it is just as important to maintain that defense as improve the offense.

“I think you have to concentrate on both of them the same way,” said Mills, who is part of the linebacker corps that will have to make up for the loss of second-team, all-state selection Zach Conrad, the team’s top tackler the last two seasons. “Last year, our defense was solid, but we lost a couple of key guys and we have to pick up the slack there.”

If Logan Conrad, Zach’s younger brother and another returning defensive starter, handles the move to middle linebacker, that would allow Mills to remain at the outside spot where he has excelled.

Mills was a second-team NPF Sports Lackawanna Football Conference Division 3 all-star choice as an athlete on offense. He is the only returning Saber to have received any all-star recognition last season.

Also the team’s leading scorer last season, Mills is the top returning receiver. His five catches for 42 yards make him the only returnee with more than one catch.

Kyle Donovan began and ended the 2015 season as the starting quarterback.

For his senior year, Donovan is trying to make himself a better fit for that position with the Sabers and their triple-option offense.

“I lifted weights real hard this offseason and went to a quarterback trainer, Ryan Runco,” Donovan said. “That helped a lot.”

Donovan worked on his three-step and five-step drops and “not being so mechanical.”

More important than how he drops back to pass may be how Donovan moves down the line as he reads the defense and how well he can hit the openings he sees when it is time to run.

“His footwork got a lot better,” Sabers coach Kyle Cook said. “He’s gotten a lot faster.”

Cook said the extreme offensive struggles – the Sabers were shut out six times on the season and scored just 34 points in the last eight games after scoring 61 in the first three – caught him by surprise.

The tools are there to fix that with an adjustment in the triple option game back to a bigger commitment to the flexbone.

“We have a lot of running backs,” Cook said.

After running for four touchdowns and throwing for two last season, Donovan will try to be a more consistent contributor to the running game.

“I worked on a lot of foot quickness and getting faster,” said Donovan, a 6-foot-1, 185-pounder. “Even though I’m not crazy fast, I have to use my size and everything to my advantage.”

Ian Towend, a senior who transferred from Scranton to Blue Ridge, appears ready to take over at fullback.

Sophomores Adam Roe, Sam Cosmello and C.J. Stone give the team some depth in the backfield. Roe and Cosmello are additional options at running back and Stone, who briefly became the starting quarterback as a freshman, will again compete for some playing time there.

Evan Haley is back at one wide receiver position and Shaun Anderson is ready at the other, where he has some experience.

Logan Conrad is the tight end.

Center Chris Graf and tackle Michael Hilkert return to the offensive line. Guard Ryan Carmody started in the playoffs as a freshman. Joel Bayle and Ryan Armitage appear ready to join them in the line.

Roe ranked fifth on the team in tackles as a freshman while playing nose guard and getting some experience at linebacker. After leading the team with three forced fumbles and making seven tackles for losses, he’ll be in one of those positions this season.

Graf was a part-time starter as a down lineman and Hilkert also has some experience there.

Carmody and Armitage will also be part of the defensive line. Donovan, who made some starts last season, is available at end, if needed.

Logan Conrad and Mills are at linebacker with either Roe or Towend, who got some defensive playing time for Scranton last season. Towend was in on six tackles in a game against LFC Division 1 co-champion Delaware Valley.

Kyle Bayle, who led the team by breaking up five passes last season, returns in the secondary, along with Anderson, a part-time starter a year ago. Haley will join them.

Eric Peters is back as punter. Mills will handle the kicking.

The Pennsylvania Interscholastic Athletic Association’s switch from four to six classifications for football altered football in District 2 somewhat.

Division 3 of the LFC now features 10 teams instead of six. That puts Montrose back in Susquehanna’s division and makes the season opener at Montrose a divisional game as well as the Battle of the Bluestone.

The change also fills up the schedule with league games. A home game with Holy Redeemer in Week Two is the only game outside the division.

The Sabers go from the smallest of four classes to the second smallest of six. They will be in Class 2A, battling with Dunmore, Lakeland, Riverside, Mid Valley, Carbondale and Montrose for four District 2 playoff berths.

The complete schedule is: Aug. 26 at Montrose; Sept. 3, HOLY REDEEMER; Sept. 10, RIVERSIDE; Sept. 16 at Old Forge; Sept. 23 at Carbondale; Sept. 30 at Lakeland; Oct. 7, DUNMORE; Oct. 14, LACKAWANNA TRAIL; Oct. 21, MID VALLEY; Oct. 28 at Holy Cross.

WEEK IN REVIEW

Northeastern Pennsylvania is well-represented at the Rio de Janeiro Olympic Games.

The U.S. women’s field hockey team qualified for the elimination bracket by going 4-1 to place second in its six-team pool.

The United States, which was last of 12 teams in the 2012 London Games, won its first four and had a lead midway through the fourth quarter before falling to Great Britain, 2-1, Saturday in a game that decided first place in Pool B.

Wyoming Seminary graduates Kelsey Kolojejchick, from Larksville, and Kat Sharkey, from Moosic, are on the U.S. team. Kolojejchick started all five games at midfield and had one assist. Sharkey played all five games, starting four, at forward and had two assists.

Dallas graduate Paige Selenski, a 2012 Olympian, is with the team as an alternate but has not played.

Casey Eichfeld from Drums, near Hazleton, competed in his third Olympics. He finished seventh in the one-man canoe and 10th as part of the two-man canoe team.

In professional baseball, the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre RailRiders put together winning streaks of 11 games at PNC Field in Moosic and 7 games overall before falling, 4-1, Thursday to the rival Lehigh Valley IronPigs in a game shortened to five innings because of rain.

The two winning streaks helped the RailRiders end the week with a four-game lead on the IronPigs. They had a league-best 76-45 record through Sunday.

THE WEEK AHEAD

The 2016-17 high school sports season gets underway Friday with the Jackman Memorial Boys’ Golf Tournament at 8 a.m. at Scranton Municipal Golf Course.

In youth baseball, the Little League World Series opens Thursday in Williamsport.

In softball, the NEPA/Abington Wildcats 16U team will conduct the second of their two weekends of tryouts Saturday and Sunday from 1-3 p.m. at Abington Heights High School for their 2016 fall/2017 summer team. The team will attend several college showcase tournaments.

Private tryouts are also available by appointment.

For more information, or to schedule a private tryout, contact John Kelly at (570)504-4808, Vic Thomas at (570)351-5187 or Mike Thomas at (570)241-7030, or by e-mail at AbingtonWildcats@yahoo.com.

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.

Hamlin Gets Road Course Victory

Denny Hamlin Gets Second Win of Seasonю Furnished by NASCAR

WATKINS GLEN, N.Y.--Denny Hamlin’s win in Sunday’s Sprint Cup race was his first career road course victory and second win of the season.

Hamlin took the lead for the last time with five laps remaining and finished nearly three seconds ahead of Joey Logano.

“We really had a great race car there at the end,” said Hamlin. “Being first on that last restart, I knew the race was mine to win or lose.”

On the last lap Martin Truex was running a close second behind Hamlin. Third-place driver Brad Keselowski spun Truex in the last turn before the checkered flag. Keselowski had to slow for Truex’s spinning car and this allowed Joey Logano, winner of Saturday’s Xfinity race to speed by for second.

After the race Truex showed his displeasure to Keselowski by bumping and shoving his car a couple times.

“I never like to run into the back of anyone,” said Keselowski after the race. “But I had made a commitment to a crossover move. I didn’t think he would come back over. He got the bad part of it, but it was my fault.”

Their were more than the usual amount of cars caught up in accidents during the 90 lap race.

The first major incident came during lap 54. Ricky Stenhouse had spun out and Jimmie Johnson did not see him. Both cars were damaged beyond repair, and neither driver finished the race. Other cars involved were Greg Biffle and Austin Dillon.

“Going into that area there were a couple cars ahead of me,” said Stenhouse. “I couldn’t see real well and went too high. When I tried to come back down the back end came around.”

The race was red flagged for about 15 minutes while speedway crews cleared debris from the track.

Five laps after the restart, there was a four car pileup.

Before a lap had been completed on the next restart, seven cars got together. One of them was Kevin Harvick, who wound up with a DNF.

Top-10 finishers: 1. Hamlin, 2. Logano, 3. Keselowski, 4. A J Allmendinger, 5. Tony Stewart, 6. Kyle Busch, 7. Martin Truex, 8. Jamie McMurray, 9. Trevor Bayne, 10. Matt Kenseth.

Top-16 Chase leaders after 22 of 36 (Note: this is the official NASCAR scoring based on the number of driver wins and points):1. Keselowski-727, 2. Kyle Busch-670, 3. Edwards-653, 4. Hamlin-620, 5. Kenseth-600, 6. Johnson-578, 7. Harvick-718, 8. Kurt Busch-689, 9. Logano-652, 10. Truex-612, 11. Buescher-292, 12. Newman-562, 13. Elliott-561, 14. A. Dillon-559, 15. McMurray-550, 16. Larson-520.

LOGANO OUTLASTS TEAMMATE FOR WIN

Penske Racing driver Joey Logano led 67 laps of the 82 lap Watkins Glen Xfinity race as his

teammate Brad Keselowski experienced a mechanical issue late in the race.

Logano and Keselowski were running 1-2, when Keselowski’s Ford developed a rear-end problem that forced him to pit with six laps remaining.

Logano stayed in the lead and went on to an easy win over runner-up Paul Menard.

Kyle Larson was third, followed by Daniel Suarez, Trevor Bayne, Elliott Sadler, Justin Allgaier, Brendan Gaughan, Ryan Reed, and Brendan Poole.

Top-10 leaders after 20 of 33: 1. Sadler-668, 2. Suarez-657, 3. T. Dillon-629, 4. E. Jones-613, 5. Allgaier-610, 6. Gaughan-598, 7. B. Poole-587, 8. B. Jones-573, 9. Wallace Jr.-512, 10. Reed-496.

EARNHARDT STILL SIDELINED, BUT PLANS TO RETURN

Dale Earnhardt Jr. talked to the media at Watkins Glen to answer questions about his situation of missing races and when he might get back on the track.

“I have every intention of honoring my current contract (which runs through 2017),” Earnhardt said. “I sat with (team owner) Rick (Hendrick) before this happened a couple of months ago to talk about an extension. That’s the direction that we are going. As soon as I can get healthy and get confident in how I feel and feel like I can drive a car and be great driving it, then I want to drive. I want to race. I miss the competition. I miss being here. I miss the people and, as Rick likes to say, ‘We’ve got unfinished business.’ I’m not ready to stop racing. I’m not ready to quit. It’s a slower process, I wish it wasn’t. I don’t know how long it’s going to take.”

Until Earnhardt receives medical clearance, he won’t be allowed to race. He’s working with his doctors to suppress the symptoms that forced him out of the car for the mid-July Sprint Cup race at New Hampshire and will keep him on the sidelines at least through the Aug. 20 event at Bristol Motor Speedway.

“I’m not going to get in the car until the doctors clear me,” Earnhardt continued. “The doctors won’t let me race. This is not my decision, but it’s the right decision, and I trust what my doctors are telling me. When they say I’m good to go, I believe them. If they say I’m healthy and I can race, I’m going to race.”

Doctors concluded that the onset of Earnhardt’s concussion-like symptoms, which involve issues with gaze stability, dizziness and balance, began with a wreck at Michigan in mid-June, though Earnhardt said the intensification of the symptoms was gradual. After he raced at Kentucky Speedway on July 9, he sought medical attention. What he thought might be a sinus infection instead resulted in the diagnosis that forced him out of the car. Earnhardt receives medical evaluations every two to three weeks and will continue to do so until he is symptom-free.

He said he would like to get in a race car once cleared from concussion symptoms, maybe a late model, and run for a day before he deals with a race weekend.

In the meantime, Jeff Gordon will continue as driver of the No. 88 Hendrick Chevrolet.

FURNITURE ROW TO ADD SECOND CUP TEAM

The small Furniture Row race team which has fielded the No 78 Chevrolet driven by Martin Truex Jr, will run a second team in 2017 driven by Eric Jones.

Jones, a former Truck Series champion, who is currently fourth in the Xfinity Series will drive the No. 77 Toyota. The car is expected to be sponsored by 5-hour Energy which will serve as the primary sponsor for 22 races.

Furniture Row Racing switched from Chevrolet to Toyota at the end of the 2015 season, and formed an alliance with Joe Gibbs Racing. The partnership has worked well, because week after week, Truex has ran near the front.

Truex, who has already clinched a 2016 Chase berth, has been the Furniture Row Racing driver since the start of the 2014 season. As a Chase participant last year, he advanced to the final four.

After 21 races into the current season he has one win, three top fives, nine top 10s, three poles, ranks No. 1 with laps led (1005), and is eighth in Sprint Cup driver points.

“I am pleased that we’re going to continue our momentum from this season,” said Truex. “This is where I want to be, driving the No. 78. We’ve come a long way in a short period of time. There are many reasons to feel excited and optimistic about the future of our racing program. We definitely have the resources and talent to go after victories and championships. The addition of Erik can only help us get even better.”

Weekend Racing: The only racing in NASCAR will be the Xfinity Series at the Mid Ohio Car Course, a road course in Lexington, Ohio. The track is 2.4 miles in length, with 13 turns.

The Sprint Cup and truck teams have an off week.

Sat., Aug. 13, Xfinity Series race 21 of 33; Starting time: 3:30 pm ET; TV: USA.

Racing Trivia Question: Mark Martin won 35 Cup races. How many times did he finish second for the Sprint Cup championship?

Last Week’s Question? Who are Denny Hamlin’s Cup teammates? Answer. Hamlin drives for Joe Gibbs Racing. His teammates are Matt Kenseth, Carl Edwards, and Kyle Busch.

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