Brandon Curley from Montrose finished fifth in the state to lead the Meteors to a third-place team finish in Class A boys cross country (Tom Robinson photo)

HERSHEY – Brandon Curley and Liam Mead grabbed individual medals while helping Montrose continue its climb through the state boys’ cross country ranks.

Curley and Mead finished fifth and sixth to lead the Meteors to a third-place finish in Class A at the Pennsylvania Interscholastic Athletic Association Cross Country Championships.

The Meteors finished fifth last year and have reason to believe they can remain among the best in the state after using four underclassmen in the seven-man lineup Saturday.

Curley and Mead were two of the four individual medalists from Susquehanna County.

The PIAA awards individual medals to the top 25 finishers in each race.

Elk Lake had the other two medal-winners. Shayanne Bennett was 16th in the Class A girls’ race while Peyton Jones was 19th in Class A boys.

Montrose was in second one mile into the race, but was unable to hold the position to grab one of the PIAA team awards that go to the top two finishers.

Penns Valley beat out Elk County Christian, 68-95, for the team title. Montrose scored 101 points and edged Winchester Thurston by a point for third.

“I was happy with the way everybody ran,” Montrose coach Dean Brewer said. “It’s just hard to get into that top two.

“Five guys in under 17:40 is what it takes anymore.”

Curley completed the 3.1-mile Parkview Course in 16:32, 20 seconds behind the pace set by Winchester Thurston senior Tristan Forsythe.

Mead followed Curley to the finish line in 16:39.

Colin Spellman was 36th in the 214-runner field in 17:28.

Max Brewer was 59th and Eric Bixby 82nd to complete the team score.

Jerome Washo came in at the same time as Bixby in 83rd and Nick Coy was 112th.

Jones took 19th in 17:02. Teammate Cody Oswald was in medal contention throughout and placed 29th in 17:21.

Bennett was 16th in 19:57. Sadie Bosscher was 45th out of 227 in 20:53.

Montrose’s Georgia Smith was 56th out of 227 Class 2A girls runners in 20:37.

GIRLS’ VOLLEYBALL

Blue Ridge players celebrate the match-clinching point that gave them a fourth straight District 2 Class A girls’ volleyball championship (Tom Robinson photo)

MOSCOW – Abby Hartman and Miranda Woosman led the way Wednesday night when Blue Ridge recovered from dropping the first game and came back to claim its fourth straight District 2 Class A girls’ volleyball title by taking the next three games from MMI Prep at North Pocono High School.

Hartman had 19 kills and 10 service points while Woosman had 42 assists and 8 points in the 22-25, 27-25, 25-20, 25-15 victory.

“Miranda’s been on the team two years now,” Blue Ridge coach Lori Zick said. “She’s done an amazing job. She’s always very consistent.

“She’s always a level-headed kick who makes good decisions and knows who to get the ball when. She sets the girls up nicely.”

Although the Raiders have many weapons, most often, that option is Hartman.

“She’s a four-year varsity player,” Zick said. “This was her fourth varsity championship so she’s used to this gym; she’s used to the atmosphere.

“She’s been our captain all season.”

Jerni Schell had 33 digs and 5 aces to help Blue Ridge return to the state tournament. Alyssa Sherwood had 15 kills. Mackenzie Cook and Alexa Stanley, who had 6 kills, each served 13 points.

“We missed a lot of serves in the first game,” Zick said.

The Preppers had the Lady Raiders in trouble when they took a 17-13 lead in Game Two.

Hartman and Hunter Heeman combined to take over at the net and Stanley served five straight points for a 19-17 lead.

MMI did not lead again in the game, but managed ties at 24 and 25 before Stanley’s kill put Blue Ridge ahead to stay.

Blue Ridge took control early in the third game, opening a 17-7 lead. It did the same in Game Three, moving in front 15-8.

In Class 2A, Forest City was eliminated from the District 2 quarterfinals when it lost to Lake-Lehman, 25-16, 25-21, 25-22, October 30 at Holy Redeemer High School in Wilkes-Barre.

Lake-Lehman put together key streaks in each game.

The Lady Knights ran off nine straight points for a 21-9 lead in the first game.

Forest City took a 16-10 lead in the second game, but Lake-Lehman scored the next 11 points.

The Lady Foresters were up again, 9-6, in the third game before the Lady Knights took control, opening a 17-12 lead.

Morgan Marchakitus led Lake-Lehman with 10 kills.

Amelia Zazzera had 9 kills and Katelyn Dovin had 17 assists for Forest City. Laura Statkun had six kills. Summer Wade added four kills and four blocks.

BOYS’ SOCCER

Alex Showalter scored the only goal of the second half on a penalty kick with 17:46 remaining October 31 to lift Mountain View to a 3-2 victory over Forest City in the District 2 Class A boys’ soccer championship game at Western Wayne.

Top-seeded Forest City had rallied from an early two-goal deficit to force a 2-2 halftime tie.

Nick Pellew scored unassisted in the fifth minute and set up a Luke Schmidt goal for the 2-0 Mountain View lead.

The Lackawanna League Division 4 champion Foresters fought back when Jay Lipko set up Eric Paulin’s goal then scored one of his own in the last six minutes of the half.

Dakota Knehr-Cook made 15 saves for Forest City while trying to help the Foresters overcome shot and corner kick advantages by Mountain View.

In Class 2A, Meyers scored once in each half to beat Montrose, 2-0, in the October 30 semifinals.

Ethan Hitchcock had 15 saves for Montrose and kept the Meteors within a goal until 8:09 remaining.

GIRLS’ SOCCER

LEHMAN TWP. – Montrose extended the game on Brianna Spence’s dramatic goal with two seconds left in regulation and goalkeeper Katie Puterbaugh’s clutch performance in the first overtime.

Once the Lady Meteors and host Lake-Lehman advanced to a penalty kick shootout, however, the Lady Knights brought an early end to that competition.

Lake-Lehman claimed its second straight District 2 Class 2A girls’ soccer championship October 31 with a 4-3 win that included a 4-2 advantage in the shootout.

With the outcome decided, neither team took its scheduled fifth and final attempt in the shootout.

Spence scored twice in the final 8:31 of regulation to rally Montrose from a 3-1, second-half deficit.

The comeback gave Montrose a shot at pulling out the district championship, but it also set off a grueling three-day stretch for Lady Meteors.

Montrose earned a state play-in game with the District 11 runner-up with its district title and had to travel to Whitehall in the Lehigh Valley to take on Palisades Thursday.

That game was scoreless through regulation, moving into overtime when Palisades scored in the first sudden-death session for a 1-0 victory.

Spence, Montrose teammate Maddy Gilhool and Lake-Lehman’s Mackenzie Love all scored in both regulation and the penalty kick shootout.

Each team made its first two shootout attempts. Lake-Lehman kept going with two more successes while freshman goalie Emma Stroud made two straight saves. When Stroud reached up to make the catch and hold on to the second one, the game ended.

The game opened up after a tightly played first 20 minutes with limited chances.

Hallie Jenkins scored for Lake-Lehman with 19:40 left in the half.

Gilhool answered 2:53 later, forcing a 1-1 tie that held through halftime.

Love and Kyra Apaliski scored to give last year’s state semifinalists a 3-1 lead.

Spence completed a give-and-go with Gabby Davis exactly one minute later.

The rest of the comeback waited until she produced a soccer rarity, a buzzer-beating shot.

When Lake-Lehman was called for a foul near the sideline with less than 10 seconds left, it was not immediately clear whether Montrose would even be able to get the ball in play under soccer’s running clock rules.

Spence handled the unlikely combination of settling the ball and herself quickly while still being able to take a high-quality shot.

From nearly 35 yards away – 20 yards up from the end line near the left sideline – Spence ripped a shot high into the far, upper corner, leaving Stroud no chance of making the save.

Lake-Lehman outshot Montrose, 8-0, in the first overtime period before Montrose had advantages of 4-3 in shots and 2-1 in corner kicks during the second overtime.

Abby Paczewski and Chloe Weaver, who had assisted the first-half goals scored on the first two PKs for Lake-Lehman. Love put the Black Knights ahead and a goal by Amanda Ayers combined with the Stroud save to end the contest.

In Class A, Mountain View reached Wednesday’s championship game where it was held to three shots by host Lakeland as the Lady Chiefs repeated as championship with a 2-0 victory.

Lakeland scored in the first 10 minutes and again midway through the second half.

COLLEGE CORNER

Lycoming College defeated host Messiah College, 2-1, Saturday in a meeting of two of the nation’s top 12 National Collegiate Athletic Association Division III teams for the Middle Atlantic Conference Commonwealth League men’s soccer title.

Both teams are 18-2

Lycoming entered the game ranked 12th. Messiah was third.

Colby Thomas and Zeb Cross, senior forwards from Mountain View, scored the first and last goals of a 5-0 win over Arcadia University in the semifinals.

THE WEEK AHEAD

The Pennsylvania Interscholastic Athletic Association has quarterfinals scheduled in boys’ and girls’ soccer, girls’ volleyball and field hockey Saturday.

Two Susquehanna County teams entered state play Tuesday looking for wins to get them to those quarterfinals.

Mountain View was scheduled to face Millville Tuesday in Class A boys’ soccer in an attempt to reach the quarterfinals.

Blue Ridge needed to beat District 3 champion Covenant Christian Tuesday to get to the quarterfinals in Class A girls’ volleyball.

In high school football, playoffs continue with the start of state play in Class A; District 2 championships in Class 2A, 3A and 5A; the District 2-4 Subregional championship in Class 6A; and the semifinals in District 2 Class 4A.

Our high school football predictions for the first week of the playoffs were 8-1 (88.9 percent) with the only loss coming when Western Wayne fell, 27-26, on a missed two-point conversion attempt in overtime against Lake-Lehman. That record makes us 37-2 (94.9 percent) for the past four weeks and 91-22 (80.5 percent) for the season.

The predictions, which continue until all Lackawanna Football Conference teams are done, included a correct exact score in Scranton Prep’s 42-0 win over Meyers. In addition, we had Carbondale beating Lakeland, 31-20, and the Chargers wound up with a 30-20 win.

This week’s predictions, with home teams in CAPS: DELAWARE VALLEY 27, Hazleton Area 9 … Wyoming Valley West 26, WALLENPAUPACK 25 … BERWICK 35, North Pocono 17 … VALLEY VIEW 43, Coughlin 12 … SCRANTON PREP 45, Lake-Lehman 8 … DUNMORE 35, Carbondale 3 … Old Forge 37, Delaware County Christian 15.

TOM ROBINSON writes a weekly local sports column for the Susquehanna County Transcript. He can reached online at RobbyTR@aol.com or followed on Twitter at @tomjrobinson.

“Happy” Harvick Outlasts Truex At Texas

"Happy" Harvick Outlasts Truex At Texas (Furnished by NASCAR)

FT. WORTH, Tex.--Kevin Harvick claimed his first win at Texas Motor Speedway in 30 attempts as he outlasted Martin Truex Jr. in Sunday's 334-lap Cup Series race.

“Aw, this was a perfect race for us,” said Harvick. “The team did a perfect job. I knew we had a fast car, but I didn't know how fast it really was. We've been chasing this guy (Martin Truex Jr.) all season, but I knew I could do it today.

“We were fast at the beginning, but we had to wait until near the end before we got back in position to show what we really could do. Our cars have improved so much that we're capable of winning at any track we go to. Our confidence is way up there. We're just waiting for Homestead.”

Harvick won the first stage of the race, then faded back into the field until late in the race. The race's last restart came on lap 287. Truex was the leader, while Harvick was seventh. Harvick continued to gain ground on Truex until he was able to pass him for the lead, with 10 laps left.

“The 4-car was a little faster than us at the end,” said a dejected Truex. “We struggled and I don't think we ever reached the setup that we would have liked to had. Our car was good, but obviously we needed a little more.”

Denny Hamlin was third, followed by Matt Kenseth, Brad Keselowski, Ryan Blaney, Joey Logano, Chase Elliott, Kurt Busch and Erik Jones.

Kyle Busch received damage to his car after an on track incident between Daniel Suarez and Kasey Kahne. Busch damaged the right side of his car trying to avoid the accident. He pitted and his team was able to make repairs, but he still finished one lap down in 19th.

Jimmie Johnson's 27th place finish puts him in jeopardy of losing his place in the Chase.

“Yes, we've got to do something a lot better next week,” said Johnson. “We had contact early on in the race, and there were several other minor issues. This team is not one to give up and a win next week would put us right back into it.”

Kyle Larson's string of bad luck continued. He brushed the wall on lap 253 and had to pit for his team to pull sheet metal away that was rubbing his right front tire. He had a tire go down during lap 286 and hit the outside wall again. This time it was a hard hit and his car burst into flames.

“I guess the tire just went down,” said Larson. “I don't know what caused it. It just veered up and right into the wall. I never heard or saw it coming. I know we had the fastest car and it's frustrating to have things like this continue to happen.”

NASCAR redflagged the race after Larson's wreck in order for crews to clean up the mess on the track.

Dale Earnhardt Jr. continues to struggle. He had several minor issues, finishing the race 30 laps down in 35th position.

Top-8 Chase leaders with two races remaining: 1. Truex-4168, 2. Kyle Busch-4118, 3. Harvick-4112, 4. Keselowski-4111, 5. Hamlin-4092, 6. Blaney-4089, 7. Elliott-4062, 8 Johnson-4060.

Next week's race at Phoenix is win or wait until next year for four of the Chase drivers: Denny Hamlin, Ryan Blaney, Chase Elliott, and Jimmie Johnson. For either of these drivers to advance to the Final-4, he must win.

Results of the NASCAR Xfinity Series race, held Sat., Nov. 4 at Texas Motor Speedway: 1. Erik Jones, 2. Ryan Blaney, 3. Kyle Larson, 4. Elliott Sadler, 5. Cole Custer, 6. Christopher Bell, 7. Brennan Poole, 8. Matt Tifft, 9. William Byron, 10. Austin Dillon.

Top-8 Chase leaders with two races remaining: 1. Sadler-3103, 2. Byron-3098, 3. Allgaier-3094, 4. B. Poole-3079, 5. Tifft-3074, 6. Custer-3066, 7. Hemric-3081, 8. Reed-3046.

Results of the NASCAR Truck Series race, held Friday, Nov. 3 at Texas Motor Speedway: 1. Johnny Sauter, 2. Austin Cindric, 3. Christopher Bell, 4. Chase Briscoe, 5. Justin Haley, 6. Kaz Grala, 7. Grant Enfinger, 8. Ryan Truex,  9. Matt Crafton, 10. Noah Gragson.

Top-6 Chase leaders with two races remaining: 1. Bell-3135, 2. Sauter-3131, 3. Crafton-3104, 4. Cindric-3085, 5. Rhodes-3080, 6. Nemechek-3046.

The points in all three NASCAR series will be reset to four drivers after next week's Phoenix race. The final four will battle it out for their respective championship on Nov. 17 at Homestead, Fla.

ALMIROLA TO REPLACE PATRICK IN 2018

Aric Almirola, who's contract is up at Richard Petty Motorsports after the 2017 season, will take over driving duties of  the Stewart-Haas Racing No. 10 car next season, replacing Danica Patrick.

Almirola said last week that he was continuing to work on his 2018 plans, and SHR has announced that it would hold a news conference Wednesday morning to officially introduce the driver of its Smithfield Foods Ford.

Smithfield, which has sponsored Almirola for the past six seasons at RPM, announced in September that it would move to SHR in 2018 but did not announce a driver. At the time, Almirola would not say what his 2018 plans were, just that he would not return to the Petty team.

The 33-year-old Almirola has one career victory -- the July 2014 race at Daytona -- in 241 Cup starts. He was 20th in the Cup standings when he broke his back in a crash in Kansas in May, 2017. He also has three victories in the Xfinity Series and two in the Truck Series.

SHR still has to announce a driver for its No. 41 car, currently driven by Kurt Busch and sponsored by team owner Gene Haas and Monster Energy. SHR didn't pick up Busch's option as it awaits a decision from Monster Energy, but Haas has said he fully expects Busch to return, and Busch has said remaining at SHR is possible.

Meanwhile, RPM has reached an agreement with Smithfield Foods over the fallout from the sponsor's planned move next season to SHR. Smithfield is now expected to stay on in some capacity with RPM next year in addition to moving to SHR.

RPM and Smithfield executives had exchanged harsh words, with Richard Petty saying the team had a handshake deal with the sponsor. Teams often put clauses in sponsor contracts that can make it difficult for a sponsor and a driver to leave together, which industry sources said was the hold-up for SHR to announce the hiring of Almirola.

Sources said that RPM had also privately threatened legal action over some clauses in the Smithfield contract that it thought were broken, leading to settlement talks that have gone on for weeks.

Smithfield's relationship with RPM will be largely different and likely reduced as part of the settlement, and it is unclear whether there will be any paint schemes involved. Meanwhile, Smithfield has yet to unveil all the details of its upcoming deal with SHR.

The following drivers will be considered free agents at the end of 2017, meaning they have no signed contract for a future ride: Chris Buescher, Kurt Busch (contract ends 2017), Matt Kenseth (contract ends 2017, won't return to JGR), Brad Keselowski (contract ends 2017), Jamie McMurray (contract status unknown), Paul Menard (usually works on a year-to-year deal), Danica Patrick (out at SHR, but there is talk she could move to Roush Fenway).

Weekend Racing: It's a three-race weekend at the 1-mile Phoenix track.

Fri., Nov. 10, Truck Series race 22 of 23; Starting time: 8:30 pm; TV: Fox Sports 1.

Sat., Nov. 11, Xfinity Series race 32 of 33; Starting time: 3:30 pm ET; TV: NBC.

Sun., Nov. 12, Cup Series race 35 of 36; Starting time: 2:30 pm ET; TV: NBC.

Racing Trivia Question: Where will the first race of the 2018 NASCAR season be held?

Last Week's Question: How many Cup wins does Joey Logano have this season? He won the February non-points Clash race at Daytona and the regular April race at Richmond. NASCAR ruled his car was illegal and disqualified his win from counting towards this year's Chase. They said it was an “encumbered” victory. He did not make this year's Chase.

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.

Maddy Gilhool, Montrose Girls Soccer

Watching her older sister Meghan celebrate 1,000 career points in basketball put a thought in Maddy Gilhool’s head.

“I wondered if anyone could get to 100 goals in soccer,” Maddy Gilhool said.

Gilhool proved it could be done, getting there before her junior season was complete.

Once she arrived at the century mark, Gilhool kept going. She scored the only two goals of the District 2 Class 2A girls’ soccer semifinal win at Dunmore, landing Montrose a spot in a state preliminary game, and scored again in the district final.

For her efforts, Gilhool has been named Susquehanna County Transcript Athlete of the Month for October.

Gilhool soared past the school record of 75 career goals, set by former Notre Dame player Amber Lattner, earlier this season.

The 100-goal mark came when Gilhool scored a hat trick in a 4-1 district quarterfinal win over Holy Redeemer.

With Gilhool leading the way, Montrose went 11-2 to finish second in Division 3 of the Lackawanna League. The Lady Meteors then finished second in District 2 Class 2A when they fell to Lake-Lehman in a penalty kick shootout.

Gilhool kept scoring this season despite the extra attention she receives from opposing defenses after earning all-state honors from the Pennsylvania Soccer Coaches Association as a freshman and all-District 2 recognition from NPF Sports as a sophomore.

“Probably the most important thing is moving off the ball and always staying active,” said Gilhool, who scored 43 goals this season to push her career total to 103.

Gilhool works on her game away from the high school season, making three trips a week to the Syracuse Development Academy and traveling with SDA to tournaments. She has received attention from several colleges, including on the NCAA Division I level.

Maddy, who also ran track as a freshman before concentrating more on soccer, is the daughter of Joe and Dana Gilhool of Montrose. Her twin brother Brennan is a three-sport athlete at Montrose.