Eric Nichols ran the defense last season when Montrose made a major breakthrough on the football field with a four-game winning streak and .500 season.

Now, Nichols is in charge of the entire program after taking over for Lou Cella, who resigned following the 2015 season.

The Meteors are led by Seth Bulkley, an NPF Sports second-team Lackawanna Football Conference Division 2 all-star offensive lineman. Bulkley also returns at linebacker.

Halfback/linebacker Colin Mondi and wide receiver/defensive back Zoey Casselbury also return on both sides of the ball.

Maverick Tims, one of the quarterbacks when Montrose went through a series of injury-forced changes at the position, is back to return the team.

Other top returnees include fullback Tyler Dovin, defensive lineman Zach Summer, defensive back Mikyle Fabrizio and kicker Chris Lewis.

The coach is not the only change at Montrose.

Realignment of the Pennsylvania Interscholastic Athletic Association from four to six classifications for football led to realignment within the LFC as well.

Montrose is one of four teams to drop from Division 2 to Division 3, which now features 10 teams in a nine-game conference schedule.

The Meteors wound up in Class 2A with the help of a decision to no longer co-sponsor the sport with Elk Lake. Athletes from Elk Lake that are already in the program are grandfathered in and allowed to complete their high school careers.

Nichols, a third-team, all-state selection at linebacker while also playing guard at Owego, N.Y., spent 15 years coaching at his alma mater. He was defensive coordinator at Montrose for the last two years and will keep his 3-4 defense.

“What we’re going to do is build on what Lou did here with the triple option,” said Nichols, who plans to implement parts of the wing-T offense that are in his background.

The Meteors open the season with rival Susquehanna Friday night. The teams are back in the same division. The only non-league game will be at Meyers in the second week.

The complete schedule is: Aug. 26, SUSQUEHANNA: Sept. 2 at Meyers; Sept. 9, OLD FORGE; Sept. 16, HOLY CROSS; Sept. 23, at Riverside; Sept. 30, at Dunmore; Oct. 7, MID VALLEY; Oct. 14, at Carbondale; Oct. 21, at Lakeland; Oct. 28, LACKAWANNA TRAIL.

WEEK IN REVIEW

MOUNT COBB – None of the five Susquehanna County teams had a full team entered in the Jackman Memorial Golf Tournament, which opened the 2016-17 high school athletic season within District 2 Thursday at Scranton Municipal Golf Course.

Montrose’s Riley Brown shot 91 for the best score by a county player.

The tournament drew 15 full teams and individuals from 7 other teams from the Lackawanna League.

Jordan Kochmer led Mountain View with a 96.

Blue Ridge, Forest City and Elk Lake each entered just one player.

Greg Lee from Blue Ridge shot 97. Elk Lake’s only player withdrew during the round.

In women’s field hockey, the United States finished tied for fifth at the Rio de Janeiro Olympic Games.

District 2 was represented by Wyoming Seminary graduates Kelsey Kolojejchick and Kat Sharkey on the U.S. team, which went 4-1 in pool play, but then lost, 2-1, to Germany in the quarterfinals, the first round of the elimination bracket.

In professional baseball, the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre Red Barons used seven strong innings from Jordan Montgomery to shut out the Pawtucket Red Sox, 4-0, for their 22nd shutout.

The 22 shutouts by the first-place RailRiders (80-48) is believed to be the most by an International League team since at least 1975.

Montgomery, who has not been scored on in 18 2/3 innings over three starts, held Pawtucket to three hits and a walk while striking out eight.

In youth baseball, Maine-Endwell, N.Y. gave Little League World Series fans in South Williamsport a regional team to cheer on.

Winning pitcher Ryan Harlost had a homer, triple, double and four RBI for Maine-Endwell Thursday in a 7-2 victory over Warwick North, R.I.

Endwell is 109 miles from South Williamsport.

THE WEEK AHEAD

Susquehanna is at Montrose Friday night in a high school football season opener that also serves as the Battle for the Bluestone.

The Sabers went 2-9 last season when the Meteors finished 5-5.

The game will also feature the selection of the second annual Thomas E. Robinson Memorial Award for the player from either team who exhibits the most outstanding play while showing respect for the opponent and officials.

Bulkley earned the award last year when Montrose pulled out a 3-0 victory.

Once again this season, we will predict the outcome of all games involving Lackawanna Football Conference teams.

Predictions for the first week, with home teams in CAPS: Susquehanna 14, MONTROSE 13 … Dunmore 30, WEST SCRANTON 21 … NORTH POCONO 24, Riverside 20 … Lackawanna Trail 24, MID VALLEY 7 … HANOVER AREA 21, Old Forge 20 … WYOMING AREA 20, Wallenpaupack 17 … GAR 34, Honesdale 24 … WYOMING VALLEY WEST 32, Scranton 16 … Western Wayne 33, CARBONDALE 21 … DOWNINGTOWN EAST 32, Delaware Valley 23 … VALLEY VIEW 10, Lakeland 6 … HOLY CROSS 14, Holy Redeemer 13 … SCRANTON PREP 20, Abington Heights 17.

Our predictions last year were 17-2 (89.5 percent) in the playoffs to finish at 106-29 (78.5 percent).

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.

JUSTIN MARKS GETS RAIN WIN

Justin Marks Wins Mid Ohio Rain Race. Furnished by NASCAR

LEXINGTON, OH—Justin Marks fought off rain and the other slipping and sliding competitors to win Saturday's Xfinity Series race at Mid Ohio Race Course. The driver of the No. 42 Chip Ganassi Chevrolet was the class of the field as he drove to his first win in 25 series starts.

The race started under dry conditions, but the first caution came out on the third lap for rain. Teams switched to rain tires and ran with them through the halfway point of the race. The track dried and teams went back to slick tires before rain returned near the end of the race.

While others were having problems staying on track as the rain returned, Marks drove a steady race, leading on three separate occasions for 43 laps in the 75 lap event.

“It was really a hard race, going from no rain to rain, and then back to rain,” said Marks. “This was a really great experience. I'm only a road course racer, and not a big time driver. To win here is overwhelming.”

Sam Hornish who started on the pole, finished second. Hornish was able to lead six laps, but slid off the track or spun around on seven different occasions.

“I couldn't see at times,” said Hornish. “The windshield wiper quit working and I just had to feel my way through the turns. It was a monster of a race.”

NASCAR allowed teams to use and race on rain tires, but drivers had to endure conditions ranging from a steady downpour to a light rain throughout the race.

While there were several drivers in the field who specialized in road racing and had experience racing in the rain – including the winner Justin Marks – other drivers weren’t so comfortable with the conditions.

However, many NASCAR regulars performed well, and in many cases, outrunning the road racing specialists brought in for the event.

Ryan Blaney another regular series racer slipped and slid to a third-place finish.

“We had a really fast car, but I could never use all of what we had because of the wet conditions.” said Blaney.

Ty Dillon spun out more than once, and was even a lap down, but came back to finish fourth.

“The rain was not really in our favor,” he said. “We had one of the better cars when it was dry, but the rain took away whatever advantage we had.”

Justin Allgaier, Erik Jones, Andy Lally, Brendan Gaughan, Elliott Sadler, and Brennan Poole rounded out the top-10.

Top-10 leaders after 21 of 33: 1. Sadler-700, 2. Suarez-675, 3. T. Dillon-667, 4. E. Jones-648, 5. Allgaier-646, 6. Gaughan-631, 7. Poole-618, 8. B. Jones-595, 9. Wallace Jr.-539, 10. Reed-526.

There were 8 cautions for 32 laps and 13 lead changes among 8 leaders.

The Sprint Cup and Truck teams had an off week.

DRIVERS SCRAMBLING TO MAKE CHASE

Several winless drivers are fighting to get into the Sprint Cup Chase. Without a win, they have to make the 16-driver field on points. And with 12 winners so far this season, there are only four spots available on points (as long as Chris Buescher gets into the top 30)— fewer if a new winner emerges in the next four races).

Kyle Larson appeared to be in a good position to make the cut, but at Watkins Glen, he lost two spots when A. J. Allmendinger wrecked him.

The incident put him 30 points behind 14th-place Jamie McMurray. Though Larson is 15th, that might not be enough because two drivers who have wins — Tony Stewart and Buescher — are outside the top-16.

Stewart, who missed the first eight races of the season with a broken back, is 26th in points and, barring another major problem, will make the Chase.

Buescher’s situation is less certain. Though he won at Pocono Raceway, he must crack the top-30 in points to become Chase eligible. He is currently 31st — three points behind 30th-place David Ragan. If Buescher climbs into the top-30, the top-14 drivers in points will make the Chase. If he does not, the top-15 will make it.

The top-10 in points all have at least one win, locking them into the Chase. Positions 11-14 are held by Ryan Newman, Chase Elliott, Austin Dillon and McMurray. Those four are separated by just 12 points, but lead Larson by 30 points or more.

Trevor Bayne trails Larson by eight points, followed by Kasey Kahne and rookie Ryan Blaney.

Allmendinger, who blew a good chance to win at Watkins Glen, is 19th in the standings but 64 points behind McMurray.

The 10-race Chase begins Sept. 18 at Chicago.

NASCAR TO LIMIT POST-RACE CELEBRATIONS

NASCAR executive vice president Steve O'Donnell said NASCAR is looking at post-race celebrations.

“We see a trend we don't like,"  he said on SiriusXM Radio two days after Denny Hamlin's victory celebration at Watkins Glen forced him to walk to victory lane.

During Hamlin's burnout on the frontstretch, two tires on his car blew out, causing body damage to the car.

“We want to see a celebration, and we think that drivers can celebrate without doing that. So, you'll probably see us sooner than later put something in place that covers us for that as you kind of head into the last quarter of the season. Again not there yet. We're talking to a lot of the teams about it, but I think everybody is on board with the direction we want to go in.”

Section 8.5.2.1.c in the Sprint Cup Rule Book states that “the first-place vehicle may engage in appropriate celebratory activity (such as a victory lap, burn-out(s) or donuts) prior to reporting to victory circle.”

Any damage during a victory celebration, though, could impact NASCAR's ability to properly inspect the winning car afterward and ensure that everything was legal with the vehicle. Questions have been raised before about excessive celebrations that damage the winning car and how that could impact NASCAR's post-race inspection process.

In March 2015, a NASCAR official told NBC Sports that if series officials believed that such damage from a celebration affected inspection after the race that they would address the matter.

Weekend Racing: It's on to the Bristol short track (.54-mile) for three night races featuring the Sprint Cup, Xfinity and Truck series'.

Wed., Aug. 17, Truck Series race 13 of 22; Starting time: 8:30 pm ET; TV: Foxsports1.

Fri., Aug. 19, Xfinity Series race 22 of 33; Starting time: 7:30 pm ET; TV: USA.

Sat., Aug. 20, Sprint Cup Series race 23 of 36; Starting time: 8 pm ET; TV: NBCSN.

Racing Trivia Question: What is the shortest track on the NASCAR circuit?

Last Week's Question? Mark Martin won 35 Cup races. How many times did he finish second for the Sprint Cup championship? Answer. He had four season runner-up finishes: 1990, '94, '98, 2002.

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

HARVICK GETS BRISTOL CUP WIN

Kevin Harvick Gets Bristol Cup Win

BRISTOL, Tenn.--Kevin Harvick won Sunday's Sprint Cup race, which was originally scheduled for Saturday night, but had to be postponed due to rain.

He led 128 laps of the 500 lap race, and finished 1.933-seconds ahead of Ricky Stenhouse Jr.

“We've had a lot of letdowns in the past, but today was a great day for the team,” said Harvick. “They performed without a hitch. We might not have been the fastest at the start of the race, but I knew we had a good car, and the guys did a great job in the pits.

“Anytime you win a race at Bristol, you've done something. Just being able to survive all the close calls is quite an accomplishment. There is so much bumping and moving around.”

The runner-up finish was a career high for Stenhouse.

“Oh man, what a day,” said Stenhouse. “This is real racing. It's hard to express how pleased I am for the team. This feels like a win for all of us, after avoiding all those wrecks.”

Denny Hamlin was third, followed by Austin Dillon, Chris Buescher, Carl Edwards, Jimmie Johnson, Jamie McMurray, A. J. Allmendinger, and Joey Logano.

Kyle Busch led 256 laps, but his car developed a mechanical problem and he slowed on laps 357. Justin Allgaier, driver of the No. 46 did not notice him slowing down and rammed him.

“Something was breaking obviously,” Busch said. “I don't know. It's a shame. It's something we have to address and fix. I'm really tired of losing races here with (parts failures).

“The person that is the real moron out here is the driver of the No. 46 and the spotter of the No. 46.”

A late-race battle for the lead on lap 371 turned into an 11-car wreck. Kurt Busch was leading on a restart when his car got loose coming out of Turn 2 and collected Brad Keselowski, and sending the front-runners scrambling behind them.

Matt Kenseth, Ryan Blaney, Austin Dillon, Joey Logano, Chase Elliott, Paul Menard, Jimmie Johnson, Kyle Larson, and Brian Scott were the other drivers involved.

Top-10 leaders after 23 of 36: 1. Harvick-762, 2. Keselowski-735, 3. Kurt Busch-692, 4. Edwards-689, 5. Logano-684, 6. Kyle Busch-674, 7. Hamlin-659, 8. Truex-630, 9. Johnson-612, 10. Kenseth-604.

BRISTOL XFINITY RACE GOES TO AUSTIN DILLON

Austin Dillon survived a chaotic late race finish to win Friday night's Xfinity Series race at Bristol.

Dillon, a Sprint Cup regular did not seem to have the fastest car. He remained near the front, and with  less than ten laps remaining in the 300 lap race, was in sixth-place.

Brad Keselowski was leading with 11 to go, when Kyle Busch tried to take the lead. The pair raced each other hard for the next five laps. Busch attempted to pass Keselowski on the low side, but he drifted up, into the front bumper of Keselowski's No. 22.

Keselowski kept the accelerator to the floor, and Busch was sent spinning into the outside wall. Ty Dillon, the third place driver had no place to go, and slammed into the rear of Busch. Two or three other cars were involved.

The wreck brought out the race's last caution and forced it into overtime.

While the cars circled the track under caution, Brad Keselowski's car slowed. He was out of gas.

This put Austin Dillon on the pole, with Kyle Larson second. The pair got off to a good restart, but Dillon soon pulled ahead. Justin Allgaier, got by Larson for second, but could not catch Dillon before he crossed the finish line.

“This is one of those big surprises,” said Dillon. “We may not have had the fastest car, but we came away with the win. We had the momentum on the restart and to get a first Bristol win, this is awesome. Thank the Good Lord above for the opportunities he’s given me.”

Allgaier's runner-up finish was the highest of any Xfinity Series regular.

“I don’t know if you can describe that one or dream it out the way it happened,” Allgaier said. “I wish I would have had another lap or two. Everybody kept sliding up, but the 2 car got too far in front of me where I couldn’t get to him.”

Kyle Larson, who led four times for 200 laps was not happy with his third place finish.

“It’s disappointing,” Larson said. “It's not the finish we expected. We had a great car, but on the restarts, I was really loose. Starting on the bottom on that last restart didn’t help.”

Busch and Keselowski did not confront each other after the race, but Keselowski had strong feelings about what happened on the track.

“Kyle was quite a bit faster, and I was just trying to hold him off any way I could,” said Keselowski who finished 12th. “He made a really smart move and got up next to me, but I had a big run on exit and he wasn’t quite clear. He knew he needed to come up and there just wasn’t enough room. I was already there and it clipped him in the right rear. I don’t know what happened from there. We were battling really hard and definitely didn’t want to see it end that way.”

Busch would not comment to the media about the track incident, but NBC reported that Busch said, “He (Keselwoski) is a dirty racer.”

Elliott Sadler was fourth, followed by Brendan Gaughan, Jeremy Clements, Darrell Wallace Jr., Blake Koch, Brandon Jones, and Corey LaJoie.

Top-10 leaders after 22 of 33: 1. Sadler-737, 2. Suarez-686, 3. Allgaier-685, 4. T. Dillon-684, 5. Gaughan-667, 6. E. Jones-657, 7. Poole-631, 8. B. Jones-627, 9. Wallace Jr.-574, 10. Reed-552.  

KENNEDY WINS BRISTOL TRUCK RACE

Ben Kennedy took the checkered flag in last Wednesday's truck race and became the first member of the France family to win a NASCAR event.

He is the great grandson of founder, Bill France and son of Lesa France Kennedy.

The remaining top-10 finishers: 2. Brett Moffitt, 3. Daniel Hemric, 4. William Byron, 5. Johnny Sauter, 6. Cole Custer, 7. Christopher Bell, 8. John Nemechek, 9.Brandon Jones, 10. John Wes Townley.

Top-10 leaders after 13 of 23: 1. Byron-349, 2. Hemric-312, 3. Sauter-306, 4. Peters-302, 5. Bell-296, 6. Crafton-295, 7. Kennedy-287, 8. Nemechek-281, 9. Custer-273, 10. Reddick-270.

GORDON OUT OF 88 AT MICHIGAN

Jeff Gordon, the four-time NASCAR champion will not be in the No. 88 at Michigan this weekend. If Dale Earnhardt Jr. is still sidelined by concussion symptoms, Alex Bowman will take over driving duties.

Gordon, drove the No. 88 Saturday at Bristol to a ??? finish. He also drove during the three previous races at Indianapolis, Pocono and Watkins Glen with a best finish of 13th at Indy.

Bowman drove the No. 88 to a 23rd place finish at New Hampshire, the first race which Earnhardt missed with concussion symptoms.

Earnhardt met with the media prior to Watkins Glen on August 5, and said that his doctors had not given him a timetable to return because those doctors could not tell him how long his symptoms will last.

“You just don’t know when the symptoms will stop,” Earnhardt said. “Every day I am doing these exercises to sort of retrain the brain to fix the issues that I have with the balance and to gain stability. It will fix itself when it decides to.”

This past week however, Earnhardt posted a video on social media of him playing basketball.

Weekend Racing: The Trucks and Sprint Cup teams are at the 2-mile Michigan International Speedway in Brooklyn, Mich. The Xfinity teams have the weekend off.

Sat., Aug. 27, Truck Series race 14 of 23; Starting time: 1 pm ET; TV: Foxsports1.

Sun., Aug. 28, Sprint Cup Series race 24 of 36; Starting time: 2 pm ET; TV: NBCSN.

Racing Trivia Question: Which team did Carl Edwards drive for before moving to Joe Gibbs Racing?

Last Week's Question? What is the shortest track on the NASCAR circuit? Answer. Martinsville at 0.526-miles.

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