CHAPMAN LAKE – The Montrose boys followed up on an unbeaten Lackawanna League cross country season.
Elk Lake’s girls avenged their only Lackawanna League loss by winning a rematch with the unbeaten champion.
The Meteors and Lady Warriors won the Class A team titles Wednesday when the District 2 Cross Country Championships were held at Lakeland for the first time.
The Pennsylvania Interscholastic Athletic Association’s reduction of Class A qualifiers to the state meet from District 2 for the first time this season put extra pressure on some of the state’s best small school cross country teams.
With only one team spot available from each race for Saturday’s state championships in Hershey, Montrose dominated to take the boys’ berth.
Zach Mead, Brandon Curley and Owen Brewer swept the top three spots and Montrose posted a score of 23 to beat second-place Elk Lake by 46 points.
Elk Lake used the combination of Justine Johns, Keri Jones and Sadie Bosscher in third, fourth and fifth place to knock off Lackawanna League champion Holy Cross, 24-35, for the girls’ title.
Forest City’s Jennifer Korty made it a sweep of District 2 Class A titles for Susquehanna County schools when she joined Mead as individual champions.
The win allowed Korty to qualify for the state championships as an individual.
Three county boys also qualified by finishing among the top five individuals from teams other than the champion.
Elk Lake’s Cody Oswald and Peyton Jones advanced by placing fifth and sixth while Blue Ridge’s Travis Hickling claimed the last available berth with his ninth-place finish.
Montrose was also an unbeaten Lackawanna League champion last season, but as a Class AA team fell short of a spot in Hershey when it finished behind eventual state champion Dallas and seventh-place finisher Berwick.
The Meteors dropped to Class A with the PIAA’s two-year enrollment review.
“We’re just happy to be able to get in,” Montrose coach Dean Brewer said.
Mead finished the 3.1-mile course in 16:42.69.
“As a team, we took it out fast,” Mead said. “We knew we were the dominant force in the race and just went out hard.”
The Meteors were able to remain ahead of the pack.
“We were unsure of the course,” coach Brewer said. “The second mile was probably the hardest part of the race.”
Montrose had the only three runners to break the 17-minute mark in the race.
Liam Mead finished eighth and Montrose got all seven runners in among the top 12 finishers in the 90-runner field.
Jerome Washo, Max Brewer and Austin Dolaway finished in 10th, 11th and 12th.
“We’re just trying to peak at the right time and carry it over to next week,” coach Brewer said.
All seven Meteors and the three other state qualifiers from the county were among the 15 to receive medals from District 2.
Mountain View’s Jeff Virbitsky and Elk Lake’s Seth Owens were also medalists for placing 13th and 14th.
Elk Lake was 40 points ahead of host Lakeland for second place.
Mountain View was fourth with 137 points.
Forest City was eighth out of 13 teams with 226. Susquehanna was ninth with 249.
Justin Wolfe led Forest City, placing 29th. Alex McHugh was Susquehanna’s top runner in 34th place.
Matt Gerrity was 78th for Faith Mountain Christian Academy, which, like Blue Ridge, did not enter a complete team.
Korty, who ran as an individual without a team at Forest City, ran away from the Class A girls’ field.
A year after having to drop out of the race when she was in contention, Korty finished in 19:30.82 to earn her second state trip in three seasons.
“It motivated me quite a bit,” Korty said of the inability to finish last year’s race. “That stung quite a bit.”
Wednesday’s race was different.
“I felt good in my warm-ups,” Korty said. “My legs felt fresh so I knew I could have a good race.”
Abby Corrigan from Holy Cross was second, nearly 25 seconds back.
With defending district champion Lexi Walsh out of the Holy Cross lineup with an illness, Elk Lake dominated from there.
The Lady Warriors had four of the top seven and five of the top 10.
Johns was third in 19:57.06. After Jones and Bosscher, Shayanne Bennett was seventh and Lydia Ofalt 10th to complete the five-runner team score. Lexi Hemenway was 20th and Maddie Tewksbury 29th out of 63 runners.
Even in Walsh’s absence, getting past Holy Cross was not easy.
“The whole point of this year was district are our focus,” Elk Lake coach Will Squier said. “We’re probably two of the top five teams in the state in Class A.”
In the four years since the PIAA added Class A, Elk Lake has a state title, two second-place finishes and a sixth. Holy Cross has a first-, third- and fourth-place state finish in that time.
“In the past, states was more of the emphasis on peaking,” Squier said. “This year, we focused more on districts.”
Now, that they made the state meet, the Lady Warriors don’t plan on stopping.
“We want to try to go to one more level,” Squier said.
Holy Cross had defeated Elk Lake, 26-29, in the league opener Sept. 7.
“Our girls worked really hard,” Squier said. “We’ve improved steadily all year and have really been concentrating on that fifth girl and trying to bring that pack closer together and still maintain improvement on the front line.”
Elk Lake’s top five, Korty and two Blue Ridge runners were among the 15 district medalists.
Karris Fazzi and Jessie Purdum finished 12th and 14th as the only two entries from Blue Ridge, which does not have a full team.
Susquehanna was sixth out of seven teams with 132 points.
Taylor Huyck led the Lady Sabers with a 21st-place finish.
Mountain View’s top finisher was Taja Thomas in 23rd.
Bethany Latwinski, Faith Mountain’s only entry, was 54th.
Montrose is still Class AA in girls and has two individual state qualifiers.
Freshman Hannah Perkins made it by finishing third in 19:55.91. Georgia Smith was seventh.
Montrose was ninth out of 14 teams with 243 points.
Honesdale won with 43 points and Scranton Prep took the second state berth in Class AA with 73.
FOOTBALL
Jarred Mills breaks loose on a 59-yard touchdown run for Susquehanna, putting him over 200 yards rushing for the first time in his career. Photo By Tom Robinson
DUNMORE – Jarred Mills accounted for all the scoring and ran for a career-high 203 yards as Susquehanna defeated host Holy Cross, 24-8, in a Lackawanna Football Conference Division 3 finale Saturday afternoon.
Mills ran for three touchdowns, including 46- and 59-yard runs on his only carries of the second half, kicked three extra points and made a field goal.
“That was the most fun of my life, playing that game,” Mills said.
The Sabers avenged a 35-33 overtime loss on the same field a year ago in what was the only division victory for the Crusaders the past two seasons.
“I think we used that as motivation coming into this year,” Mills said. “You can never take a team lightly and I think coming into last year we had high expectations and we weren’t prepared enough.
“This year, we made sure that we executed in every aspect of the game.”
Mills helped make sure of that on his 15 carries and with his kicking. He ran for 98 yards in the first half and 105 in the second half.
In addition to the field goal, Mills also put two of his three kickoffs in the end zone for touchbacks. He also chipped in on defense with a tackle and five assists.
Mills ran five straight times for 48 yards on the opening possession, which was spoiled by a holding penalty on third-and-one from the 2.
The Sabers settled for a 33-yard field goal by Mills for a 3-0 lead with 7:06 left in the first quarter.
An interception at the 12 and a blocked field goal attempt kept the Sabers from adding to the lead on the next two possessions.
Kyle Donovan then hit Shaun Andersen deep down the right side for 42 yards to the 4.
Mills scored in two runs, the second a 1-yard touchdown to make it 10-0 with 3:26 left in the half.
Susquehanna broke the game open by scoring on two of the first three plays in the second half.
Mills went 46 yards on the first offensive play to make it 17-0 with 9:11 left in the third.
After forcing a second straight three-and-out, the Sabers went 76 yards in two plays. Adam Roe broke a tackle in the backfield and ran 17 yards. Mills then covered 59 for a touchdown on an option pitch to the left.
The 24-0 lead, produced before the midway point in the third quarter, held up until Holy Cross scored against the Susquehanna reserves with 1:59 left.
Josh Mies ran it in from the 1.
Susquehanna had statistical leads of 11-8 in first downs, 233-121 in rushing yards, 97-61 in passing yards and 330-182 in total offense.
Donovan’s only pass of the second half was an incompletion, but he finished 4-for-10 for 97 yards. Sam Cosmello had two catches for 43 yards.
Ian Townend led the defense with seven tackles, including a sack for a 14-yard loss. He also had four assists, broke up two passes and forced a fumble.
Andersen had five tackles, an assist, two pass break-ups and an interception.
Logan Conrad, Roe, Mason Craig and Billy Perry also contributed to the strong defensive game.
The win improved Susquehanna to 3-6 in the division and 4-6 overall. The Sabers learned the next day that they would have a game in the Eastern Conference Championships, which are for the best teams that do not make district playoffs.
Holy Cross finished 0-9 and 0-10.
In another game, Lackawanna Trail defeated Montrose, 35-11, Friday night.
Colin Mondi ran for the only touchdown for the Meteors, who finished 1-8 and 1-9.
WEEK IN REVIEW
Blue Ridge advanced to the District 2 Class A girls’ volleyball championship match with a win on its home court Saturday.
The Lackawanna League champion Lady Raiders topped Mountain View, 25-14, 25-6, 25-10, in the second match of a doubleheader to earn a shot at their third straight district title.
Hayleigh Fekette and Megan Houlihan each had eight kills while making other contributions to the win.
MMI Prep defeated Susquehanna, 25-6, 25-15, 21-25, 25-12, in the opener of the doubleheader.
Gabrielle Glover led the Lady Sabers with seven kills and two blocks. Chloe Tinklepaugh had five digs and three kills.
In girls’ soccer, Elk Lake reached the District 2 Class A final with a win and Montrose advanced to the District 2 Class AA semifinal with two wins.
Elk Lake had a quarterfinal bye as the second seed, then defeated Mountain View, 3-2, in the semifinals.
Mountain View had shut out Forest City, 5-0, in the quarterfinals.
Montrose posted two shutouts, 13-0 over Mid Valley and 2-0 over Berwick.
The Meteors reached the semifinals where they were scheduled to play at Dunmore Monday.
In boys’ soccer, Mountain View, Elk Lake and Montrose all made it through the first week of the district tournament.
Mountain View was the fifth seed in the six-team Class A tournament, but beat two higher-seeded teams to reach the final.
The Eagles edged Holy Cross, 2-1, then shut out top-seeded Forest City, 1-0.
Mountain View was scheduled to play for the championship Tuesday at Elk Lake, which also won twice.
The Warriors clobbered MMI Prep, 11-0, then went on the road to rip second-seeded Old Forge, 7-1.
Montrose won twice to reach the Class AA semifinals.
The Meteors defeated Mid Valley, 7-1, and Western Wayne, 1-0. They were scheduled to play at Scranton Prep in Monday’s semifinals.
WEEK IN REVIEW
With no other Class A teams available to play Old Forge in the Eastern Football Conference Class A championship, Susquehanna, a Class AA team, was selected to travel to Old Forge.
Both teams are 4-6 going into the one-game playoff Friday night at 7.
Our high school football predictions will continue until all Lackawanna Football Conference teams have been eliminated from the playoffs. Last week’s predictions were 9-1 (90.0 percent), improving our season record to 95-21 (81.8 percent).
This week’s predictions, with home teams in CAPS: OLD FORGE 18, Susquehanna 8 … DELAWARE VALLEY 51, Scranton 15 … ABINGTON HEIGHTS 28, Wallenpaupack 3 … VALLEY VIEW 27, Coughlin 10 … NORTH POCONO 34, Crestwood 3 … BERWICK 34, West Scranton 22 … SCRANTON PREP 42, Nanticoke 0 … DUNMORE 36, Mid Valley 9 … LAKELAND 42, Riverside 17 … Lackawanna Trail 24, NORTHWEST 22 … Meyers 17, WESTERN WAYNE 10.
In girls’ soccer, the District 2 Class AA championship game is scheduled for Wednesday.
The Montrose-Dunmore winner will take on the Holy Redeemer/Lake-Lehman winner. If Montrose makes it, the Lady Meteors will be on the road.
Elk Lake will play at Lakeland Thursday at 5 in the District 2 Class A championship game.
In boys’ soccer, the District 2 Class AA championship game is Wednesday. The Montrose-Scranton Prep winner will face the Wyoming Seminary-Nanticoke winner.
In cross country, the PIAA Championships are set for the Hershey Parkview Course Saturday.
The Class A girls race is scheduled to start the day at 9:30 a.m. The Class AA girls run at 10:15 a.m. The Class A boys run at 11:45 a.m.
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.
