Nate Salansky handles a throw in for Mountain View early in the state soccer tournament victory over Millville at Scranton Memorial Stadium (Tom Robinson photo)

SCRANTON – Mountain View established control right from the start when the Pennsylvania Interscholastic Athletic Association Class A boys’ soccer tournament opened November 7 at Scranton Memorial Stadium.

The Eagles did not allow a shot in the first 12½ minutes at which point Nick Pellew had already scored the first of his three goals to lead them to a 4-0 victory over District 4 champion Millville.

“The first few minutes of the game we were on our toes,” Pellew said. “We were definitely possessing the ball real well.”

Mountain View wound up falling to defending state champion Camp Hill, 7-2, in Saturday’s quarterfinal game in Hazleton, but the Eagles managed to first produce the only state tournament win of the fall by a Susquehanna County team.

“These guys get all the credit; our seniors especially, with their leadership,” first-year Eagles coach Joe Scanlon said. “They came out in June with the goals of set the tone during the season, get a good record, win a district title and see what kind of damage we can do.”

Pellew did plenty of damage against Millville.

“When he has the ball, he’s just as fast as when he doesn’t have the ball,” Scanlon said. “What makes him a special forward is that he has the ability to finish with his right foot or his left foot.

“ … He’s a true finisher.”

Layden Scott tipped a pass through traffic to Pellew, who scored from 13 yards out 10:54 into the game.

“Getting that first goal set the tone for the game,” Pellew said.

The Eagles allowed just one shot in the first 36 minutes and two in the first half. Matt Salansky intercepted a dangerous pass to prevent a potential breakaway when it was still a 1-0 game midway through the half.

Mountain View built the lead to 2-0 when Luke Schmidt scored with 9:36 left in the half after Mike DeWolfe pressured the Millville goalkeeper into mishandling a ball.

Millville had its strongest stretch of the game over the first eight minutes of the second half.

On a night when the entire game was played in either a cold rain or wintry mix, the Eagles weathered the storm and opened a 3-0 lead when Alex Showalter’s pass sent Pellew free down the middle with 26:23 left.

Pellew took a pass from Cooper Meagher, spun and fired in a shot from 25 yards out for the final goal with 8:41 left.

Mountain View finished with leads of 15-7 in shots and 5-2 in corner kicks.

Connor Richmond made three saves in the shutout.

Camp Hill opened a 7-0 lead Saturday before DeWolfe and Anthony Neri scored in the last 12 minutes with assists from Zach Polovitch and Showalter.

WEEK IN REVIEW

Donna Howell from New Milford signed a Letter of Intent to receive a scholarship from Penn State for gymnastics.

Howell trains at and competes for United Sports Academy in Dunmore.

In soccer, Montrose’s Tom Vaccaro scored the game-winning goal and was named Most Valuable Player Saturday afternoon in the 16th annual Scranton UNICO Senior Boys’ All-Star Game.

Blue Ridge’s Eric Stallings coached the White team to a 2-1 win over the Green in the second game of the all-star doubleheader at the University of Scranton.

Montrose’s Zack Dieck; Blue Ridge’s Garrett Mansfield, Hunter Conklin and Axel Mejia, Elk Lake’s Caleb Ely, Griffin Arnold and Noah Cusatis; Forest City’s Griffin Atkinson and Steven Evans; and Mountain View’s Pellew and Showalter were all selected to participate in the game. Pellew and Showalter, however, could not participate because the Eagles were still in the state playoffs that day.

Mackenzie Hartman from Forest City had a goal for the Green in a 4-3 victory over the Pink in the girls’ game that opened the doubleheader.

Forest City’s Madison Gasper; Montrose’s Lauren Andre and Anna Loomis; Elk Lake’s Eliza Bosscher, Grasyn Bushnell and Cheyenne Jenner; and Mountain View’s Erika Freely, Lucy Adams and Sam Jones were chosen for the game that featured top seniors from the Lackawanna League.

In girls’ volleyball, Blue Ridge was eliminated from the state Class A tournament with a 25-16, 25-22, 25-14, first-round loss to Covenant Christian Academy of Harrisburg in a match at Central Dauphin East High School.

Lindsey Keener’s 14 kills led CCA to the win.

Abby Hartman had 6 kills and 12 digs for Blue Ridge. Alyysa Sherwood added five kills and two blocks while Alexa Stanley had four kills.

Miranda Woosman contributed 16 assists and 3 aces. Jerni Schell had 15 digs.

CROSS COUNTRY RECAP

Mountain View’s state quarterfinal appearance put the Eagles in the top eight Class A boys’ soccer teams or in a four-way tie for fifth.

The top team finish of the fall for a county team came a week earlier when Montrose placed third in Class A boys’ cross country.

The Meteors have finished fifth and third in the past two seasons while appearing to set themselves up to be a contender in the years ahead.

Four of Montrose’s seven runners at the state meet in Hershey were underclassmen, including Liam Mead, Colin Spellman and Max Brewer, the team’s second, third and fourth finishers.

Mead earned a state medal, placing sixth, one spot behind senior Brandon Curley.

“We’re hoping that we can continue to keep things going as a team that can keep trying to get out (of District 2),” Meteors coach Dean Brewer said.

Curley and Mead not only led this year’s performance, which included a district championship and a one-loss regular season, but they showed the returning runners that moving up through the ranks is possible. They earned their state medals a year after finishing 61st and 84th respectively.

“Both guys ran really well,” Brewer said. “ … Those two have put in a lot of hard work in the offseason and it paid off for them.”

Colin Spellman, who was the third Meteor to finish at states, placing 36th in a 214-runner field. A year ago, he could not quite crack the postseason lineup.

Senior Eric Bixby, Spellman and Nick Coy, all part of this year’s seven-man lineup, placed 1-2-4 in the B race – the equivalent of a junior varsity championship, taking the runners outside the top seven on teams from all three classes – at the 2016 District 2 Championships.

This year, Damien Riley finished first won the District 2 B race with a time that would have been good enough for 14th and a district medal on the varsity level if teams were allowed to enter more than seven runners. The Meteors placed their entire lineup in the top 12 in the district.

“That’s kind of the hope, we had the kid who won the B race again this year, so hopefully he can be that number-five runner next year,” Brewer said. “That’s kind of a badge of honor for our team.

“The boys kind of get excited about having someone who can go out there and win that B race. Both of those boys (Bixby and Spellman) last year would have gotten medals if they could have raced. That’s kind of something we look at for the future for ourselves.”

COLLEGE CORNER

Allison Lewis and Kenzie Jones earned National Collegiate Athletic Association Division II All-Region recognition from the United States Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association last week.

Lewis, a West Chester University senior from Montrose, placed 10th in the NCAA Atlantic Regional Nov. 4 at Lock Haven to help the Golden Rams finish fourth. She finished the 6K course in 21:42.1.

West Chester also placed fourth at the Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference Championships with the help of a 13th-place finish by Lewis.

“Overall, I was pleased with how I raced,” Lewis said after the conference championships. “I tried to get out toward the beginning and stay toward the front pack, and then I just kept picking people off to keep moving up.”

Kenzie Jones, a junior from Elk Lake, running for Mansfield University, joined Lewis on the All-Region team after finishing 20th at the Atlantic Regional.

Jones had finished fifth at the PSAC Championships.

Keri Jones earned third-team, all-conference honors for helping Lebanon Valley finish third of 16 teams in the Middle Atlantic Conference Cross Country Championships Oct. 28 at Delaware Valley University in Doylestown.

The freshman from Elk Lake placed 25th out of 158 runners as Lebanon Valley had seven women earn some type of all-conference recognition by placing in the top 30.

THE WEEK AHEAD

The Pennsylvania Interscholastic Athletic Association fall season will come to an end for all sports other than football with state championships scheduled for Saturday in boys’ and girls’ soccer, girls’ volleyball and field hockey.

Wyoming Valley West, in Class 2A field hockey, and Wyoming Seminary, in Class A field hockey, were the only District 2 teams still in title contention in those sports when the week began.

In high school football, playoffs continue with the District 2 championship in Class 4A, the District 2-11 Subregional in Class 5A and state tournament games in Class 6A, 3A, 2A and A. Among the teams remaining are Dunmore (2A) and Old Forge (A), both of which play in Division 3 of the Lackawanna Football Conference with Susquehanna and Montrose.

Our high school football predictions for last week were 7-0, making us 15-1 (93.8 percent) for the playoffs, 44-2 (95.7) for the past five weeks and 98-22 (81.7) for the season. The predictions will continue until all LFC teams are done.

This week’s predictions, with home teams in CAPS: BERWICK 33, Valley View 24 … State College 32, Delaware Valley 25 … Scranton Prep 44, Loyalsock Township 35 … Dunmore 20, Newport 17 … Williams Valley 37, Old Forge 26.

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.

KENSETH WINS, FINAL-4 SET

Kenseth Wins, Final-4 Set (Furnished by NASCAR)

PHOENIX, Ariz.--An aging Matt Kenseth, who was eliminated earlier from this year's Chase, and who expects to be unemployed next season, won Sunday's Cup Series race.

The 45-year-old Joe Gibbs driver hadn't won a race since July, 2016 and will be replaced by a young gun next season, but he showed that he was still a winner.

He was the race leader after a restart on lap 285 of the 312-lap race. Young Chase Elliott was able to get by underneath for the lead. But the old man didn't give up. He fought back and on lap 303 regained the lead and went on to claim his 30th career series victory.

“This is as thrilling as my first win,” said Kenseth. “I want to thank all the fans that have stuck with me. It's been an incredible journey, just have to wait and see what the future holds.”

On the way to taking over the lead from Kenseth, Elliott gave Denny Hamlin a love tap just before passing him. The move on Hamlin might have been brought on because Hamlin put him into the wall at Martinsville.

Elliott held on for second.

“We had another shot at it (a win) this week, but couldn't get it done,” said Elliott. “We were really good on the short runs, but we came up one place short. But one day we will.”

Two laps after contact from Elliott, Hamlin's car veered into the outside wall with a cut tire. He climbed from the car while the wrecker towed it back to the garage area. He was done for the night and missed the Final-4 cut.

“We tried to do our job all day long,” said Hamlin. “We had a good car and we were running good. There were a lot of people that thought I was the bad guy (referring to the Martinsville incident), but the competition (Chase Elliott) comes along and does the same thing.”

Martin Truex Jr. was third, followed by Eric Jones, Kevin Harvick, Jamie McMurray, Kyle Busch, Ricky Stenhouse Jr., Aric Almirola, and Dale Earnhardt Jr.

Stage-1 winner Kyle Larson continues to be plagued with mechanical problems. His team has either had engine or some other type situation that has forced them out of three of the last four races. He failed to make the cut three weeks ago when the field was reduced to eight drivers. He was out of the Phoenix race on lap 110 and finished last.

Brad Keselowski had a close call late in the race that was almost disastrous for his Chase hopes. During a restart on lap 282 the cars of Kurt Busch, Ryan Newman and Keselowski bunched up. Keselowski was lucky that he was able to continue, as Busch and Newman were unable to finish the race. Had Keselowski not finished the race, it's likely he would not have made the Final-4 cut. The fourth and final spot would have been filled by Chase Elliott.

Jimmie Johnson's day ended on a sour note. He had a tire go down, sending him into the outside wall on lap 148. He finished in 39th position.

“The car or tire gave no indication anything was wrong,” said Johnson. “It was just a normal day until that happened. We left a little bit in the shop, but we still had a decent car. This has not been the type season anyone would prefer, but we have a great team and expect to win more races.”

Martin Truex Jr., Kevin Harvick, Kyle Busch, and Brad Keselowski will battle it out for this year's NASCAR Cup Series championship next weekend at Homestead, Fla. Each driver has had their points reset to 5,000. The highest finishing driver at Homestead will be the series champion.

With one race remaining can Truex and his Cinderella team go out on top, or will their ride turn into something less than hoped for? He has seven wins, the most of any driver and has either led the series, or been near the top all season long. He has been fast and consistent for most of the races. If his team can put it all together for one more race, they will be the “people's champion”.

Kevin Harvick is the old pro. He reminds you of a sly fox who knows how to get into the hen house when needed to. He only has two race wins, but the last one came at Texas and it allowed him to slip into the final-4. Harvick is a very capable driver, but his team has let him down by making mistakes on pit road. Harvick is pumped up. If his entire team can operate at full throttle, he might be receiving the “big” trophy.

Kyle Busch has certainly come a long way from a brash young driver to a seasoned pro. He has six race wins and 14 stage wins. His zealous desire to win makes him a favorite. If his team gives him a good car, Busch might go all the way.

Brad Keselowski is talented, brash and young. His three wins speak well of his abilities, but sometimes he makes stupid moves that cost him. He has eight stage wins and is capable of winning the “big show”.

Jimmie Johnson, Ryan Blaney, Chase Elliott, and Denny Hamlin were the last four drivers cut.

Ryan Blaney was probably a surprise to a lot of fans this season. Even though he had the backing of Ford Motor Company, not much was expected of the young Wood Brothers driver. He had one win and four stage wins. He ran well during many races, but it's hard for a young driver to beat out the seasoned veterans. Despite not making the final cut, he represented his team well.

There is no joy in the Jimmie Johnson camp. He will have to wait until next year if he is to claim his eighth Cup Series championship. He had three regular season wins, the last one coming during the Dover Spring race. What is surprising is that he only had one stage win, the fewest of any of the Chase contenders. In the past Johnson and crew chief Chad Knaus have always managed to reach back and pull something extra out in order to win, but this time they came up short.

Except for an over aggressive Denny Hamlin, Chase Elliott may well have gotten his first win at Martinsville, which would have put him in the final-4. Hamlin later admitted that he was sorry for wrecking Elliott, but that did not help Elliott. The young Dawsonville, Georgia driver is fast becoming known as the “fan's driver”, but he still must figure out a way to win. He is much improved and after two years in the Cup Series, he should be a strong contender for next year's title.

Denny Hamlin has had an off and on season. He's won two races, but also had a lot of poor finishes. Probably the one that hurt him the most was at Martinsville when he put Elliott into the outside wall. Not only did he receive a lot of negative publicity, but his action cost him a good finish, and a possible step up to the final-4.

Results of the Xfinity Series race held at Phoenix on Sat., Nov. 11: 1. William Byron, 2. Ryan Blaney, 3. Erik Jones, 4. Christopher Bell, 5. Daniel Hemric, 6. Blake Koch, 7. Cole Custer, 8. Alex Bowman, 9. Austin Dillon, 10. Justin Allgaier.

Final-4 Xfinity Series Chase drivers: Byron-4000, Sadler-4000, Allgaier-4000, Hemric-4000.

Results of the Truck Series race held at Phoenix on Fri., Nov. 10: 1. Johnny Sauter, 2. John Nemechek, 3. Cody Coughlin, 4. Chase Briscoe, 5. Kaz Grala, 6. Stewart Friesen, 7. Todd Gilliland, 8. Christopher Bell, 9. Austin Cindric, 10. Bayley Currey.

The Truck Series Final-4: Johnny Sauter-4000, Christopher Bell-4000, Matt Crafton-4000 and Austin Cindric-4000.

Weekend Racing: All the marbles are in the ring this weekend at Homestead, Fla. It's the season-ending race for all three of NASCAR's major series. When the final checkered flag drops, all three of the championships will have been decided.

Fri., Nov. 17, Truck Series race 23 of 23; Starting time: 8 pm ET; TV: Fox Sports1.

Sat., Nov. 18, Xfinity Series race 33 of 33; Starting time: 3:30 pm ET; TV: NBCSN.

Sun., Nov. 19, Cup Series race 36 of 36; Starting time: 2:30 pm ET; TV: NBC.

Racing Trivia Question: Who will be the driver of the No. 20 Joe Gibbs Toyota in the 2018 Cup Series?

Last Week's Question: Where will the first race of the 2018 NASCAR season be held? Answer. It will be held at Daytona International Speedway. The first Cup Series points race will be Feb. 18.

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.