PECKVILLE – Colin Mondi used a new position to find a new way to put points on the scoreboard.

The Montrose graduate landed a spot in the City starting lineup and scored team’s first points during Wednesday’s 27-12 Dream Game loss to the County before a crowd of 7,347 at John F. Henzes/Veterans Memorial Stadium.

Mondi, who played linebacker in high school, made the transition to defensive end for the 83rd annual Scranton Lions Club-sponsored all-star game for recent graduates of Lackawanna Football Conference teams.

From there, Mondi broke into the County backfield to make a tackle in the end zone for the first of two City safeties.

The first City score was set up when Scranton Prep’s Jake Ryan punted 38 yards to pin the County at its 2.

“I heard someone say, ‘let’s get a safety here boys’,” Mondi said. “I wasn’t really thinking about it before that.

“I just wish it could have given us more momentum.”

Lakeland’s Michael Lowry took a handoff in the County backfield and headed for left tackle. Mondi came off the edge and stopped Lowry before he ever got out of the end zone, cutting the County lead to 7-2 with 2:35 left in the first quarter.

“I’m just supposed to squeeze down on outside contain,” Mondi said. “They didn’t really block me. I saw the fullback coming and I saw the running back going outside of him so I just kind of did a swim move on the fullback.”

Mondi was one of two Susquehanna County players in the game.

Jarred Mills, a Blue Ridge graduate and former Susquehanna Saber, also played for the City.

Mills contributed on the special teams and came off the bench to play in the defensive backfield.

Mondi made another tackle in addition to the safety and also assisted on two others.

Mills made two tackles. His block was a big part of clearing the way for West Scranton’s Timon Brown to return a kickoff 35 yards in the third quarter.

The County, coached by Joe Repshis from Abington Heights, ended a two-game losing streak and cut the City advantage in the series to 41-38-4.

Repshis got major contributions from his own players on the County team, which also included players from host Valley View, Lakeland, Delaware Valley, Riverside, Carbondale, Mid Valley, Old Forge, Western Wayne and Honesdale.

Colin McCreary from Abington Heights, a scholarship baseball recruit who is also expected to kick and punt for the football team at Division I Monmouth University, played quarterback and went 5-for-11 for 140 yards and three touchdowns.

Teammate Brandon Hardy made a spectacular, one-handed catch in the end zone for a 26-yard touchdown on the first play of the fourth quarter, building a 27-4 lead.

McCreary opened the scoring midway through the first quarter with a 31-yard pass to Valley View’s Evan Carey.

After consecutive City safeties – the second of which came about when the pass rush forced an intentional grounding penalty from the end zone – McCreary hit Riverside’s Nick Sottile for a 25-yard touchdown with 19.1 seconds left in the half for a 13-4 lead.

Valley View’s Jake Osborne opened the second half scoring with a 23-yard run.

McCreary also connected on three of four extra-point kicks and punted four times for an average of 38.5 yards.

North Pocono’s Matt Craig scored the only City touchdown on a 7-yard run with 1:30 left in the game, then pulled in a two-point conversion pass from Jacob Watts.

Scranton’s Mike Marichak coached the City.

The City was made up of players from Scranton, Susquehanna, Montrose, West Scranton, Dunmore, Scranton Prep, North Pocono, Holy Cross, Lackawanna Trail and Wallenpaupack.

WEEK IN REVIEW

Mackenzie Steele, who is getting ready to enter her sophomore year at Susquehanna, played for JB Hoops of Scranton at the USJN 17U Junior National Championships.

Through the first two days of the four-day event at the Gaylord Convention Center at National Harbor in Oxon Hill, Md., JB Hoops was 2-1 and in a four-way tie for first in its six-team pool.

Steele led the team in rebounds in the first two games.

In Saturday’s opening 53-44 win over Maryland Pride from Baltimore, Steele grabbed seven rebounds.

JB Hoops split two Sunday games.

Steele led with five rebounds, scored two points and made a steal in a 39-36 loss to the Brooklyn (N.Y.) Saints.

JB Hoops came back to defeat Nike CyFair Shooters from Texas, 52-50, in Sunday’s second game. Steele finished second on the team in rebounds with six along with four points, two steals and two blocked shots.

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.

KAHNE GETS CRAZY BRICKYARD WIN

Kahne Wins Crazy Brickyard Race (Furnished by NASCAR)

INDIANAPOLIS, Ind.--Sunday's NASCAR Cup Series race at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway was a crazy one.

The scheduled 160 lap race lasted 5 hours and 24 minutes.

There were three red flag periods for 1 hour and 32 minutes.

It consisted of a record 14 cautions that involved 37 cars.

Only 15 of the 40 cars that started the race were running when the race ended on lap 167.

Kasey Kahne got the victory, his first in the last 102 races, but for the rest of his Hendrick Motorsports teammates, it was a bad day.

Kahne made a move during the race's last overtime restart on lap 166 that powered him into the lead. Brad Keselowski elected to start on the outside, giving Kahne the inside position. When the green flag was given Kahne got the jump on Keselowski, and was pulling away. A large wreck behind the leaders brought out the race's final caution. This ended the race and handed the win to Kahne.

“The victory here is awesome,” said Kahne. “The car could stay ahead of the others, but my problem was getting there. Once I got by Brad on that last restart, I knew I had it.”

One of the reasons Kahne was able to beat Keselowski on the last restart was because he had fresher tires.

“You know I sure would have liked to win here today,” said Keselowski. “Maybe we should have changed our tire strategy. Who knows. Maybe I should have started on the inside. We'll look at all those things in the next few days.”

Neither of the three other Hendrick teams; Chase Elliott, Dale Earnhardt Jr., or Jimmie Johnson finished the race. Elliott and Earnhardt lost engines, while Johnson spun around and hit the wall near the end of the race.

Kyle Busch and Martin Truex Jr. dominated the race for the first 110 laps. Busch won both Stage 1 and Stage 2, while Truex was second in each of them.

On a restart during lap 111, Truex got into the rear of Busch's No. 18, sending both cars into the wall and out of the race.

“I guess he was trying to play the peanut game,” said Busch. “That's the way it goes.  We had the car to win and would have gone into the record books with our third win here.”

Truex took the blame for the incident.

“I just got loose and wrecked him,” said Truex. “It was my fault. I didn't think he would drive into the turn that hard. We had an awesome car. After we got out front no one could catch us.”

Ryan Newman was third, while Joey Logano, Matt Kenseth, Kevin Harvick, Daniel Suarez, Matt DiBenedetto, Chris Buescher, and AJ Allmendinger rounded out the top-10 finishers.

Trevor Bayne, driver of the No. 6 Roush Fenway Ford was having his best run of the season. He was running fourth when one of the big wrecks took him out on lap 152. 

“We had the strategy to win it,” said Bayne after the race. “I was kissing the bricks in my head. (Crew chief) Matt Puccia and the guys gave me a great AdvoCare Ford and I was so thankful to have a shot to win the Brickyard. It’s just really disappointing.”

Top-10 leaders after 20 of 36: 1. Truex-780, 2. Larson-732, 3. Harvick-683, 4. Kyle Busch-673, 5. Hamlin-612, 6. Keselowski-602, 7. McMurray-599, 8. Elliott-588, 9. Kenseth-566, 10. Johnson-564.

BYRON GETS FIRST INDY WIN

William Byron got his first Indy win this past Saturday in the NASCAR Xfinity Series. Byron gained the lead with 18-laps-to-go in the 100 lap race and held off a hard charging Paul Menard, who finished second, just 1/10th of a second back.

“It’s very humbling to be here at Indianapolis and win,” Byron said. “I can’t believe that tire hung on, but that’s awesome. This is so cool. It takes a lot to win these races, and to win here is special.”

Byron has now won three of the last five Xfinity Series races, dating back to Iowa Speedway. Two of those wins came at Daytona and Indianapolis.

Joey Logano was third, followed by Elliott Sadler, Cole Custer, Ryan Reed, Brennan Poole, Daniel Hemric, Brandon Jones, and Ty Dillon.

Top-10 leaders after 18 of 33: 1. Sadler-665, 2. Byron-625, 3. Allgaier-525, 4. B. Poole-473, 5. Hemric-458, 6. Custer-435, 7. Tifft-414, 8. Reed-408, 9. Armstrong-368, 10. Annett-367.

Here are the top-10 finishers of the NASCAR Truck Series race, which was run at Eldora Speedway in New Weston, Ohio on July 19; 1. Matt Crafton, 2. Stewart Friesen, 3. Chase Briscoe, 4. Grant Enfinger, 5. John Nemechek, 6. Bobby Pierce, 7. Noah Gragson, 8. Justin Bailey, 9. Christopher Bell, 10. Austin Cindric.

Top-10 leaders after 11 of 23: 1. Sauter-478, 2. Bell-471, 3. Briscoe-431, 4. Crafton-427, 5. Enfinger-356, 6. Nemechek-354, 7. Rhodes-337, 8. Ryan Truex-336, 9. Gragson-329, 10. Cindric-292.

BOWMAN NAMED AS EARNHARDT'S REPLACEMENT

Alex Bowman has been named as Dale Earnhardt Jr.'s replacement in the No. 88 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet, beginning with the 2018 season.

Bowman, 24, drove the No. 88 in 10 Cup races last season in place of  the injured Earnhardt. The Tucson, Arizona, native debuted July 17, 2016, and went on to earn three top-10 finishes with the team including a sixth-place result at Phoenix, where he won the pole position and led a race-high 194 laps.

“Ever since I was a kid, racing is all I've wanted to do,” Bowman said. “I've had so many people believe in me along the way. My family has sacrificed a lot and always been behind me. I would never have this chance without the support of Dale and everyone involved with the No. 88 team.”

At seven years old, Bowman began racing on the short tracks of Arizona and California, driving quarter-midgets before advancing to USAC sprint cars. He transitioned to full-bodied stock cars at age 17, initially making starts in the 2010 Pro Cup Series and later the 2011 NASCAR K&N Pro Series East, where he finished sixth in points and won rookie of the year.

Bowman also entered two ARCA Racing Series events in 2011, winning them both -- at Madison International Speedway and Kansas Speedway. After Team Penske signed him in 2012, Bowman posted four ARCA wins -- Salem, Winchester, Iowa and Kansas -- and led 20 percent of the season's total laps to earn another rookie of the year award. He made his first NASCAR national series start Sept. 15, 2012, at Chicagoland in the Xfinity Series, which he ran full-time in 2013 for RAB Racing.
As a 21-year-old rookie, Bowman made his NASCAR Cup debut in the 2014 Daytona 500. In 2014 and 2015, he started 71 Cup events for BK Racing and Tommy Baldwin Racing.

In 2016, Bowman made nine Xfinity Series starts for JR Motorsports, recording one pole position, three top-five finishes and seven top-10s. His 10 Cup Series appearances for Hendrick Motorsports in 2016 included top-10 results in playoff races at Chicagoland, Kansas and Phoenix. He now has 133 career starts across NASCAR's three national series, including one in the 2017 Truck Series.

Weekend Racing: The Cup and Truck teams will be at the 2.5-mile Pocono Raceway, while the Xfinity teams will be at the seven-eighths-mile Iowa Speedway.

Sat., July 29; Truck Series race 12 of 23; Starting time: 1 pm ET; TV: FoxSports1.

Sat., July 29; Xfinity Series race 19 of 33; Starting time: 3:30 pm ET; TV: NBC.

Sun., July 30; Cup Series race 21 of 36; Starting time: 3 pm ET; TV: NBCSN.

Racing Trivia Question: How many Cup teams does Roush Fenway Racing currently field?

Last Week's Question: How many drivers will be eligible for the start of the 10-race Chase for the Championship? Answer. Sixteen drivers will be eligible.

Correction: This year's NASCAR Cup Series Race For The Chase will begin Sept. 17 at Chicagoland Speedway. Also, we reported that last Wednesday's NASCAR Truck Series race would be on FoxSports 1. It aired on FoxSports2. Unfortunately, the networks change channels without notifying the media in advance. We apologize for the incorrect information.

Gerald Hodges is a syndicated NASCAR writer and author. You may contact him by e-mail at: hodges@race500.com.