Sports

The Susquehanna Lady Sabers will have a new head coach on the sideline when they try to defend two basketball championships and pursue a return trip to the state playoffs.

Errol Mannick's resignation as head girls' basketball coach was accepted by the Susquehanna School Board at its Wednesday meeting. Mannick has accepted a position as an assistant women's basketball coach at Lackawanna College.

Mannick guided the Lady Sabers to 20 wins, their first unbeaten season in divisional play and championships of both Lackawanna League Division 4 and District 2 Class A during the 2017-18 season. For those efforts, he was named Lackawanna Division 4 Coach of the Year by NEPABasketball.com.

Susquehanna had won the first state tournament in the program's history in the 2016-17 season.

The Lady Sabers return the top three players from the team that ended the season as the third-ranked Small School in NEPABasketball.com's Super Six for District 2. First-team division all-stars Taylor Huyck and Mackenzie Steele are entering their junior seasons. Bethany Maby, a second-team, all-star, also returns.

MONTROSE FOOTBALL

OLYPHANT – Montrose enters Steve Miller's second season as head coach with six returning offensive starters, including three in the line and junior Ethan Cina running the show from the quarterback position.

That combination has the Meteors hopeful of improving significantly from last year's 1-9 finish in which they defeated only winless Holy Cross.

"We're trying to win some games and trying to be better than we were last year," Cina said. "We just working harder at being better."

Cina said the team needs to improve in all areas, including the offense that was held to 10 points or fewer in 6 of 10 games.

Kaleb Bennett, Michael Brennan and Marc Avila all return in the offensive line.

Fullback Darrin Mpintos and wide receiver Chucky Rohan also have some starting experience.

The Meteors could also get a boost from the addition of Trenton Peck, a 6-foot-2, 290-pound senior who is back in the line after sitting out last season with a knee injury, and the influx of players from Elk Lake and Mountain View.

Montrose at one point was in the process of ending its cooperative sponsorship of football with Elk Lake. Instead, the Meteors renewed that commitment and expanded it, adding players from Mountain View for the first time this season.

"We all just try to act like a family," Peck said of bringing players from three schools together. "We all try to support each other in what we do and we're just trying to make the team better."

The formula the Pennsylvania Interscholastic Athletic Association uses to count enrollments in a cooperative sponsorship makes Montrose a Class 4A school in football now (6A is the largest; A is the smallest). The Lackawanna Football Conference, however, is giving the program time to grow, allowing Montrose to compete in Division 4 against all smaller schools.

New assistant coach Jeremy Ransom, who represented the team in Miller's absence at the July 31 LFC Media Day at the Regal Room, said the team is putting in the work necessary to make progress.

"Our philosophy is that you practice like you play," Ransom said "You want the kids to go 100 percent so that, come game time, everything comes natural.

"We want kids to have pride, have a lot of heart and just bring it; never slow down."

Dominic Hall could be at tailback, but Brendan Kannan, Cameron Hunter, Rowan Ryan or K.C. Lewis also have a chance at playing time in the backfield. Lewis, a sophomore, is a transfer from Texas.

Brant Marshall has a chance to take over at tight end.

Bennett, a returning starter, and Peck are expected to lead the defense up front.

Brennan is back at linebacker and Pierce Forkal is also expected to be there.

Hall and Rohan return to the secondary where Ryan is likely to join them.

Jason Goetz will handle some kicking duties.

Bennett, Forkal and Marshall are the Elk Lake players likely to see the most time.

Josef Kuhar, a 6-2, 275-pound junior lineman, is one of the additions from Mountain View.

Old Forge, Lackawanna Trail, Susquehanna and Holy Cross are Montrose's divisional opponents.

The team's schedule is: August 24: WYALUSING; Sept. 1, at Holy Cross; Sept. 7, LACKAWANNA TRAIL; Sept. 14, at Meyers; Sept. 21, SUSQUEHANNA; Sept. 28, at Carbondale; Oct. 5, DUNMORE; Oct. 12, HONESDALE; Oct. 19 at Riverside; Oct. 26, at Old Forge.

WEEK IN REVIEW

Elk Lake's Jason Mowry was one of 21 golfers who qualified for the Anthracite Golf Association Junior Tour's Tournament of Champions July 30-31.

Mowry finished at 15-over-par, 158 for the 36-hole event. He shot 2-over-par, 73 at Fox Hill Country Club to end the first day in a tie for fourth place. He dropped to a final finish of 12th after shooting 85 at Huntsville Golf Club the next day.

LOOKING BACK

Jody Stanley from Great Bend won the Pennsylvania Senior Games 55-59-year-old men's title uncontested in the triple jump and took silver medals in the long jump and high jump by finishing second out of three in each event.

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.

Wrecks Are Part Of Nascar Racing

Wrecking is a part of racing. Every driver knows that NASCAR racing is dangerous. Mike Skinner, a former Richard Childress driver had his share of them. It seems like he had at least one during each race. When asked how he felt after hitting the wall hard during a race at Texas Motor Speedway, Skinner, replied, "You have squirrels running around in your head for about a week."

The latest driver to experience a really hard hit was Bubba Wallace at Pocono. Wallace lost his brakes on the front stretch, ran through the grass, then headed straight up the track and slammed hard into the outside wall in Turn 1, destroying his car.

"Seeing that you're going to wreck in a race car has got to be the most helpless feeling in the world," said Wallace.

It was a vicious crash, and the moments after the incident were tense as everyone waited for Wallace to drop his window net — the signal from a driver that he is OK. But Wallace couldn't drop his net right away because the crash had knocked the breath out of him. After he finally climbed out of the car, he sat down momentarily, clearly shaken, before limping to the waiting ambulance.

"The EMTs were worried about me not letting the window net down as fast, and I was like, hell, that was the last thing I was thinking about," Wallace said. "I was trying to catch my breath.

"But I was OK. I remember everything. Did all the stuff in [the care center]. Banged my foot on the pedal [and] bit my cheek. Hardest hit I've had —holy hell. So that will go down in the record books. Unfortunate day. We were trying to [hold] some ground there and try to survive and didn't go as planned."

Wallace said he felt his brakes going out the lap before, and realized the smart thing to do would be to turn right into the wall to scrub off his speed. But he joked that as a race car driver, he's used to turning left.

"Holy cow," Wallace continued. "The lap before I was holding off the 10 car [Aric Almirola] and went into [Turn] 1 and the pedal started really creeping fast to the floor, and I went, oh boy. So, I let him go by, and then back into Turn 1 again I was pumping it up, making sure, a little courtesy pump, and whew, there she went. She blew up, too much heat."

HENDRICK TEAMS ARE STRUGGLING

The team that was once the powerhouse of Cup Series racing finds itself in a struggle this season.

It has been over a year since a Hendrick Motorsports team won a race. The last time one of their drivers visited Victory Lane was in July, 2017, when Kasey Kahne (who is no longer with them), took the checkered flag.

Chase Elliott leads the four driver team made up of seven-time champion Jimmie Johnson, Alex Bowman, William Byron, and Elliott.

Elliott, driver of the No. 9 NAPA Chevrolet is in 14th spot, while Johnson is in 15th. Bowman is 16th with Byron mired back in 21st.

Elliott has shown that he can race with the best of the Cup drivers, but it seems like he has speed for only a portion of the race. He surged to a Stage 1 victory at Pocono Raceway, capturing a playoff point for the second straight week.

Elliott, in the Hendrick Motorsports No. 9 Chevrolet, started sixth and passed Denny Hamlin for the top spot to lead the final 11 laps in the 50-lap opening stage of the Gander Outdoors 400. The finish to the first segment marked Elliott's second stage win of the Cup Series season.

His stage wins have kept him in the top-16, but he has lacked that extra winning speed near the end of most races.

Starting the final stage at Pocono in eighth, Elliott raced his way into the top five with 50 laps remaining in the race. He restarted third with 28 laps to go following a caution and maintained that position until a caution flag — and ultimately a red flag — flew with six laps remaining.

The 22-year-old driver restarted third with just three laps remaining, attempting to take the two leaders three-wide for the lead. Elliott fell back to fifth before another caution sent the race to overtime. Battling for position in overtime, Elliott got loose, causing him to get sideways but managed to save his car and only give up a few positions to finish the race seventh.

Elliott is still looking for that first career win, but he has seven top-five finishes in 2018.

At least one Hendrick driver has made the playoffs every year since NASCAR instituted the 10-race chase to the championship in 2004, and Johnson has never missed the playoffs.

Bowman's position is the most tenuous — he holds a 56-point cushion over 17th-ranked Ricky Stenhouse Jr. — so his performance Sunday at Pocono Raceway provided some much-needed breathing room. Bowman, 25, drove to a third-place finish on the 2.5-mile track to score the best finish of his Cup career when he needed it most.

"It was a great points day for us," Bowman said, "but on top of that, it's proof that we're improving each and every week. Obviously, we're not doing it as quickly as we want to, but days like today make all the hard work for the guys back at the shop, the engine shop, the chassis shop, body shop, the whole road crew, days like today make it worth it."

Hendrick drivers have struggled to find speed in the Camaro manufacturer Chevrolet introduced to the series this season. The four drivers have combined for just nine top-five finishes in 21 races.

While Bowman recorded the day's best finish among Hendrick drivers, there were other positives. . Byron led 10 laps and finished sixth to score the best result of his Cup career. Johnson only came home 17th, but he made a strong charge through the field early in the race after starting from the rear.

Still, the next five races ultimately will tell the tale for a team that is used to celebrating wins.

Racing Joke: The Cup Series drivers are sitting around in the drivers lounge, drinking their sponsors soft drink, and waiting for the first qualifying session to begin. Kyle comes in and WHACK, clobbers Jimmie, knocking him to the floor.

Kyle said, "That was a karate chop from Korea."

Jimmie thinks, "Geez, what the heck has gotten into Kyle," but he sits back down in his chair.

Kyle comes back and whomps him again, saying, "That was a judo chop from Japan."

By this time Jimmie has had enough. He gets up, brushes himself off and quietly goes out to the garage area.

He is gone for about thirty minutes. When he returns, he walks over behind Kyle, and BAM, knocks the daylights out of him, leaving Kyle laying on the floor.

Jimmie turns and looks at some of the other drivers and says, "When he comes to, tell him that's a 'crowbar from Lowe's'.

Weekend Racing: The Truck and Cup teams will be at the 2-mile Michigan International Speedway in Brooklyn, Mich, while the Xfinity teams race at the Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course in Lexington, Ohio.

Sat., August 11; Truck Series race 15 of 23; Starting time: 1pm ET; TV: FoxSports1.

Sat., August 11; Xfinity Series race 21 of 33; Starting time: 3pm ET; TV: NBCSN.

Sun., August 12; Cup Series race 23 of 36; Starting time: 2:30pm ET; TV: NBCSN.

Racing Trivia Question: How many Cup Series drivers will be included in the first round of playoffs

Last Week's Question. Which track will host the last race of the season? Answer. Homestead, FL.

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

Mackenzie Steele's progress on the basketball court did not stop when a 20-win championship season came to an end at Susquehanna.

Steele turned to another spring and summer of AAU basketball in which she moved up to the highest-level team in the JB Hoops program in Scranton.

JB Hoops Carra, with Steele providing valuable minutes off the bench at center, put together its own successful season that included winning its pool at the USJN 17U Championships at the National Harbor in Oxon Hill, Md. for the first time in program history.

For her contributions to that success, Steele has been selected as the latest Susquehanna County Transcript Athlete of the Month.

The national event in Maryland, the last in which the JB Hoops Carra team played together with its rising seniors still in the lineup, helped showcase Steele and her teammates against opponents from New Jersey, Massachusetts, North Carolina, Rhode Island, Maryland and New York at the Gaylord National Convention Center July 22-25.

"It's a great opportunity to be able to play and have college coaches come out and see you and see your team," said Steele, a 6-foot-2 post player who is going into her junior season and is already receiving preliminary recruiting interest from coaches on all levels of college basketball.

Steele was ready right from the start at nationals.

She was the leading scorer in the first half of the opening game, a 50-39 victory over Rise As One from New Jersey. Steele had seven of her eight points while helping build a 25-17 halftime lead. She also finished with five rebounds, as part of a 27-15 advantage on the boards, and two steals.

Steele had five more rebounds as part of a 41-29 team lead in that category during a 61-28 rout of the Baltimore Charm that allowed JB Hoops Carra to finish 4-1 and win Pool GG. Earlier that day, she had six points in a 50-19 romp over the Rhode Island Breakers.

The team was eliminated in the quarterfinals of the Bronze Championship Division, 48-40, by the New York Havoc. Steele had two steals in that loss.

Steele's offseason dedication to the game does not end on the court.

"It's just building confidence and getting stronger as I go on, lifting (weights) a lot more," she said. "It's been kind of tough this last month, though, because we've been out on the road a lot with AAU."

The July schedule included two trips to Spooky Nook in Lancaster County and an event in New Jersey.

At Susquehanna, Steele has started both seasons on championship teams. As a sophomore, she averaged a double-double in points and rebounds and again led the team in blocked shots while the Lady Sabers were winning Lackawanna League Division 4 and District 2 Class A championships.

Mackenzie is the daughter of Bill and Dawn Steele. She also started on the Susquehanna softball team as a freshman before turning her year-round athletic concentration to basketball.