Blue Ridge’s Tyler Cheeseboro earned Most Valuable Player honors and Elk Lake’s Ben Woolcock scored two goals Saturday afternoon to lead the White to a 5-0 victory over the Green in the boys’ contest at the 15th annual Scranton UNICO Soccer Cup at Marywood University.
The all-star doubleheader featured senior players from the Lackawanna League.
The boys’ game followed a girls’ contest in which the Pink defeated the Green, 6-1.
Cheeseboro scored the first goal and assisted one of Woolcock’s scores to help the team coached by Blue Ridge’s Eric Stallings and assistant Nate Calabro come away with the win.
Susquehanna County players scored all five of the goals and had three of the assists.
Montrose’s Johnny Amato and Christopher Spence also scored.
Corbin French from Blue Ridge had two assists.
The winning team included players from Scranton Prep, Western Wayne, Valley View, Holy Cross, Mid Valley and Old Forge as well as Blue Ridge, Elk Lake and Montrose.
Brandon Buck played part of the game in goal and Chris Lewis was a defender from Montrose, which had four players in the game. Cheeseboro and French were joined by defenders Nick Folk and James Goff as the Blue Ridge players. Blake Chew and Woolcock represented Elk Lake.
Mountain View’s Jesse Gerfin was one of the Green goalies.
Players from Mountain View and Forest City joined players from Delaware Valley, Honesdale, West Scranton, Dunmore, Wallenpaupack, Abington Heights, Lakeland and North Pocono on the team, which was coached by North Pocono’s Graig Arcurie.
Mountain View’s Jeffery Virbitsky and Forest City’s Matthew Keller and Jared Paulin also played in the game.
Elk Lake’s Amanda Mowry had a goal and an assist to lead the Pink in the girls’ game.
The Pink, coached by Western Wayne’s Patti Walker, had players from Elk Lake and Mountain View as well as Abington Heights, Western Wayne, Lakeland, Scranton, Delaware Valley, Scranton Prep, Carbondale and Old Forge.
Catey McAleer, Devyn Saylor and Mowrey were Elk Lake’s players in the game. Cailin Burney and Abagail Mecca were the Mountain View players.
Delaware Valley’s Taylor Randazzo, who scored the game’s first goal then took over as goalie after an injury to teammate Stefanie O’Grady, was named Most Valuable Player.
Forest City’s Heather Agentovich was part of the Green team along with players from North Pocono, Holy Cross, Valley View, Dunmore, Honesdale, West Scranton and Wallenpaupack. The team was coached by Wallenpaupack assistant Katie Schkolenko.
WEEK IN REVIEW
The Lackawanna Football Conference had three teams advance to the Pennsylvania Interscholastic Athletic Association state football quarterfinals with wins Friday night.
North Pocono advanced by beating Berwick, 21-6, in the District 2 Class 4A championship game.
Scranton Prep, in Class 3A, and Dunmore, in Class 2A, each won state playoff games against champions from other districts.
Lackawanna Trail (Class A) and Abington Heights (5A) lost their state games and were eliminated.
Matt Craig ran for 193 yards and 2 touchdowns while also returning a kickoff 74 yards to help North Pocono get past visiting Berwick.
Jake Ryan threw three first-half touchdown passes and Matt Gilmartin ran for 173 yards as Scranton Prep defeated Montoursville, 37-13, at Wyoming Valley West’s Spartan Stadium.
Scranton Prep trailed, 7-6, early but moved ahead in the first half and shut out Montoursville in the second half.
Dunmore rallied from 12 points down in the first half to defeat York Catholic, 48-35.
Kyle Lasher carried 47 times for 263 yards and 5 touchdowns to lead the unbeaten Bucks.
Williams Valley beat Lackawanna Trail, 22-12, Friday night and Whitehall topped Abington Heights, 35-14, Saturday.
District 2 had five other fall sports teams eliminated in the state semifinals Nov. 15. Holy Redeemer lost in field hockey and girls volleyball, Lake-Lehman lost in field hockey and girls soccer and Crestwood lost in field hockey.
LOOKING AHEAD
Friday was the first day of “official” winter sports practices for PIAA schools, including the six county schools.
Boys’ basketball, girls’ basketball, wrestling, boys’ swimming and girls’ swimming teams got practice sessions started in preparation for the start of their seasons in December.
The PIAA allows teams in those sports, as well as athletes in indoor track, to compete in scrimmages with other schools after Thanksgiving. Regular-season games, matches and meets are not allowed until December 9 when some non-league openers are schedule.
Lackawanna League play begins December 12 in boys’ and girls’ swimming. Girls’ basketball starts league competition January 3. Boys’ basketball and Division 2, the one that includes all county schools, of wrestling begin January 4.
COLLEGE CORNER
Messiah College had its unbeaten record ruined and had its season come to an end in the third round of the National Collegiate Athletic Association Division III men’s soccer national tournament.
Colby Thomas was a starter for Messiah and fellow Mountain View graduate Zeb Cross was one of the team’s key subs.
Calvin College eliminated Messiah, 2-1, in overtime Friday.
Thomas had three shots in the game, including two that he put on goal.
Messiah led 18-13 in shots.
Thomas played 21 games, starting 19. He scored 7 goals and led the team with 11 assists. Cross played 21 games and had 2 goals and 2 assists.
Both are juniors.
THE WEEK AHEAD
Three Lackawanna Football Conference teams remain alive in the state quarterfinals.
Our high school football predictions from last week were 3-2 (60.0 percent), making our playoff record 17-5 (77.3) and our overall season record 112-26 (80.4).
This week’s predictions: Imhotep Charter 27, North Pocono 13 … Middletown 31, Scranton Prep 12 … Ligonier Valley 29, Dunmore 27.
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.
JOHNSON GETS SEVENTH CUP CHAMPIONSHIP
Jimmie Johnson, 2016 NASCAR Sprint Cup Champion
HOMESTEAD, Fla.--Jimmie Johnson's NASCAR Sprint Cup win this past Sunday moved him up into some elite company.
Johnson joined Richard Petty and Dale Earnhardt as the only drivers to have won seven NASCAR Sprint Cup Championships.
“This is beyond words,” said Johnson. “What great strategy the team came up with to get me here tonight. What an honor. It's so unbelievable. You dream about something like this, but you don't know how big it really is until it happens.”
While Johnson won the race and championship fair and square, his chances didn't look good until after the race's next-to-last caution. Up until that time he had been running in the middle of the field.
On a restart with eleven laps remaining, Joey Logano got into the back of Carl Edwards, who was running second. Edwards went low, trying to block Logano, but came down too far. Edwards' left rear bumper made contact with the front of Logano's car.
Edwards No. 19 spun, crashed into the inside wall, then came back up the track taking out several other cars until it came to rest against the outside wall. A total of nine other cars were caught up in the melee.
The race was red flagged for 31 minutes while speedway crews cleaned up the debris.
That restart may have cost Edwards his first championship, because he was leading the other three Chase contenders at the time, and seemed to have the fastest car.
“I knew Joey was there,” said Edwards. “I thought I had enough time to clear him, but it didn't turn out that way. This was the race of my life and I thought I had it. When that caution came out, I risked it all. I gave it my best, but it didn't turn out that way.”
During the caution period Edwards walked to Logano's pit area and told his crew chief, “That was all my deal.”
After the track was cleaned up and racing resumed, the leaders were Kyle Larson, Kevin Harvick, Kyle Busch, and Jimmy Johnson.
One lap later, Ricky Stenhouse spun bringing out the race's last caution and sending the 267-lap race into overtime.
Kyle Busch, who was running fifth, pitted for tires and a car adjustment under caution. When he returned to the track, he was ninth.
When the race went back green, the leaders were Larson, Johnson, Harvick, and Logano.
Johnson got a great jump on Larson and by the time the two leaders had reached turn-1, Johnson was out front and pulling away.
The other two Chase contenders that were still on the track; Joey Logano and Kyle Busch could only watch as Johnson moved farther and farther ahead.
Kyle Larson finished second followed by Kevin Harvick, Joey Logano, Jamie McMurray, Kyle Busch, Matt Kenseth, AJ Allmendinger, Denny Hamlin, and Michael McDowell.
The top-four finishers (Johnson, Logano, Kyle Busch and Edwards) in this year's Chase will only get half of what drivers received last year. According to ESPN, the overall point fund last year was $21.765 million, with the champion slated to earn about $4.7 million (Kyle Busch's take was less because he missed 11 races), and this year it will be less than half that amount.
Second place last year paid $2.1 million, third $1.58 million, with seventh place on back earning less than a million. As part of the new charter system and in an effort to make their revenue sharing more predictable, NASCAR and the team owners' Race Team Alliance agreed to pay the champion less but spread the point fund more equitably throughout the top-25 drivers and teams.
Drivers typically get paid a percentage of purse and point-fund money in addition to a base salary. The overall point fund increased in 2016, NASCAR Chief Operating Officer Brett Dewar said, but he wouldn't elaborate, citing confidentiality clauses in the charters, about the distribution.
“I think it is a million-and-a-half to win a Cup,” six-time Cup champion Jimmie Johnson said. “The last time I stood on stage, it was seven-and-a-half [million]. It's a huge change.”
NASCAR stopped publishing how much money a driver earns for the team each week in the purse and does not plan to publicize the bonus structure as it has in the past, citing the new charter system structure. The 36 charter teams get dollars from two pools of money based on participation -- a fixed amount each team gets, and then an amount based on the team's finishes the previous three years, most heavily weighted to the previous season, which means that the champion will earn more for his team over the next three years than if he had finished lower in the standings.
Except for the series banquets, this concludes the 2016 NASCAR racing season.
SUAREZ WINS RACE AND CHAMPIONSHIP
Daniel Suárez, captured the Xfinity Series championship Saturday at Homestead-Miami Speedway by winning the last race of the season in only his second year of full-time NASCAR racing. The driver of the No. 19 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota is the first Latin American to win a national series title.
The Monterrey, Mexico, native dominated from the outset of the season, racking up four top-five and nine top-10 finishes in his first 10 contests. Suárez led the points standings following 14 separate races in the regular season and made his way into the Xfinity Series Chase with his win at Michigan.
Elliott Sadler was second in Chase points, followed by Justin Allgaier, and Eric Jones.
SAUTER GETS TRUCK CHAMPIONSHIP
Johnny Sauter's third-place finish in the season ending Truck Series race was good enough to earn him the 2016 championship.
After eight seasons of racing in the series, Sauter earned his first NASCAR Camping World Truck Series championship Friday at Homestead-Miami Speedway.
“I'm not going to lie; today I was a little bit nervous when we qualified 19th, but I knew that we'd race good,” said Sauter. “The trucks are just so good. All the product that they're building at GMS Racing just -- and doesn't hurt to have Chevrolet power under the hood, and we executed like we needed to. Had solid pit stops tonight. We made some positions up on the racetrack like we needed to, and here we are. Great year. Couldn't be more proud.
“I don't think it's completely sank in quite yet, but you know, it wouldn't be possible without these two guys sitting next to me. That's for sure. I can remember last September when I flew to Las Vegas and the Gallagher family brought me to their house and cooked me a wonderful meal and said this is our goals and this is what we want to do. You know, when I went and checked out the shop and saw their ultimate vision for where they wanted GMS Racing to be, I knew it was something that I wanted to be a part of.”
Sauter's team finished the 2016 season with three wins, 12 top-5s, 19 top-10s, one pole position and the championship.
Matt Crafton was runner-up for the championship, after being passed by Sauter after the race's last caution.
“We were really good at the beginning and then was terrible there on the last run and came up short,” he said. “We were just really bad on that last run for whatever reason. We just went the wrong way for whatever reason. It just got really tight on that last run. The run before that was just a little bit free, and on that last run it just got really tight on entry.”
Christopher Bell was third in the final points, while Timothy Peters was fourth.
Racing Trivia Question: What year did the Sprint Cup Chase begin?
Last Week's Question. The first Homestead Sprint Cup race was held on Nov. 14, 1999. Who was the winner? Answer. Tony Stewart.
You may contact the Racing Reporter by e-mail at: hodges@race500.com
