Jacob O’Brien won twice at 120 pounds, but it was not enough to help Montrose, which lost twice and was eliminated Wednesday at the District 2 Class AA Dual Meet Wrestling Championships at Wilkes-Barre Meyers.

The Meteors fell to host Meyers, 66-16, in the quarterfinals, then lost again in the first round of consolations, 52-18, to Hanover Area.

Montrose jumped out to a 10-0 lead in the opener when Bryan Ryan won by pin at 138 and Mikyle Fabrizio added a major decision at 145.

Meyers won the next nine bouts for a 54-10 lead before O’Brien’s first-period pin.

Chuck Rohan had a 38-second pin at 126 against Hanover Area.

The other Montrose points came when Cole Aukema and O’Brien picked up forfeits.

Montrose was the only Susquehanna County team to reach the tournament. The Meteors qualified by going 5-3 to finish fourth in Division 2 of the Lackawanna League.

The tournament losses dropped Montrose’s overall record to 11-11.

WEEK IN REVIEW

Blue Ridge won its first three games to take the lead in the Lackawanna League Division 4 boys’ basketball second-half standings.

The Raiders won three times in four days.

Blue Ridge won 64-58 over Montrose Wednesday, 75-62 over first-half champion Elk Lake Thursday and 57-46 over Susquehanna Saturday.

Jeff Morris led the Raiders in scoring in each game with 21, 26 and 19.

Mountain View is the other second half unbeaten at 2-0.

The Eagles defeated Lackawanna Trail, 44-31, Thursday, then got 23 points from Matthew Lavin Saturday to down Forest City, 67-37.

Susquehanna needed until the last game of the first half to pick up its first division victory.

The Sabers followed that up by winning the second-half opener, 59-38, over Montrose.

Mason Deakin scored nine of his 16 points in the fourth quarter when Susquehanna outscored Montrose, 21-10, to break the game open.

The Sabers shot 7-for-9 from the line in the fourth quarter, including 3-for-5 by Deakin. C.J. Stone, who added 11 points, and Adam Rockwell were each 2-for-2.

Garret Grausgruber hit two 3-pointers and scored eight of his 10 points in the third quarter when Susquehanna stretched a 20-16 halftime lead to 38-28. Tyler Williams had seven points in the quarter and score all nine of his points in the second half.

Brendan Buck led Montrose with 10 points.

In girls’ basketball, first-half champion Susquehanna and Forest City, the team it beat in a playoff for that title, are each 2-0 to start the second half of Lackawanna Division 4 play.

Taylor Huyck had 21 points when Susquehanna defeated Montrose, 45-38, and Bethany Maby had 16 when the Lady Sabers topped Blue Ridge, 51-42.

Forest City pounded Lackawanna Trail, 62-30, and Mountain View, 63-27, while also splitting two non-league games in a busy week.

In professional hockey, a Jan. 31 announcement clarified the future of the Binghamton franchise in the American Hockey League.

The New Jersey Devils will move their top farm team from Albany to Binghamton, meaning the city will remain in the league even though the Ottawa Senators are moving their top minor-leaguers to Belleville, Ont., which will be a new AHL franchise next year.

With the National Hockey League expanded to 31 teams next season, the AHL is likely to follow extra for next season or 2018-19.

Clark Donatelli from the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins coached the Atlantic Division into the final of the AHL All-Star Challenge.

The Atlantic Division gave up just two goals in four goals of the three-on-three tournament, but lost, 1-0, in a shootout in the championship game against the Central Division.

Penguins goalie Tristan Jarry had the best goals against average (0.33) of the tournament to lead the Atlantic Division.

COLLEGE CORNER

Elk Lake graduate Hunter Watkins is a freshman thrower on the Mansfield University men’s track and field team.

Watkins has season-best performances of 10.25 meters in the shot put and 11.45 meters in the weight throw.

THE WEEK AHEAD

First-half champion Elk Lake is at Mountain View, one of two second-half unbeatens as of the start of the week, Thursday in a Lackawanna League Division 4 boys’ basketball game.

In the American Hockey League, the Binghamton Senators are at the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins Saturday night.

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.

Danica Patrick in 2016

Danica Patrick's race team says one of her sponsors has defaulted on past, present, and future obligations in excess of $31-million dollars.

Stewart-Haas Racing filed a breach of contract lawsuit against Nature's Bakery on Friday, accusing the company of refusing to pay millions of dollars it owes the team.

According to the filing, Nature's Bakery owes the team for two seasons; 2016 and 2017. SHR also accused the company of concocting "a scheme to avoid further payments" by claiming Patrick had been endorsing competing products and was not using her social media presence enough to promote Nature's Bakery.

The suit says Nature's Bakery sent a letter to the team on Jan. 19 terminating the sponsorship agreement, and that the company has missed several re-scheduled deadlines to pay.

The pairing with Nature's Bakery was touted as a natural fit for Patrick because she heavily promotes a healthy lifestyle and clean eating. She has started a fitness program that will be turned into a book, has launched an active-wear clothing line and uses her social media channels to encourage fans with recipes and workouts. Patrick has also promoted Nature's Bakery on social media, and has claimed she ate the fig bars before she was partnered with the company.

According to the Associated Press, Nature's Bakery took issue with Patrick using Instagram to promote Six Star Pro Nutrition Protein Powder, Purely Inspired Protein, home-made energy balls, a homemade spinach smoothie and various other homemade meals. SHR maintains none of those products is in competition with fig bars or brownies, and that Nature's Bakery "liked" most of the Instagram posts. An exhibit filed with the suit includes numerous Patrick photos from Instagram that show Nature's Bakery had "liked" the post. SHR claimed Nature's Bakery never complained about the Instagram posts until it began missing payments and accused Patrick to be in breach of contract.

SHR released the following statement.

“It is an unfortunate situation, as the team has delivered on all aspects of its contract and was prepared to do so again in 2017. Ultimately, this is a situation that will be resolved in a court of law,” the statement said, adding the team is moving forward with plans to field four cars in the Cup Series while also expanding to include a full-time Xfinity Series team. “The litigation with Nature's Bakery will not impact the organization's on-track efforts.”

Patrick and Stewart-Haas Racing last year signed a deal with Nature's Bakery as Patrick's primary sponsor. The company founded in 2010 by the father-and-son duo of Dave and Sam Marson was new to NASCAR last season and was scheduled to sponsor more than 20 races this year. 

In their lawsuit, SHR stated that Nature's Bakery had agreed to pay $15-million dollars for 20 races, which comes out to $750,000 per race. That amount is just for the primary sponsor. Tack on three or four associate sponsors, and the team will receive over one million per race.

As the cost of funding a team goes up, less and less companies can afford to put their names or logo on a NASCAR Cup or Xfinity team.

Jeff Gluck reported that even before last season started, Nature’s Bakery told SHR it was having cash flow issues and requested to modify the payment due dates. So instead of big payments like $5 million and $3.4 million, SHR spread out the payments into smaller increments like $2.5 million and $1 million.

SHR isn't the only team experiencing a lack of sponsors. Roush Fenway Racing one of the stalwarts of NASCAR racing, dropped one Cup team at the end of the 2016 season for lack of sponsorship. Two single-car operations have also shut their doors.

The sport's popularity peaked in the mid 2000s, and since then, overall revenue has plummeted. Sponsors like Nature's Bakery have walked away.

How fans consume live sports, has altered across all major sports, not just NASCAR. With the major costs that are now associated with attending big sporting events, such as tickets, lodging and transportation, fans are more likely to watch from their homes on television.

But even television has its problems. Ratings for the last Cup race of 2016 on NBC saw a 25 per cent dip over a year ago despite the dramatic race won by Jimmie Johnson on the final lap. Johnson secured his record-tying seventh Cup title in a story line that played out over the closing weeks of the 36-race.

“Stewart-Haas Racing remains focused on its preparation for the 2017 NASCAR season where it will again field four entries (Kevin Harvick No. 4, Kurt Busch No. 41, Danica Patrick No. 10 and Clint Bowyer No. 14) in the Cup Series while also introducing a full-time NASCAR Xfinity Series team. The litigation with Nature’s Bakery will not impact the organization’s on-track efforts.” 

While SHR can probably weather the loss of one major sponsor, there have been rumors that the No. 14, which was driven by Tony Stewart last year, will also come up short on sponsorship money. Stewart said lack of a full-time sponsor would not impact that team.

I'm guessing that a four-car organization like SHR can operate all four cars with the loss of a single, major sponsor, but to lose two would be a major financial blow.

In other racing news, Jeffrey Earnhardt, the grandson of Dale Earnhardt Sr. will make his first Daytona 500 start on Feb. 26.

He is the 27-year-old grandson of the late NASCAR Hall of Famer Dale Earnhardt and the nephew of Dale Jr. His father is Kerry Earnhardt – a former driver himself, the eldest son of Dale Sr. and the half-brother of Junior.

His father Kerry Earnhardt had seven Cup Series starts.

Jeffrey will be driving for a new team (Circle Sport-TMG No. 33 car) that was formed during the off season. Earnhardt will have a guaranteed starting spot, because the team will be using the charter of the No. 95 car, which was owned last year by Levine Family Racing. 

“This is really a dream come true,” said Earnhardt. “We've been working every day for the past six years to get to the Daytona 500.”

Jeffrey has 24 Cup Series starts with a best finish of 26th last October in Charlotte. He’s driven in the Rolex 24 twice, competed in one Truck Series race, run three Xfinity races and competed in four Cup events. His best finish was a seventh-place result in the 2011 Truck race.

Cup teams tested at Phoenix last week, and for Toyota rookies Erik Jones and Daniel Suarez the tire test should have been a time to just get acclimated to their new rides. Joe Gibbs Racing (Suarez) and Furniture Row Racing (Jones) opted to have their new drivers get the seat time rather than have an experienced driver give feedback on the new Toyota body.

Jones has three races of Cup experience, in 2015 as a substitute for Kyle Busch and Matt Kenseth, while Suarez has none.

“My experience in a Cup car was totally different than what they drive like now -- I don't have a lot of [Cup] experience to lean on,” Jones said. “I wouldn't say they are looking too much for feedback on the body from us because they do so much in the wind tunnel now in the simulations, they can really learn what they need to know through that rather than through driver feedback.

“I'm trying to help with the handling aspects of the car in breaking down some of the data they get off the car and interpreting it a little better.”

Racing Trivia Question: Which Cup team will Greg Biffle drive for in 2017?

Last Week's Question: How many points races are in the 2017 Cup Series schedule? Answer. There are 36 points races.

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

Ben Woolcock, Elk Lake, Basketball

Ben Woolcock has long been used to having frequent possession of the basketball.

The difference for Woolcock’s senior year is that he’s being expected to shoot it more than ever before.

As Elk Lake’s only returning starter, Woolcock still distributes the ball to teammates, but he’s been asked to take on a significant part of the scoring burden as well.

Woolcock adjusted so well that he led the defending champion Warriors to a surprise finish as first-half champions of Lackawanna League Division 4 boys’ basketball.

For his efforts, Woolcock is the Susquehanna County Transcript Athlete of the Month for January.

“I knew the role was going to be different than what it had been prior,” said Woolcock, who averaged more than 19 points while helping Elk Lake go 6-1 for the month. “I prepared to the best of my abilities to put us in the best situation possible.

“I’ve mainly been a facilitator. … I like to take over and lead the team, not really the scoring part, but the little things.”

The needs were different, however, as the Warriors got ready for this season under coach Rich Emmons. The new coach said he realized the adjustment was “at times, unnatural” for Woolcock.

“We lost 80 to 90 percent of our scoring from last year,” Woolcock said of a team that reached the District 2 Class 2A championship and the state tournament. “I knew I had to pick up on that.

“That’s something new this year.”

Woolcock has adjusted. He still leads the team in assists, but he is also among Elk Lake’s top two in points, rebounds and assists.

When, they needed it most, the Warriors got points from Woolcock.

With a chance to clinch in the final game of the first half, Elk Lake struggled offensively and was behind Lackawanna Trail, 28-25, at halftime. Woolcock scored 23 of his career-high 33 points in the second half to lead the rally to a 65-47 victory and the first-half championship.

“They came out in a 2-3 (zone) in the first half and we hadn’t seen a 2-3 all year,” Emmons said. “He absolutely took control of the game of the second half.

“He took over that game shooting the ball from the outside.”

Woolcock started preparing to be ready for such situations when he forced himself to take a different approach to the game last spring playing AAU basketball with 21 Hoops.

“I realized what was coming in the winter here and started changing it then,” he said. “It was habit. I was never really a shooter. I had to start implementing that in my game.

“It wasn’t easy but we’re getting there.”

And, an inexperienced Warriors team got there faster than expected as a result.

“I want to put our name in that discussion every year and I know it wasn’t in there this year,” Woolcock said. “It felt really good to capitalize on the opportunity we had. It was good that our guys recognized it when it came up and got it done.”

Woolcock is in his third year as a basketball starter. He also has been a four-year starter in soccer, earning first-team division all-star from coaches in the last three seasons.

Ben, the son of Tim and Laurie Woolcock from Dimock, plans to attend Coastal Carolina University in Myrtle Beach, S.C. to study engineering.