After three years as the best small school girls’ volleyball team in District 2, Blue Ridge showed it could play with the best in the state this season.

The Raiders won the first game against the state’s number-one team Saturday before being eliminated in the quarterfinals of the Pennsylvania Interscholastic Athletic Association Tournament.

Blue Ridge won a first-round match Nov. 8 against Galeton in four games at Athens before losing in four games to Marian Catholic in Saturday’s match at Hazleton Area High School.

Marian Catholic, the District 11 champion, is ranked first among Class A schools by the Pennsylvania Volleyball Coaches Association.

Blue Ridge began the state tournament with a 25-20, 25-18, 20-25, 25-12 win over District 4 champion Galeton.

Marian Catholic defeated Blue Ridge, 24-26, 25-23, 25-22, 25-14.

Hayleigh Fekette led the opening-round win with 12 kills and 15 assists. Abigail Hartman and Kalynne Myers each added 10 kills.

Hartman and Megan Houlihan each had nine kills in the loss to Marian Catholic.

Lackawanna League champion Blue Ridge qualified for the state tournament by winning its third straight District 2 Class A title.

WEEK IN REVIEW

Blue Ridge’s split was part of a strong first week by District 2 teams in the Pennsylvania Interscholastic Athletic Association state tournaments for girls’ volleyball, field hockey, girls’ soccer and boys’ soccer.

District 2 teams went 6-8 in the opening round and 5-1 in the state quarterfinals. With boys’ teams going 0-4, the district’s girls’ teams were a combined 11-5 on the week.

The district’s field hockey teams went 6-1 with Crestwood, in Class AA, and both Lake-Lehman and Holy Redeemer, in Class A, remaining alive into the semifinals, which were scheduled to be played Tuesday.

Lake-Lehman and Holy Redeemer each has two girls’ sports teams still in action.

Lake-Lehman has the district’s last soccer team alive after a pair of comeback wins in Class A.

Holy Redeemer, which is 10-for-10 winning district titles since the school opened, was still playing in Class AA girls’ volleyball.

In addition to the other sports, two District 2 football teams played in what were technically regarded as Subregional games. They went 1-1.

Lackawanna Trail got 190 yards and two rushing touchdowns from Thomas Huffsmith to defeat Jenkintown, 43-6, in a District 1-2 Class A Subregional football championship to make it to the last 16 teams in the state in the class.

Delaware Valley fell to Williamsport, 55-21, in the District 2-4 Class AAAAAA Subregional when the Millionaires gained 537 yards total offense.

Three District 2 titles were decided with Scranton Prep (AAA) and Dunmore (AA) repeating while Abington Heights was winning the first title in AAAAA, which was created when the PIAA expanded from four to six classes in time for this season.

Berwick and North Pocono avenged regular-season losses to Wyoming Area and Valley View to reach Friday’s District 2 Class AAAA championship game.

In boys’ soccer, District 2 champion Mountain View fell to Millville, 2-0, in a first-round Class A state tournament game.

LOOKING BACK

The four leaders of Montrose’s unbeaten championship team were named to the first team when Lackawanna League cross country coaches selected their all-stars.

Seniors Zach Mead and Owen Brewer, junior Brandon Curley and sophomore Liam Mead made the first team.

Elk Lake junior Cody Oswald was also part of the 12-runner first team that include Runner of the Year David Haines from North Pocono.

State Class A runner-up Elk Lake had two runners selected first team on the girls’ all-star team.

Seniors Justine Johns and Keri Jones represented the Lady Warriors, who finished second in the league with a 22-1 record, then beat league champion Holy Cross for the District 2 Class A championship.

Forest City senior Jennifer Korty and Montrose freshman Hannah Perkins also made the first team.

Katie Dammer from Abington Heights was selected Runner of the Year.

Montrose had three more runners and Elk Lake had two on the boys’ second team.

Senior Austin Doloway and juniors Romey Washo and Eric Bixby represented Montrose while senior Seth Owens and sophomore Peyton Jones were the picks from Elk Lake.

Elk Lake had two runners while Montrose and Blue Ridge had one each on the girls’ second team.

Sophomore Shyanne Bennett and freshman Sadie Bosscher were the picks from Elk Lake.

Montrose’s Georgia Smith and Blue Ridge’s Karris Fazzi, both sophomores, were also picked for the second team.

COLLEGE CORNER

Mountain View graduate Colby Thomas had a big week for the unbeaten Messiah College men’s soccer team, which posted a pair of shutouts to begin play in the National Collegiate Athletic Association Division III national tournament.

Thomas now has either a goal or an assist in five straight games after contributing to the two NCAA wins.

The junior forward had one of each during a 6-0 romp over Centennary College, then scored the second goal in a 2-0 win over Christopher Newport.

Before getting an assist for the fourth straight game and the sixth game out of seven, Thomas opened the scoring in the rout of Centennary.

Thomas, who recently received two honors from the Middle Atlantic Conference Commonwealth League, is on a five-game scoring streak for the second time this season. He had a goal each in four straight games to complete the five-game stretch from Sept. 9 to Sept. 20 with four goals and three assists.

At that point, Thomas was leading Messiah in scoring with five goals and four assists through seven games.

Thomas was slowed from there by a midseason knee injury that forced him to miss two games, come off the bench in two others and have his playing time and production cut into temporarily.

Messiah is 19-0-3 with Thomas playing in 20 games and starting 18. He has 7 goals and a team-high 11 assists.

Thomas was a second-team Commonwealth all-star and a member of the All-Academic soccer team.

Zeb Cross, a teammate of Thomas when Mountain View won four straight District 2 titles and reached two state finals, winning one, is also on the Messiah team.

Cross has come off the bench in 20 games as a forward, supplying two goals and two assists.

THE WEEK AHEAD

Our high school football predictions were 5-1 (83.3 percent), leaving our playoff record at 14-3 (82.4) and our overall season record at 109-24 (81.9).

The predictions will continue until the last Lackawanna Football Conference team is eliminated from the state playoffs.

This week’s predictions, with the home teams in CAPS: Whitehall 28, ABINGTON HEIGHTS 20 … NORTH POCONO 28, Berwick 20 … Montoursville 29, Scranton Prep 28 … Dunmore 32, York Catholic 19 … Lackawanna Trail 24, Williams Valley 18.

In winter high school sports, Friday marks the first day of official practice in preparation for the start of seasons in boys’ basketball, girls’ basketball, wrestling, boys’ swimming and girls’ swimming.

In fall high school sports, the last of the non-football state championships will be completed Saturday.

TOM ROBINSON writes a weekly local sports column for the Susquehanna County Transcript. He can be reached online at RobbyTR@aol.com.

LOGANO WINS: FINAL 4 SET

Joey Logano Wins: Final 4 Set

PHOENIX, Ariz.--Joey Logano won Sunday's Sprint Cup race and joined Jimmie Johnson, Carl Edwards, and Kyle Busch as the four drivers that will vie for the 2016 Sprint Cup Championship next week at Homestead, Fla.

Logano had lost the lead to Matt Kenseth and was running fourth, when a late-race caution came out on lap 310 of the 312-lap race, sending it into overtime.

On the restart, Logano was lined up fourth, behind the leader Matt Kenseth, Alex Bowman, and Kyle Busch. Kenseth did not get a good jump on the other leaders and cut down across the nose of Bowman's car, which sent Kenseth spinning into the outside wall.

On the second green flag restart, it was Logano, Kyle Busch, Kyle Larson, and Kevin Harvick.

Logano got a good start, pulled away from the others, and was not challenged for the two remaining laps.

"A lot was going through my head there at the end," said Logano. "We did exactly what we needed to do. One more race win is all we need. This has got to be the most emotional win I've ever experienced."

Late in the race Kyle Busch had been able to pass Logano, but on the last restart, he was not able to get around him.

"I really don't know what to say," said Busch. "We did what we had to do in order to get in the Chase, but I feel like we should have been able to win. We didn't and we'll see how it plays out next week."

Kyle Larson, who was not in the Chase came on strong in the closing laps to finish third.

Kevin Harvick and his teammate Kurt Busch finished fourth and fifth, respectively. Each one needed a better finish than they got in order to stay in the Chase.

"Well, I can't really blame anyone today," said Harvick. "We just didn't get the job done. Our car wasn't too good at the beginning, but it was decent at the end, but not good enough to win, and that's what we needed."

Polesitter, Alex Bowman, substituting for Dale Earnhardt Jr was sixth after leading 194 laps. He was followed by Denny Hamlin, Ryan Blaney, Chase Elliott, and Paul Menard.

The three biggest losers of the race were Matt Kenseth, Jimmie Johnson, and Martin Truex Jr.

Kenseth was leading the race and had the car to beat when the caution came out with two-to-go. After spinning out on the restart, he finished 21st.

Johnson was given a penalty for passing the pace car when he entered pit road on lap 137. Later in the race he was involved in a bumping incident, and did not finish. He wound up 38th.

Truex spun and hit the outside wall during lap 255 and was the last-place finisher.

The four drivers; Logano, Johnson, Edwards, and Busch have all had their points reset. Whichever one of them finishes the highest at next week's race in Homestead, Fla. will be the 2016 Sprint Cup Champion.

CUP DRIVERS DOMINATE XFINITY RACE

Sprint Cup driver Kyle Busch led 190 laps of Saturday's 200-lap Xfinity Series race, which was dominated by Cup Series regulars. The only Xfinity Series regular to lead a lap was Justin Allgaier.

Top-10 finishers: 1. Busch, 2. Austin Dillon, 3. Ricky Stenhouse, 4. Justin Allgaier, 5. Daniel Suarez, 6. Ryan Reed, 7. Ty Dillon, 8. Blake Koch, 9. Brad Keselowski, 10. Erik Jones.

Daniel Suarez, Elliott Sadler, Erik Jones, and Justin Allgaier raced their way into Championship 4 and will face off against each other for the series championship in next week's race at Homestead.

SUAREZ TAKES TRUCK RACE

Daniel Suarez, who is not running for the Truck Series Championship, won Friday's race at Phoenix.

Johnny Sauter was second, followed by Matt Crafton, Cameron Hayley, Timothy Peters, John Nemechek, Christopher Bell, Matt Tifft, Ben Kennedy, and Cole Custer.

With one race remaining, four drivers; Johnny Sauter, Matt Crafton, Christopher Bell, and Timothy Peters will battle it out for the championship next week at Homestead, Fla.

Johnny Sauter has posted three wins, 11 top-fives, and 18 top-10s, and one pole.

Matt Crafton has two wins, eight top-fives, 15 top-10s, and a pole.

Christopher Bell has one win, nine top-fives, and 16 top-10s.

Timothy Peters does not have any wins, but has eight top-fives, 15 top-10s, and one pole.

Each driver will have equal points, and the one that wins, or finishes the highest at Homestead will be the 2016 Champion.

BLANEY AND WOOD BROTHERS TO RETURN

If all goes as planned the Wood Brothers No. 21 Sprint Cup team, along with driver Ryan Blaney will return for the 2017 season.

The No. 21 team will be moved into a new and larger facility.

Wood Brothers co-owner Len Wood said Friday that the team is almost entirely moved out of its shop in Harrisburg, NC, and will be moving about 45 minutes away to Mooresville. Wood said the team is moving into a former HScott Motorsports shop near Mooresville Dragway. The facility is in a business park filled with racing teams and more importantly is very close to Penske Racing, with whom the Woods have a racing affiliation.

The Wood Brothers had been in Harrisburg since late 2005, sharing the shop in recent years with JTG Daugherty Racing, which Len Wood said purchased the Woods' portion of the facility earlier this year. As for Blaney, who had a successful rookie season in the Wood Brothers first full season of racing since 2008, Wood said the team intends to have him drive the No. 21 Ford again in 2017.

HARD TIMES AT RICHARD PETTY MOTORSPORTS

Richard Petty Motorsports will lose a driver and sponsor at the end of this season.

Brian Scott, driver of the RPM No. 44 Ford announced his retirement last week.

"This was a difficult decision, but one that I made myself for my family," Scott said. "Racing and specifically NASCAR has been and will always be in my heart, but right now, I want to turn all my attention to my family and to be able to spend more time with them. Racing has blessed me with great opportunities, and I'm very grateful for everything that it has allowed me to do, but for me, it's time to move on. I can't thank everyone enough who helped me in my career. I would not have made it to where I am today without their trust and commitment."

Scott's decision might have come because the team's sponsor announced they were pulling out of NASCAR, and the No. 44 car does not have funding at this time.

Albertson's, the large Midwestern grocery chain that has sponsored the car, said they will focus their marketing strategy in other areas.

Weekend Racing: The last race of the 2106 NASCAR season will be held this weekend at the 1.5-mile Homestead, Fla. Track. The only other 2016 events that are left will be the three series championship awards banquets.

Fri., Nov. 18, Truck Series race 23 of 23; Starting time: 8 pm ET; TV: Foxsports1.

Sat., Nov. 19, Xfinity Series race 33 of 33; Starting time: 3:30 pm ET; TV: NBCSN.

Sun., Nov. 20, Sprint Cup Series race 36 of 36; Starting time: 2:30 pm ET; TV: NBC.

Racing Trivia Question: The first Homestead Sprint Cup race was held on Nov. 14, 1999. Who was the winner?

Last Week's Question. Who was the most Popular Driver in 2015? Answer. Dale Earnhardt Jr.

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