Forest City avenged two regular-season losses to Blue Ridge to win a playoff for the Lackawanna League Division 3 boys’ soccer title, 3-1, Wednesday at Mountain View.

The teams wound up tied for first place in the division when defending champion Blue Ridge dropped a pair of one-goal games to Dunmore.

Forest City took advantage of the opportunity behind a goal and an assist by Joe Callan and two assists by Ian Bailey.

Following a scoreless first half, Bailey set up Callan and Jay Lipko for goals and a 2-0 lead.

Garrett Mansfield converted a penalty kick to cut the lead to one, but Tyler Clift scored off a Callan assist to restore the two-goal advantage.

Dakota Knehr-Cook made 11 saves for the Foresters in the win.

The final division standings were: Forest City 10-2, Blue Ridge 10-2, Dunmore 9-3, Carbondale 6-6, Mid Valley 4-8, Old Forge 3-9, Riverside 0-12.

Mountain View finished second in Division 2 of the Lackawanna League. The final standings were: Scranton Prep 11-0-1, Mountain View 10-2, Lakeland 8-3-1, Montrose 6-6, Western Wayne 4-8, Holy Cross 2-10, Elk Lake 0-12.

WEEK IN REVIEW

Blue Ridge avenged its only loss and moved into first place in the Lackawanna League girls’ volleyball standings when it rallied to defeat visiting Dunmore, 16-25, 25-22, 26-24, 25-18, Thursday.

The Raiders ended the week with a 16-1 record and one match remaining against third-place Abington Heights. Dunmore was 15-1 with two matches remaining.

Abby Hartman led the win with 13 kills and three blocks.

Hunter Heeman added eight kills and Alexa Stanley seven. Alyssa Sherwood had six kills and four aces.

Amanda Woosman had a team-high 25 assists and Jerni Schell led with 14 digs.

Blue Ridge struggled in its previous match October 17 at Elk Lake before pulling away for a 27-25, 19-25, 25-13, 25-11 win.

Sherwood had eight kills and seven aces.

Hartman had seven kills and Heeman six.

Woosman had 19 assists and Karly Gudykunst contributed a team-high four digs.

In football, after being in position to be part of the District 2 Class 2A playoffs for each of the first eight weeks of the season, Susquehanna was eliminated Friday night when the Sabers suffered their sixth straight loss, 27-6, at Mid Valley.

The Sabers were locked in a tight game for most of three quarters before ultimately being worn down by the running combination of Joe Chylak and Colin Hazelton.

Mid Valley clinched a berth in the four-team District 2 Class 2A playoffs by pulling away from a 7-6 game at halftime. The Spartans are 4-4 in LFC Division 3 and 5-4 overall.

Susquehanna, which started the season with three straight wins, dropped to 2-6 and 3-6.

The Sabers had a 9-6 advantage in first downs in the first half when Mid Valley led just 146-131 in total offense.

While the Mid Valley defense was holding Susquehanna to minus-1 yard in the first three possessions of the second half, the Spartans got rolling offensively. They led 7-1 in first downs and 207-9 in total yardage in the second half to break the game open.

Chylak carried 15 times for 170 yards, including a 67-yard run for the final touchdown with 9:58 left. He scored two touchdowns, intercepted a pass and had a 70-yard punt return for an apparent touchdown that was called back by a penalty.

Hazelton, who carried 14 times, had 87 of his 127 rushing yards in the second half, including third-quarter touchdown runs of 16 and 14 yards. He also tied for the team lead with eight tackles.

The Spartans stretched the 7-6 lead to 27-6 in a span of 5:36 to end the third quarter and start the fourth.

Susquehanna moved into Mid Valley territory on its first three possessions of the game, scoring on the second for a 6-0 lead.

Garrett Decker’s third-down tackle for a loss got the Sabers the ball right back after the first threat was ruined by a penalty.

The Sabers moved 52 yards in six plays.

C.J. Stone had a seven-yard run on third-and-four and threw an 11-yard pass to Mason Deakin.

Travis Craig went off right tackle for a 22-yard touchdown, breaking a tackle before cutting to his left on the way to the score with 4:00 left in the first quarter.

Mid Valley went ahead, 7-6, on the last play of the first quarter. Chylak’s 4-yard run completed a six-play, 62-yard drive.

The Spartans did not score again until their second drive of the third quarter when Hazelton ran 16 yards for a touchdown with 3:34 left.

Pat Ferke’s 30-yard pass to Zach Rebar set up Chylak’s 14-yard touchdown.

Craig led Susquehanna with 52 yards on 10 carries.

Stone adding 40 rushing yards, along with seven tackles and six assists.

Brock Gumaer made eight tackles, including one for a loss, and assisted on three more. Deakin had seven tackles and three assists. Craig had three tackles, including one for a seven-yard loss, and eight assists.

While Susquehanna was losing its sixth straight, Montrose dropped its fifth in a row Friday night at home against Lakeland, 41-17.

Freshman Gavin Spataro carried 24 times for 197 yards and two touchdowns for the Chiefs, who pulled away from a 21-10 game in the fourth quarter.

Ethan Cina and Cayden Myers ran for touchdowns for Montrose (1-7 and 1-8). Bryden Jerauld kicked his fourth field goal in the last five games.

In girls’ tennis, Montrose’s McKala Newhart and Angie Ford reached the final 16 out of 39 teams in the District 2 Class 2A doubles tournament.

Newhart-Ford received a first-round bye, defeated Mia Mandarano-Lauren Brown from Dunmore, 6-0, 6-1, then lost to Hannah Bonk-Mikayla Reynolds from Dallas, 6-0, 6-1.

The Montrose team of Cambry Montgomery-Katelyn Henry lost its first match, 6-2, 6-2, to Riverside’s Mia Capalongo-Abby Fairclough.

In boys’ cross country, Montrose dominated two winning teams to defeat Scranton Prep, 19-42, and Holy Cross, 20-43, Oct. 17 in the Lackawanna League finale.

The Meteors placed second in the league after winning the previous two titles.

The final standings: Wallenpaupack 22-0, Montrose 21-1, Abington Heights 20-2, Lakeland 18-4, Scranton 18-4, Elk Lake 18-4, Scranton Prep 17-5, Honesdale 16-6, Holy Cross 15-7, Delaware Valley 14-8, Valley View 11-11, Blue Ridge 10-12, North Pocono 10-12, Susquehanna 9-13, West Scranton 8-14, Lackawanna Trail 6-16, Dunmore 6-16, Old Forge 4-18, Western Wayne 3-19, Mountain View 3-19, Riverside 3-19, Mid Valley 2-20, Forest City 0-22.

In girls’ cross country, the final Lackawanna League standings were: Scranton Prep 18-0, Abington Heights 17-1, Holy Cross 16-2, Valley View 15-3, Honesdale 14-4, Delaware Valley 13-5, Wallenpaupack 13-5, Western Wayne 11-7, Scranton 10-8, North Pocono 9-9, Lakeland 8-10, Lackawanna Trail 7-11, Old Forge 6-12, West Scranton 4-14, Dunmore 3-15, Elk Lake 0-18, Montrose 0-18, Riverside 0-18, Mid Valley 0-18.

In girls’ soccer, Montrose and Elk Lake each finished second in their divisions.

The final Lackawanna Division 3 standings: Lakeland 13-0, Montrose 11-2, Mountain View 8-4-1, Western Wayne 6-7, Holy Cross 4-8-1.

The final Lackawanna Division 4 standings: Dunmore 9-2-2, Elk Lake 4-8-1, Carbondale 2-9-2, Forest City 2-10-1, Mountain View 2-11.

COLLEGE CORNER

Mansfield University’s Kenzie Jones finished fifth in the Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference Championships Saturday at California University and earned first-team, all-PSAC honors.

Jones, a junior from Elk Lake, ran the 6-kilometer course in 23:10.

THE WEEK AHEAD

The District 2 Cross Country Championships are scheduled for Wednesday at Lakeland.

The day gets started at 11:20 a.m. with the Class A girls’ race.

Elk Lake is the defending champion, but has had trouble coming up with the five runners for a scoring lineup this season. The Lady Warriors were state runners-up last season.

The top team, plus the best five other individuals qualify for the Nov. 4 state meet in Hershey.

The top 15 finishers in both the boys and girls Class A races earn medals.

The Class A boys’ race gets the same number of state qualifiers. It starts at noon.

Montrose is the defending champion and is trying to get back to the state meet where it was fifth a year ago.

Brandon Curley is back after finishing second in the district last year.

Blue Ridge’s Travis Hickling is trying to qualify for the state meet for the fourth straight year.

The Class 2A girls run at 12:40 p.m.

The Montrose girls are the only Susquehanna County team that is it Class 2A. The others are all in Class A.

The top two teams and the other 10 best individual finishers go to the state meet in Class 2A.  There are 20 district medals awarded.

Hannah Perkins from Montrose finished third last season as a freshman.

In girls’ soccer, Mountain View and Montrose each earned high seeds and the first-round byes that went with them for the District 2 soccer tournament.

Mountain is the second seed and has a bye into Friday’s semifinals of the six-team Class A tournament.

Montrose is the third seed of 13 teams in Class 2A and has a bye into Thursday’s quarterfinals.

The Class A tournament opens Tuesday.

Forest City, the fifth seed, is at Holy Cross, the fourth seed, Wednesday in a quarterfinal game.

The winner of the Wyoming Seminary-at-Elk Lake, which was scheduled for Tuesday, goes to top-seeded Lakeland for Thursday’s semifinals.

Mountain View plays the Forest-City-Holy Cross winner Friday.

Montrose will play at home Thursday at 6 p.m. against the winner of the Mid Valley-at-Holy Redeemer game that was scheduled for Tuesday.

In boys’ soccer, Forest City and Mountain View are the top two seeds in the District 2 Class A tournament.

Forest City has the only bye in the seven-team field and will host Wednesday’s semifinal against the quarterfinal between Elk Lake and Holy Cross that was scheduled for Monday.

Mountain View was scheduled to open at home against Gregory the Great with a chance to host again Wednesday against the MMI Prep-Old Forge winner.

Blue Ridge is seeded third of 16 teams, setting up a possible quarterfinal matchup with Montrose.

For the game to happen, Blue Ridge would have had to get past Western Wayne and Montrose win at Lake-Lehman Monday.

In high school football, Montrose and Susquehanna will conclude their seasons this weekend with Lackawanna Football Conference Division 3 games.

The Meteors (1-7, 1-8) are at Lackawanna Trail (6-2, 7-2) Friday night at 7.

The Sabers (2-6, 3-6) are home with Holy Cross (0-8, 0-9) Saturday afternoon at 2.

Our predictions were 10-0 for the second straight week, improving our season record to 74-20 (78.7 percent).

This week’s predictions, with home teams in CAPS: LACKAWANNA TRAIL 37, Montrose 7 … SUSQUEHANNA 45, Holy Cross 3 … OLD FORGE 21, Dunmore 20 … LAKELAND 29, Mid Valley 26 … CARBONDALE 30, Riverside 17 … Western Wayne 26, WEST SCRANTON 18 … VALLEY VIEW 47, Honesdale 15 … SCRANTON PREP 44, North Pocono 14 … WALLENPAUPACK 30, Scranton 24 … Delaware Valley 50, ABINGTON HEIGHTS 0.

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.

TRUEX GETS SEVENTH WIN

Truex Gets Seventh Win (Furnished by NASCAR)

KANSAS CITY, Kan.--Martin Truex Jr. took control of Sunday's Cup Series race about midway and cruised to his seventh win of the season, by 2.24-seconds ahead of Kurt Busch.

Truex started on the pole but was sent to the rear of the field at the start of the 267-lap race for going below the white line before the green flag was given. He worked his way back up through the pack and it was evident that by lap 145, he had the dominant car.

“Oh man I can't say enough about this team,” said Truex. “It's unbelievable. We never dreamed we'd win this many races at the beginning of the season. I had a great car today. We had good runs and kept ourselves in the right position to win.”

The remaining top-10: 2. Kurt Busch, 3. Ryan Blaney, 4. Chase Elliott, 5. Denny Hamlin, 6. Chris Buescher, 7. Dale Earnhardt Jr.,  8. Kevin Harvick, 9. Aric Almirola, 10. Kyle Busch.

The race was pivotal for several drivers, because the Chase field was reduced from 12 contenders to eight.

Several Chase drivers didn't finish the race and were eliminated.

Both of the Ganassi Racing drivers, Kyle Larson and Jamie McMurray weren't around at the finish.

Kyle Larson was the first driver out of the race. He pitted on lap 71 due to engine problems with his No. 42 Chevrolet. He lost three laps while his team made repairs. He returned to the track, but his engine went up in smoke during lap 77.

“We lost oil pressure,” said Larson. “It's disappointing, because up until now we've had a good year. We were hoping to continue on. Even though we're out of the Chase, we'll continue to race as hard as we can.”

Larson's teammate, Jamie McMurray couldn't miss a big wreck that happened in front of him on lap 198, and he was done for the rest of the race.

“The 77-car just got loose,” said McMurray. “I over corrected and got into him. I thought we had one of the best cars on the long run, but that's the way it goes.”

Both drivers were cut from the Chase field.

The lap 197 wreck, which involved McMurray, claimed nine other cars including Chase contenders Matt Kenseth and Kasey Kahne.

It all began to happen as the field came out of turn-2. Erik Jones got loose, lost it and swerved into the outside wall. Many of the cars behind him had no place to go and slammed into each other.

“I just lost it,” said Jones. “I really feel bad for all those other guys. We had a fast car and had worked our way up to the front, but the back end just came around.”

Jimmie Johnson had handling problems throughout the race. It looked like he was playing bumper cars several times. His first spin came on lap 187, causing him to brush the outside wall. He pitted for fresh tires and returned to the track. Ten laps later he spun again. He was involved in the big wreck during lap 198, but managed to keep his car going and finish the race.

“The car wasn't handling like we would have liked it,” said Johnson. “Sometimes it would be hard to steer coming out of the turns, and at other times, it would be difficult entering a turn. We definitely have to get better in the next couple of races.”

The Chase field has now been reduced to eight drivers: 1. Truex-4069, 2. Kyle Busch-4042, 3. Keselowski-4028, 4. Harvick-4017, 5. Johnson-4017, 6. Hamlin-4014, 7. Blaney-4009, 8. Elliott-4006.

The field will be reduced to only four drivers after the next three races at: Martinsville, Texas, and Phoenix. The highest finishing driver at Homestead, the last race of the season will be the 2017 champion.

BELL GETS KANSAS XFINITY SERIES WIN

Christopher Bell won Saturday's Xfinity Series race. It was his first victory in five series starts.

He chased down Eric Jones in the closing laps and passed him on the low side with four laps to go in the 200-lap race. As Bell drifted back up the track, Jones did not slow down and slammed into the rear of Bell's car. The impact sent Jones into the outside wall, while Bell continued on to victory lane.

“Well, it was racing, but he pulled up in front of me and I just couldn't stop,” said Jones, who led 186 laps and finished 15th. “It wasn't like he was trying to race me, he just wrecked me.”

Bell said he would apologize to Jones, but didn't consider his move an attempt to wreck Jones.

“I didn't try to and I didn't want to wreck him,” said Bell. “I thought I had cleared him. It's just one of those things.”

Tyler Reddick finished second, followed by Ryan Blaney, William Byron, Justin Allgaier, Austin Dillon, Elliott Sadler, Matt Tifft, Ty Dillon, and Ryan Reed.

Top-8 Xfinity Series Championship contenders with three races remaining: 1. Allgaier-3066, 2. Byron-3064, 3. Sadler-3055, 4. B. Poole-3038, 5. Tifft-3033, 6. Reed-3032, 7. Hemric-3032, 8. Custer-3030.

There will be two more races before the Xfinity Series playoff field is narrowed to four drivers.

CLINT BOWYER AND HOMETOWN FANS

Clint Bowyer, like all racers try to put on a good show for their hometown fans. He is from Emporia, Kansas, but considers the Kansas Speedway as his home track.

He was hoping for a good finish this past Sunday at Kansas in order to impress his friends and family.

“It’s difficult to go home because of getting pulled in all the different directions – all the while trying to focus on getting a good run, because that’s really what’s important to you the most there,” said Bowyer. “It’s important to me to run well in front of all my fans, friends and family.”

Ask Clint Bowyer about the impact his hometown of Emporia, Kansas has had on his racing career and you’ll get a rare moment of silence from the 38-year-old Cup Series driver.

Then he’ll look you in the eye and respond with a short and powerful answer.

“People are what make you,” continued Bowyer. “As you grow up in a community, it’s the people within that community who you learn from and everything else.

“Life’s all about timing, it’s all about chances that you get in life, and opportunities, and then you’ve got to be able to, I guess, have enough experience to prepare yourself for that opportunity and be able to capitalize on that opportunity.

“It seems like my career within a five- or six-year span went very fast, but we always kept moving. We never stayed in one class or anything, always kept moving up and forward progression, and that always enabled me to get in the next ride, the next opportunity, and capitalize on it really well.”

Bowyer hasn’t turned his back on Kansas, especially Emporia. He returns often to deer hunt, visit friends or just be part of the community. In March 2013, he bought the Clint Bowyer Autoplex car dealership on U.S. Highway 50, where he once worked as a lot attendant.

Unfortunately, Bowyer's hoped for win or good finish didn't happen.

His 19th-place finish didn't show his hometown fans what he is really capable of.

“A win at Kansas is obviously at the top of the list, right up there with a Daytona 500, of places I’d really like to get a victory,” he said. “I just hope that we can get a Kansas win in the future for a lot of people including the Bowyer family.”

Weekend Racing: The Truck and Cup teams are at the Martinsville, Virginia track. The Xfinity teams have an off week.

Sat., Oct. 28, Truck Series race 20 of 23; Starting time: 1:30 pm ET; TV: Fox Sports1.

Sun., Oct. 29, Cup Series race 33 of 36; Starting time: 1 pm ET; TV: NBCSN.

Racing Trivia Question: What year did NASCAR began the Chase for the championship?

Last Week's Question: Which is the smallest track on the NASCAR Cup circuit? Answer. Martinsville Speedway. The Martinsville track is listed as 0.526-mile, while Bristol is .533. Not much difference in size, but Bristol has much higher banking, making it a faster track.

Gerald Hodges is a syndicated NASCAR writer and author. His books may be viewed and ordered online at Amazon.com. You may contact him by e-mail at: hodges@race500.com.