Montrose got scoring from six different players Friday night while running over visiting Holy Cross, 38-14, in a Lackawanna Football Conference Division 3 game for the first victory under first-year coach Eric Nichols.
The Meteors scored 24 points in the second quarter for a 31-0 halftime lead, which they built to 38-0 going into the fourth quarter.
“I think our players are getting more comfortable with our offensive system,” Nichols said. “We’re doing a lot of the same things we did last year, but we’re putting a lot more on their plate as far as formations go and we changed the terminology.”
Both teams entered the game winless, but Montrose had been more competitive in its games, including leading at halftime at Meyers.
“We’ve been in the first three games,” Nichols said. “We made a handful of mental mistakes, but we had a chance to win all those games.
“Against Holy Cross, we still had too many mental mistakes and we put the ball on the ground three or four times.”
A defense that intercepted three passes and took away a fumble made sure the Meteors stayed ahead in the turnover department.
“Defensively, we’ve been playing well,” Nichols said. “That’s been keeping us in games.”
“We’ve been creating turnovers, which is something we did last year, too.
“It all starts with our two big boys up front. Rob Gregory and Zack Summers have been getting in the backfield and creating havoc.”
The Meteors had a lead before that defense stepped on the field the first time.
Quarterback Maverick Tims kept on an option and went 65 yards for a touchdown on the game’s first play.
“In the option game, we were spreading the ball around and making the proper reads,” Nichols said.
The Meteors broke the game open with a 24-point second quarter.
John Herman ran 25 yards for a touchdown and Colin Mondi scored from 27.
Seth Bulkley then blocked a punt, scooped up the ball and went 15 yards for at touchdown.
Chris Lewis, who went 5-for-5 on extra points, made a 31-yard field goal for the 31-point halftime lead.
Zoey Casselbury scored on a 1-yard run in the third quarter and the final 16 minutes were played under the Mercy Rule.
Holy Cross broke the shutout in the fourth quarter and added another touchdown late.
In another LFC Division 3 game, Susquehanna put Old Forge’s 28-game division winning streak to the test before failing, 19-6.
The game was tied, 6-6, deep into the third quarter before one of Susquehanna’s five turnovers, a muffed punt at the 1, set up the winning score.
Brendan Mozeleski scored from the 1 and added an 89-yard touchdown in the fourth quarter.
Old Forge won its third straight, all in the division, and held on to a share of first place with Dunmore. Susquehanna dropped its second straight after starting 2-0.
Susquehanna fumbled on the opening kickoff and was pinned in its own end.
The Sabers defense stopped Blue Devils drives that began at the Susquehanna 29 and 35.
Old Forge then moved in front on its third possession when Anthony Rios ran 26 yards for a touchdown.
The Sabers answered immediately.
Jarred Mills returned the ensuing kickoff 45 yards.
On the next play, Kyle Donovan rolled left and threw deep, hitting Shaun Andersen near the goal line for a 39-yard touchdown.
Both teams missed their extra points and the game remained tied at 6-6 from late in the first quarter until about four minutes remained in the third.
WEEK IN REVIEW
Montrose won boys’ team and girls’ individual titles Saturday at the Owego (N.Y.) Cross Country Invitational.
Zach Mead was the first of five Montrose finishers in the top 19 of a 16-team, 124-runner field to lead the boys to the Large School Division championship.
Freshman Hannah Perkins won the girls’ Large School Division race by 29.2 seconds.
The boys scored 54 points to win by 22 over Maine-Endwell (N.Y.) and 23 over host Owego.
Owen Brewer (sixth) and Brandon Curley (eighth) joined Mead in the top 10. Max Brewer was 17th and Liam Mead 19th.
Montrose did not enter a full girls’ team.
Georgia Smith was 18th out of 117 runners.
Blue Ridge had entries in the Small School races.
The boys finished 10th of 11 teams.
Travis Hickling led the Raiders, placing 17th out of 98 runners.
Karris Fazzi represented Blue Ridge in the girls’ Small School race and placed 21st out of 88.
The top 25 in each race earned medals.
Susquehanna did well in the Modified (Junior High) races at Owego.
Austin Gow and Val White were second and third in the Small School boys’ race where teammate Cole Soden was eighth.
Susquehanna’s Mackenzie Decker was fourth and Blue Ridge’s Holly Geyer ninth in the Small School girls’ race.
The Montrose boys and Perkins also ran well during the Sept. 13 Lackawanna League cluster meet at Blue Ridge.
Owen Brewer set a course record of 17:05 as Montrose beat Dunmore, Old Forge and Riverside by the maximum 15-50 to improve to 5-0 in the league.
The Meteors are 5-0 in the league, behind Abington Heights, North Pocono and Wallenpaupack, which are each 7-0.
Montrose had 7 of the top 10 runners with Elk Lake having the other 3 in the six-team meet.
Brewer, Curley and Zach Mead gave the Meteors a 1-2-3 finish.
Elk Lake’s Cody Oswald was fourth, Seth Owens sixth and Peyton Jones eighth to help the Warriors also win three times.
Montrose placed Liam Mead fifth, Erick Bixby seventh, Max Brewer ninth and Austin Dolaway 10th.
Hickling broke up the Montrose-Elk Lake combination, finishing 11th for Blue Ridge.
Perkins finished first in the girls race, followed by four straight Elk Lake runners – Justine Johns, Keri Jones, Shyanne Bennett and Sadie Boesscher – who led the Lady Warriors to three 15-50 wins.
Montrose’s Smith and Blue Ridge’s Fazzi were sixth and seventh before Lydia Ofalt finished to give Elk Lake five of the top eight.
Forest City’s Jennifer Korty set a Merli-Sarnoski Park course record of 18:26 with her finish in the Lackawanna cluster meet there.
Korty finished a minute ahead of returning state medalist Lexi Walsh from Holy Cross. She broke the record, previously held by Wallenpaupack’s Alyssa LaFave, by 42 seconds.
In girls’ golf, three Susquehanna County players were among the seven players to make it through Lackawanna League qualifying for the District 2 Class 2A individual tournament.
Valley View’s Hannah Yanoski, who has won three district titles, including the last two while playing in Class 3A, led qualifying at Scranton Municipal Golf Course with a 77.
Montrose’s Emily Hare and Brianna Baker and Blue Ridge’s Isabella Cosmello advanced to the Oct. 5 district tournament at Elmhurst Country Club.
Hare was third with a 94.
Baker, the defending district champion, and Cosmello tied for fifth with 97.
Players could only advance by shooting 100 or better.
In professional baseball, the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre RailRiders won the second International League championship in franchise history.
The RailRiders shut out the Gwinnett Braves, 3-0, Friday night in Lawrenceville, Ga. to complete a 3-1 win in the best-of-five Governors’ Cup Championship series.
The RailRiders held Gwinnett to two runs over the final 35 1/3 innings of the series to bounce back from losing the opener at PNC Field in Moosic. The team posted shutouts in all four road games in the playoffs, going unscored upon for 36 innings against the Lehigh Valley IronPigs and Gwinnett.
Mark Payton broke a scoreless tie in the fifth with a two-out single to start a two-run inning then tripled in the last run in the seventh.
Outfielder Jake Cave, who went 4-for-13 (.308) with three walks and three RBI, was named series Most Valuable Player.
The title sent the RailRiders to Memphis to face the Pacific Coast League champion in the Triple-A National Championship, which was scheduled for Tuesday.
Scranton/Wilkes-Barre also won the Governors’ Cup in 2008 when the team still used the Yankees nickname.
COLLEGE CORNER
Austin White has caught passes in each of the first three games for King’s College.
The sophomore wide receiver is a Blue Ridge graduate who played quarterback for the Susquehanna Sabers.
White has five catches for 44 yards through three games. His best game was two catches for 19 yards during the team’s first win ever over Lycoming College.
THE WEEK AHEAD
Susquehanna and Montrose are on the road Friday night for Lackawanna Football Conference Division 3 games.
Susquehanna (1-2 in the division, 2-2 overall) is at Carbondale (0-3, 1-3). Montrose (1-2, 1-3) is at Riverside (2-1, 2-2).
Our high school football predictions were 12-1 (92.3 percent) last week, including coming within a point of hitting the games involving Susquehanna County teams. We predicted Old Forge would beat Susquehanna 20-6, but the final was actually 19-6. We predicted Montrose would beat Holy Cross 39-15, but the actual final was 38-14.
For the season, our predictions are 41-9 (82.0).
This week’s predictions, with home teams in CAPS: CARBONDALE 19, Susquehanna 17 …. RIVERSIDE 34, Montrose 10 … LAKELAND 32, Lackawanna Trail 15 … Delaware Valley 35, NORTH POCONO 16 … Coughlin 33, HONESDALE 0 … WYOMING AREA 32, Scranton Prep 16 … WESTERN WAYNE 24, Tunkhannock 8 … West Scranton 39, SCRANTON 33 … OLD FORGE 20, Mid Valley 19 … HAZLETON AREA 25, Wallenpaupack 23 … Dunmore 54, HOLY CROSS 3 … ABINGTON HEIGHTS 27, Valley View 0.
In high school golf, Lackawanna League boys will play Wednesday morning at Elmhurst Country Club to try to qualify for the District 2 tournament. The top one-third of the field advances with all the Susquehanna County schools compete in Class AA.
In girls’ volleyball, Dunmore is at Blue Ridge Friday in a meeting of the last two unbeaten teams in the Lackawanna League.
Defending champion Dunmore is 5-0. Blue Ridge is 4-0.
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.
