Joseph Hester and Makeela Fabrizio each posted major decisions in the championship round while winning individual titles at 126 and 145 pounds Saturday and leading Montrose to the championship of the eighth annual South Williamsport Wrestling Tournament.

The Meteors had finalists in half of the weight classes while running away with the title of the nine-team event, 186-154 ½, over second-place Sullivan County. Both champions beat Sullivan County wrestlers in the final.

Mountain View, which got a title from Barry Spriggs at 120, finished eighth with 79 ½ points.

Hester defeated Caleb Fitzgerald, 18-7, for the title after pinning South Williamsport’s Kamran Shams in 2:13 of the semifinal.

Fabrizio beat Jacoby Fitzgerald, 12-4, in the championship match. He had pinned Nathan Conser from South Williamsport in 1:56 to reach the final.

Montrose had five other wrestlers reach the final before settling for second place.

Chucky Rohan (138), Mikyle Fabrizio (152), Cole Aukema (170), Bryan Ryan (182) and Marc Avila (195) were the other finalists.

Justin Kelley and Robert Gregory had pins in the consolation final to finish third at 220 and 285. Andrew Rosever, at 113, also finished third.

Spriggs beat Jim Thorpe’s Andrew Eisenhardt, 11-4, in the final.

The Eagles had Frank Valentine, Christian Kuhar, Logan Sprague and Jeremiah Schwartz finish third in four straight weight classes from 145 to 170.

WEEK IN REVIEW

Montrose split two Division 2 matches Wednesday when the Lackawanna League wrestling season opened.

The Meteors (5-3 overall) lost on the road against defending division champion Honesdale, 47-21, and beat Blue Ridge, 57-7, in the double-dual.

Gregory had pins in both bouts at 285 for Montrose, including a nine-second pin against the Raiders.

Hester had a pin and won a decision in overtime. Aukema and Rohan each won once on the mat and picked up a forfeit.

Blue Ridge went 0-2 at Honesdale and Mountain View went 0-2 in matches at Valley View.

In girls’ basketball, Mountain View shut out Elk Lake in the third quarter in Saturday’s league opener, the only Lackawanna League Division 4 boys’ or girls’ opener that was able to be played when cold and snow disrupted the local schedule for three days.

Elk Lake led, 19-14, at halftime, but Mountain View used a 23-3, second-half advantage to break away.

Erika Freely and Sydney Newhart each had 14 points in the win.

Tamara Voda had nine points for Elk Lake.

With non-league play essentially completed, Susquehanna County teams will be looking to use the league schedule to improve their standing in the District 2 playoff races.

Susquehanna is 4-3 and first among three District 2 teams for a berth in the district final as well as fifth in the 10-team race to get into the District 2-11 Class A Subregional for entry into state tournament play.

The subregional field will be limited to six teams unless additional teams have .500 or better records.

Defending Division 4 champion Forest City (1-4) is currently third of three in the district and ninth of 10 in the subregional.

Montrose is 3-5 and eighth in District 2 Class 3A where eight of 11 teams will make the tournament.

All the Class 2A teams are guaranteed of postseason berths. Elk Lake is 4-5 and in fourth; Mountain View is 3-6 and in fifth; and Blue Ridge is 0-7 and last of the seven teams maneuvering for seeding.

In boys’ basketball, only Susquehanna has to earn its way into the postseason.

The Sabers are 3-5 and 10th of 11 teams trying to get into the District 2-11 Class A Subregional of six or more team. Susquehanna can guarantee its spot by getting to .500 or better.

Regardless, the Sabers will again get to face MMI Prep for the District 2 Class A title in many scenarios. They are the district’s only two Class A teams.

Montrose is 3-5 and currently last in eight-team seeding race in District 2 Class 3A.

The other four county teams are part of the seven-team District 2 Class 2A field. Elk Lake is 4-4 and in second in the playoff ratings; Mountain View is 2-5 and fifth; Blue Ridge and Forest City are each 0-6 and tied for the bottom spot.

In professional hockey, it was a special week for Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins forward Daniel Sprong.

Sprong was named American Hockey League Rookie of the Month for December when he scored nine goals, including three game-winners, and had five assists in 12 games.

The 20-year-old from Amsterdam, The Netherlands first came to northeastern Pennsylvania to play for the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Junior Knights youth program, which he helped to the 2012 USA Hockey Under-14 national championship.

Sprong, a second-round pick in the 2015 National Hockey League Draft, made his first NHL appearance of the season for the Pittsburgh Penguins on New Year’s Eve.

Wilkes-Barre/Scranton and the Binghamton Devils each had two players selected when the teams were announced for the Jan. 28-29 AHL All-Star Classic in Utica.

Sprong and goalie Casey DeSmith will represent the Penguins on the Atlantic Division team.

Bracken Kearns and Jacob MacDonald from the Devils will be part of the North Division team.

There will be a skills competition Jan. 28. A 3-on-3 round-robin tournament among the divisional teams Jan. 29.

COLLEGE ROUNDUP

Tanner Reyan is a junior guard at Misericordia University, which won its first two Middle Atlantic Conference Freedom games last week to improve its overall men’s basketball record to 6-5.

The Elk Lake graduate made the most of limited playing time in those games. Reyan had two points in just one minute of playing time in an 81-56 win at Manhattanville Jan. 3, then added two points and a rebound in three minutes during Saturday’s 76-55 home win over FDU-Florham.

Reyan has played 17 minutes in 9 games. He has nine points, four rebounds and four assists.

A 1,000-point career scorer and Lackawanna League Division 4 Player of the Year while with the Warriors, Reyan appeared in 12 games last season.

THE WEEK AHEAD

After having its league openers at Scranton Prep wiped out by weather last week, Elk Lake will wrestle at home Wednesday in a double-dual that includes Montrose and Mountain View.

In girls’ basketball, Mountain View, the only team with a win prior to this week, will play at defending champion Forest City Thursday.

In boys’ basketball, Elk Lake is at Susquehanna Tuesday, January 16 in a rematch of the Community Foundation of the Endless Mountains Susquehanna County Christmas Tournament.

Elk Lake won the tournament meeting and is the defending division champion. Susquehanna could be the top threat to the Warriors this season.

Before Elk Lake gets to Susquehanna, it first has to play at home Friday against Montrose. The Meteors match Susquehanna for the second-best record, behind Elk Lake, by a division team in non-league play.

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.

New Faces Of Nascar

Willkiam Byron at Homestead, Fla. in 2017

Several new faces will be present in the NASCAR Cup Series this year. Some will have replaced older ones that left the sport at the end of the 2017 season, while several others have switched teams.

With only 40 drivers per race, it's only natural to lose one or two drivers per year. Only time will tell, but most of the young drivers that are moving up in ranks have some pretty good talent.

Throughout NASCAR's history, there has been a continued passing of older drivers to a younger generation. It is reasonable to assume today's young drivers will continue that historical pattern.
William Byron is one of the drivers that will be entering the Cup Series full-time. He just might become one of NASCAR's newest stars. Byron, who's just 20 has put on some great performances in the past two years. The first was in the Truck Series, the other in the Xfinity Series, where he won the championship. For 2018, he'll team up with Chase Elliott, Alex Bowman, and Jimmie Johnson at Hendrick Motorsports.

“For Mr. Hendrick to put the deal together and to have the interest in bringing me along as a driver and not have any strings attached is just a really special opportunity,” Byron said. “Not only was it a great fit with them, but then when I heard what he had to say, what he was proposing, it's something that I just couldn't turn down.

“It's such a surreal feeling. I'm really proud to be a part of it. It's fun to have something to want to race for like that, and it's going to really help the future because I'm so passionate about being here. That's always a good fit for everyone, and that's what I'm looking forward to the most.”

Byron has big shoes to fill in 2018, but pressure never seems to bother him.

Once he became a NASCAR driver, the successes started piling up. He has overachieved at every stop on the racing ladder. He won the K&N East title in 2015 and earned the most wins in the 2016 Truck Series before a blown motor denied him a championship.

Byron is the latest young gun that Rick Hendrick has hired to succeed the likes of Jeff Gordon, Dale Earnhardt Jr. and Jimmie Johnson as stock-
car racing’s version of the New York Yankees goes through a rebuild. Byron is the definition of a wunderkind, a racing prodigy who had never raced anything until he was 15 years old.

Is it reasonable to expect Byron to go out and win? I don't know, but I do think he will make the playoffs his rookie season. The young man has shown that he has a great amount of natural driving skills that places him on a par with some of the seasoned veterans. As he gains more experience at the highest level, expect him to advance......and win races. He's a natural, just like drivers from previous generations, Bobby Allison, Cale Yarborough and Richard Petty.

There are also new faces in new places. Aric Almirola has switched to Stewart Haas Racing from Richard Petty's No. 43. Almirola will replace Danica Patrick. Ryan Blaney, who drove the Wood Brothers No. 21 last season will move to Penske Racing, where he will join up with Brad Keselowski and Joey Logano. Erik Jones shifts to Joe Gibbs to take over Matt Kenseth's seat, while Kasey Kahne moves to Leavine Family Racing.

As the younger guns moved in, the older ones, Matt, Danica, and Dale Jr. have moved on. They carried with them a lot of star power, so it's important that the younger group find their niche among NASCAR fans.

Dale Earnhardt Jr. has been NASCAR's most popular driver 15 years in a row. Those fans are going to vote for someone. The interesting thing will be whether they latch on to an up-and-coming one or go with a veteran. Probably a few of them will drift out of the sport, but most will find a new favorite.

Junior said he still plans to race two Xfinity Series races in 2018 with the team he owns and still plans to be involved in NASCAR.

“The fan support I received straight out of the gate was in large part to my famous last name but throughout the ups and downs it occurred to me that the fans that stuck it out and the new ones that joined us — they were there because of the person I was and not who they wanted me to be,” he said. “By the end of my career, thanks in part to social media, I have really gained a new appreciation for their dedication, their enthusiasm when we succeed and their encouragement when we fall short of our goals.”

Junior went out on his own terms, but Danica Patrick and Matt Kenseth were forced out by sponsors.

Danica would still like to run the 2018 Daytona 500 and Indy 500, but so far has failed to land a team or sponsor. Patrick was never as dominant in NASCAR as she was in the IndyCar Series, but she left her mark and paved the way for other women drivers.

In 2008, Danica proved not only to be a good driver, but the best female driver in history by winning the Firestone IndyCar 300 Twin Ring Motegi in Japan. Danica became the first woman to win a major auto-racing event.

She has become one of the most recognizable athletes in the world. Her rise started at age 10, when she knew that she wanted to be a race car driver. She hasn’t slowed down since. Danica's determination, versatility and commanding presence have all led to her success on and off the track. She has written a book, introduced a line of women's clothing, and is also a motivational speaker.

Matt Kenseth lost his ride in the No. 20 at Joe Gibbs Racing and decided to retire from the sport instead of taking a ride that he didn’t feel he could compete in. And when he left, he said he’d hang it up completely.

Kenseth was born in Cambridge, Wisconsin. He made an agreement with his father, Roy, that Roy should buy a car and race, and Matt would work on the car until he was old enough to race. Kenseth began racing in 1988 at the age of 16. “My dad bought a car when I was 13 and raced it at Madison,” Kenseth said. “Neither of us knew much and it was a learning experience. My first car, what might be considered a Sportsman, was a 1981 Camaro that Todd Kropf had driven to championships at Madison and Columbus 151 Speedway. On the third night out he won a feature.”

“The first night out in the Kropf car Matt won a heat race,” said Kenseth's father Roy. “The third night he won the feature by holding off two of the best drivers at the track, Pete Moore and Dave Phillips for 20 laps. Matt was smooth. I knew then he was going to be a racer.”

He moved up to the NASCAR Winston Cup Series (now Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series) in 2000 and won “Rookie of The Year”. He went on to win the series championship in 2003.

But after nearly three decades of racing, Kenseth felt like it was time to move on.

“I thought of maybe being involved and doing different things (after driving), especially at JGR,” Kenseth said. “The talk over the years was that we want you to stay involved and be part of the company, but through the years that stuff has changed for a number of reasons. At this point, I can’t envision myself being back at the race track. You never know what can change.”

Just like the three veterans that have lived out their days in racing, the challenge is now handed to the young drivers. If history is an indicator, they will win races, give a good account of themselves, and establish a large fan following.

Quote of the day is from Sterling Marlin. “We had the wrong gear, wrong springs, wrong shocks and wrong car. We had the right beer, but other than that, we got stomped.”

Marlin was sponsored by Coors Lite at the time. At least he could find one positive on a tough day.

Kyle Petty once replied to a reporter's question about why he took up racing? “I was too lazy to work and too chicken to steal,” he said.

And now he's taken up television announcing because he forgot how to drive, I guess.

Racing Trivia Question: How many championships did Cale Yarborough win?

Last Week's Question: How many points races will the 2018 NASCAR Cup Series consist of? Answer. 36, the same as 2017.

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.

Rierdan Reyan

Elk Lake arrived at the Community Foundation of the Endless Mountains Susquehanna County Christmas Tournament as a struggling team with just one victory.

After two wins in as many nights and a tournament title, the Warriors headed for the Lackawanna League Division 4 boys’ basketball season, looking like a team ready to defend its title.

Rierdan Reyan led the team to those victories, earning tournament Most Valuable Player in the process. It was also part of the effort that makes the senior guard the Susquehanna County Transcript Athlete of the Month for December.

“We got off to a slow start,” said Reyan, who averaged a team-high 15.6 points while helping the Warriors go 3-4. “Finally, in the last two games, we really kicked in.”

Reyan played briefly on the team as a freshman, was a key reserve as a sophomore and moved up to first-team, all-star status a year ago when he led the team in scoring and hit more than two 3-pointers per game. He is trying to do more this season.

“Be a leader, keep everyone under control,” he said of his role on the team.

Keeping under control was not easy when the Warriors were 5-for-12 from the line in the fourth quarter, including Reyan going 2-for-4, in the 56-54 championship game win over Susquehanna.

“It was very frustrating,” Reyan said.

Ultimately an eight-point lead with six minutes left got away, only to have Reyan answer 11 seconds later with a drive for the winning basket. He helped secure the win by drawing an offensive foul to ruin one of Susquehanna’s late possessions.

Reyan had 22 points in a 53-46 win over Blue Ridge in the first round. He had 18 points and 4 assists, both team highs, against the Sabers.

Rierdan, the son of Robert and Holly Reyan from Friendsville, also played baseball as a freshman and soccer in his freshman through junior years at Elk Lake. He was a starting striker for his last two years as a soccer player.

The Athlete of the Week award is the third for the Reyan family. Rierdan’s older brother Tanner, currently a player at Misericordia University, won the award in December of 2012 and 2013 for his role in county tournament titles.