The Kosko brothers, Andy (left) and Mike (right), joined retired Susquehanna football coach Dick Bagnall June 2 when they were among the speakers in a tribute to Bagnall at the Moose Lodge in Susquehanna (Submitted photo)

Former National Football League lineman Jerry Boyarsky, right, speaks during a dinner celebrating Susquehanna's Dick Bagnall being selected for induction into the Pennsylvania High School Football Coaches Hall of Fame. Bagnall, left, looks on along with Mike Keyes, who organized the event (Tom Robinson Photo)

Dick Bagnall will be formally inducted into the Pennsylvania State Football Coaches Association Hall of Fame Saturday in Harrisburg, but first those within and close to the Susquehanna football program during his time with the school recognized his efforts.

Bagnall was saluted during a dinner at the Moose Lodge in Susquehanna June 2.

Several speakers were part of the program and an open-mic period was also held to allow others to offer comments about or thanks to the retired coach.

Bagnall coached the Sabers for 28 seasons, 1976-1995 and again 2004-2011, building a career record of 169-129-3. His 1994 team made the state Class A semifinals and wound up ranked second in the state in the class by the Harrisburg Patriot-News. A year later, the Sabers returned to the state quarterfinals.

A career record of 169-129-3 included back-to-back Suburban Conference titles in 1981 and 1982 and a Lackawanna Football Conference Division 3 championship in 2010, completing a revival from the worst stretch in the program's history.

Bagnall was surrounded by family, former players and assistant coaches and long-time supporters of the program during the celebration at the Moose Club.

Current head coach Kyle Cook, who was in the junior high program at the time of Bagnall's initial retirement from coaching, did not get to play for him. But, he has coached with him.

Cook described Bagnall's continued dedication to the Sabers program, offering advice with planning, breaking down film and in-game strategy adjustments. When Cook needed to miss a scrimmage following the death of his mother as his third season as head coach was approaching, it was Bagnall who stepped in to coach the offense for the day.

Brothers Andy and Mike Kosko went on from playing for he Sabers to each earning Patriot League all-star honors and Lehigh University Defensive Lineman of the Year awards. They were both among the speakers.

Mike Kosko compared Bagnall's coaching career to the quote "perfection is not attainable, but if we chase perfection, we can catch excellence," made famous by professional football coaching legend Vince Lombardi.

"If you look at the foundation that coach Bagnall laid in the '70s for a successful program and the championships that he won in the '80s and then the state playoff run in the '90s, then the revival of a program that was on life support in the 2000s," Mike Kosko said, "coach Bagnall has been chasing perfection for the better part of four decades.

"And, in that chase of perfection, there's no doubt coach that you've caught and achieved excellence."

Mike Kosko credited the 1981 unbeaten Suburban Conference season that he was part of to Bagnall's work in 1980 when injuries to senior team leaders threatened to wreck the season, but Bagnall developed players who closed that year with a four-game winning streak.

Jerry Boyarsky was a star lineman at Lakeland when Bagnall began his head coaching career. Boyarsky went on to play at the University of Pittsburgh and in the National Football League for the Cincinnati Bengals, Buffalo Bills, New Orleans Saints and Green Bay Packers. Following his retirement from the NFL, Boyarsky returned to northeastern Pennsylvania where he and Bagnall became close friends.

Boyarsky said that the dinner was "honoring a man that I truly admire."

During the open-mic period, the speakers included former players and assistant coaches, 1994 booster club president Dave Soden and Bagnall's daughter Jennifer.

Jennifer Bagnall described childhood memories of the sound of the projector starting, stopping and rewinding late at night as her father studied film of his team and opponents.

Robert Wolf, a 1989 graduate, returned to coach on Bagnall's staff and had him as the best man in his wedding.

"For a good period of my life, Bags was like a second father to me and I'd just like to say 'thank you'," Wolf said.

Bagnall spoke to close the evening, saying he had "some great athletes and assistant coaches" and thanking the community backing he received. He also thanked his family, including his mother, daughter and Pam, his wife of 48 years, who were in attendance.

Bev Bagnall, Dick's late father, was a football coach in Mississippi, Florida, Arkansas, Georgia and North Carolina before moving his family to nearby Windsor, N.Y. when Dick was in school.

"I came from a football family and many of the things I used in my program came from my Dad," Dick Bagnall said.

DREAM GAME

Susquehanna's David Armitage and Montrose's Seth Bulkley have been selected to play for the City against the County in the July 16 Dream Game.

The Scranton Lions Club-sponsored game features graduating players from Lackawanna Football Conference teams in the 7 p.m. game at John Henzes/Veterans Memorial Stadium in Peckville.

Wallenpaupack's Mark Watson will coach the City team.

George Howanitz from Valley View will coach the County.

THE WEEK AHEAD

The spring high school sports season in Pennsylvania comes to an end Thursday and Friday with the Pennsylvania Interscholastic Athletic Association baseball and softball state championships at Penn State.

All Susquehanna County teams are already done for the year.

The Valley View baseball team, in Class 4A, was the last Lackawanna League team participating when the week opened with semifinal play. District 2 still had two softball teams in contention, Nanticoke in Class 4A and Holy Redeemer in 3A.

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.

Stewart-Haas Teams Finish 1-2-3

Clint Bowyer Wins At Michigan

BROOKLYN, Mich.---Stewart-Haas Racing teams swept Sunday's Cup Series race at Michigan, finishing 1-2-3. The race, which was won by Clint Bowyer had a start delay of over two hours, because of rain and was shortened from the scheduled 200 laps to 133 laps when the rain returned.

Bowyer's crew chief called for only two fresh tires on the last pit stop. The decision put Bowyer and his No. 14 in the lead on the restart, and he was able to hold off teammate Kevin Harvick until the rain came and NASCAR put out the caution and checkered flags.

The race was called with 67 laps remaining. Since Bowyer was in the lead and the two required stages had passed, he was declared the winner. It's his tenth career victory and first at Michigan International Speedway.

"What a gutsy call," said Bowyer. "He (Harvick) was faster than me in Turns 3-4, but I was able to chop him off. If there had been very many more laps, he probably could have got by me."

Harvick, who led for much of the race, finished in second. He applauded Bowyer's team for their pit-road strategy.

"It was a weird day," said Harvick. "If you are going to have rain kind of take one from you, I would rather give it to my teammate. I am happy for Clint and all the guys on the 14 team. Everyone on our car did a great job. I had a really fast car, and the pit crew was the best thing that happened all day. They were solid all day and kept us up front. That to me is the best thing that came out of today."

Brothers Kurt and Kyle Busch finished in third and fourth, respectively.

Rounding out the top-10 in order were: Paul Menard, Brad Keselowski, Joey Logano, Ryan Blaney, Chase Elliott and Jamie McMurray.
The top-3 SHR teams led 103 laps of the 133 lap race.

Ryan Blaney won the race's First Stage, while Harvick took Stage Two.

Martin Truex's team could never find the right balance for the high-speed, 2-mile oval. He wound up 18th.

"We never could get to where we needed to be," said Truex. "The steering was wacky, the car was bouncing, just not a good day. You're going to have a race like this over a 36-race schedule. We'll look at everything to see where we went wrong and then enjoy the weekend off for Father's Day before heading to Sonoma for the road race in two weeks."
Truex, who was the race winner at Pocono last week, dropped from fourth to sixth in the points.
Top-10 leaders after 15 of 36: 1. Kyle Busch-664, 2. Harvick-589, 3. Logano-566, 4. Keselowski-514, 5. Bowyer-510, 6. Truex-506, 7. Kurt Busch-491, 8. Hamlin-468, 9. Blaney-457, 10. Larson-443.

Results of the Xfinity Series race held Sat., June 9 at Brooklyn, Mich.: 1. Austin Dillon, 2. Daniel Hemric, 3. Cole Custer, 4. Ryan Reed, 5. Paul Menard, 6. Kyle Busch, 7. Tyler Reddick, 8. Kevin Harvick, 9. Justin Allgaier, 10. Ryan Truex.

Top-10 leaders after 13 of 33: 1. Sadler-495, 2. Custer-454, 3. Hemric-446, 4. Reddick-440, 5. Bell-423, 6. Allgaier-393, 7. B. Jones-387, 8. R. Truex-385, 9. Tifft-351, 10. Reed-333.

Results of the Truck Series race at Texas Motor Speedway on Fri., June 8: 1. Johnny Sauter, 2. Stewart Friesen, 3. Justin Haley, 4. Grant Enfinger, 5. Matt Crafton, 6. Todd Gilliland, 7. Tyler Young, 8. Cody Coughlin, 9. Spencer Davis, 10. Noah Gragson.

Top-10 leaders after 8 of 23: 1. Sauter-378, 2. Gragson-301, 3. Moffitt-283, 4. Enfinger-282, 5. Crafton-279, 6. Rhodes-271, 7. Friesen-263, 8. Haley-253, 9. Sargeant-219, 10. Snider-214.

DOMINANCE IN NASCAR

Is it good for a few drivers to dominate NASCAR racing?

After 15 races into the 36 race Cup season, 11 of them have been won by Kevin Harvick, Kyle Busch, or Martin Truex Jr.

What's more amazing is that Busch, Harvick, and Truex also possess a total of six runner-up finishes. Since any driver, with a little luck on his side could have won the two restrictor plate races, it's easy to discount them in the stats and that makes the season look even more lopsided.

From most fans standpoint, this is something that is unpopular. At a time, when fans are clamoring about "boring" racing, TV contracts are nearing their conclusion and the sport has been rumored to be up for sale, three drivers beating the stew out of the rest of the field makes the Cup Series racing a whole lot less fun.

NASCAR has experienced many years like this before and they aren't looked back on too fondly by those who were around when they took place. In 1992, the sport saw one of its greatest championship battles. Alan Kulwicki barely beat out Bill Elliott and Davey Allison, with the championship battle going down to the last race of the season.

The following year, Rusty Wallace, Mark Martin and Dale Earnhardt battered the competition, winning 21 of the 30 races. In fact, only one other driver managed to reach victory lane during the entire second half of the season.

No one wants to turn on their television on Sunday afternoon feeling like they already know who is going to be in front for the next three hours. Fans shouldn't have to hope that some form of attrition befalls a dominant driver just so someone else actually has a fighting chance. NASCAR should have a wide variety of drivers chasing and winning the trophy each week.

But how do you come up with an answer. Each team works hard, spends their own money, and struggles to be the fastest and best, and hope for good luck once the race starts.

No way can you penalize or fault a team for trying to be best, even though it makes for less than thrilling racing.

From my standpoint, racing will never have the fender-bending, rubbing and bumping as in the past, but I expect other teams will step up to the plate in the near future. If a team discovers something new and brings it to the track, then the next week all the teams will have it on their car.

Call it Murphy's Law, or whatever, with the parity that NASCAR strives for, no one team is going to dominate forever.

Racing Joke: Paul Menard is sent to the doctor for his yearly checkup.

"Everything is fine", said the doctor, "You're doing OK for your age."

"For my age?" questioned Paul, "I'm only 37, do you think I'll make it to 80?

"Well" said the doctor, "Do you drink or smoke?"

 "No", Paul replied.

"Do you eat fatty meat or sweets?" 

"No", said Paul "I am very careful about what I eat."

"How about your activities? Do you engage in thrilling behaviors like speeding or skiing?

"No", said Paul taken aback, "I would never engage in dangerous activities. I drive a race car, but I never drive fast or take chances like some drivers do. And I'm not known for chasing women."

"Well," said the doctor, "Then why in the world would you want to live to be 80?"

Weekend Racing: The Xfinity and Truck teams will be at the 7/8ths mile Iowa Speedway. The Cup teams have an off week due to Father's Day.

Sat., June 16; Truck Series race 9 of 23; Starting time: 7 pm ET; TV: FoxSports1.

Sun., June 17; Xfinity Series race 14 of 33: Starting time: 5 pm ET; TV: FoxSports1.

Racing Trivia Question: Which former Cup Series driver helped design the Iowa Speedway?

Last Week's Question. Who holds the Cup Series qualifying record at Pocono? Kyle Larson ran a qualifying lap of 183.438 miles per hour in 2014.

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

Susquehanna senior Skyla Wilson feels right at home at Shippensburg University and in the city of Philadelphia

Wilson shined again in her last chance to compete at Shippensburg and set herself up for future competition in Philadelphia during a time of year when she has consistently thrived.

For the third straight year, Wilson is the Susquehanna County Transcript Athlete of the Month.

Wilson, who also was named County Transcript Athlete of the Year for 2017, committed to continue her academic and athletic careers in the Ivy League at the University of Pennsylvania early in the month. Later in May, she won three gold medals at the District 2 Track and Field Championships then went on to claim two silver medals at the Pennsylvania Interscholastic Athletic Association Championships in Shippensburg.

This was the second straight season that Wilson finished second in the state in Class 2A in both the 100-meter hurdles and 300-meter hurdles. She was also third in the state in the 100 hurdles as a sophomore.

Wilson was born in Philadelphia where her mother, Teresa Covert, competed in NCAA Division I track and field at Temple University before finishing up as a Wall of Fame performer at SUNY Albany. Penn's home for track and field is Franklin Field where Wilson attended meets as a toddler while Covert was in the Penn Relays where she finished second in the Division I long jump and also competed in the hurdles and relays.

"I like the environment of the campus," said Wilson, who plans to study sociology. "I really like their track programs and the sprints and hurdles group there."       

Wilson sorted through hundreds of letters and other recruiting contacts.

"She kind of went through and looked at them to see which schools had good academics, were Division I and also had a strong sprints program because there are some schools that might be good at distance, but don't have the coaching in the sprints," said Covert, a four-time state champion who now coaches the school's track team. "We wanted the ones that had everything together.

"I think she was just overwhelmed by the letters, at first. She just had this pile. It can be overwhelming, … so we took little tiny steps like 'would you prefer to be in a city or in a rural area?' and just chewed threw it."

Wilson lived in Philadelphia, Albany, Danbury, Conn., Salem, Mass., and Fort Wayne, Ind. before arriving in Susquehanna as an eighth-grader and spending time in cities like Philadelphia, New York or Chicago appealed to her. She made recruiting visits to Penn, Cornell and Binghamton and gave some consideration to Loyola of Chicago, Temple and Bucknell before securing her chance to go to the Ivy League school.

"I don't think I realized that it was possible until I got accepted," she said. "They were my 'reach' schools when I applied."

With the college plans settled, Wilson finished strong in her high school career.

Wilson's final 100-meter hurdles race May 26 in Shippensburg was a 14.52 time in the 100 hurdles, two-hundredths of a second faster than the school record set by her mother when she was winning three state titles in the event in the late 1990s. Wilson lost out on her own state title by four-hundredths of a second, but edged out two other competitors and one- and six-hundredths in an extremely tight finish.

Since the state meet ended, Wilson has been selected third-team Pennsylvania Track and Field Coaches Association all-state in the 300 hurdles. The PTFCA all-state teams places just one athlete per event on each team and ranks them all together regardless of school classification.

Skyla, who also ran cross country and played basketball for the Lady Sabers, is the daughter of Covert and Shawn Wilson. Her other district gold medal came in the 200-meter dash.