Home → Sports ( September 16, 2026 )
Lauren Huyck reached 500 digs for her volleyball career at Susquehanna. (Submitted Photo)
Susquehanna’s Evan Beamer steps forward to accept his trophy for finishing fifth in the Cliff Robbins Sr. Memorial Cross Country Invitational Sept. 5 at Misericordia University’s Letterkenny Fields. (Tom Robinson Photo)
Quarterback Evan McComb ran for four touchdowns Friday night and the Montrose defense forced six turnovers while carrying a shutout into the fourth quarter of a 55-6 romp over visiting Columbia-Montour Vo-Tech in a non-league football game.
The Meteors continued their rise, matching last year’s win total by improving to 3-0 despite being without key players because of injuries.
McComb scored three of his touchdowns on runs of 1, 15 and 15 yards in the first quarter when Gabriel De Llano Duran added the first three of his seven extra-point kicks for a 21-0 lead.
Brayden Heaton then recovered three fumbles in the second quarter, covering two in the end zone for touchdowns and returning another 21 yards to the 29.
Montrose led 34-0 at halftime and 48-0 after three quarters.
The Meteors had statistical advantages of 12-5 in first downs, 224-27 in rushing yardage and 256-77 in total offense.
The Rams ran 46 offensive plays and were thrown for 11 losses totaling 55 yards. Their only play of more than 11 yards came when Cody Zimmerman hit Blake Sponenberg for a 50-yard touchdown midway through the fourth quarter.
Montrose scored three touchdowns in four offensive plays during the first quarter.
The Meteors went 50 yards in seven plays for McComb’s first touchdown.
Weston Nabywaniec then intercepted two passes, returning them 26 and 40 yards to the 15 to set up McComb’s next two scores.
The Meteors were stopped on downs at the 3 on their next possession after a 10-play drive, but kept the Rams pinned.
When Columbia-Montour Vo-Tech lost a fumble in the backfield, Heaton was there to fall on it for a 27-0 lead with 8:29 left in the half.
Montrose made a defensive stop and a high punt snap went into the end zone where Heaton once again was able to fall on it for a touchdown.
The Meteors added two more touchdown runs by quarterbacks on their first two possessions of the second half for the 48-point lead. Nabywaniec scored on a 6-yarder and McComb on a 14-yarder.
Montrose closed the scoring on a 52-yard run by David Carter three plays after Columbia-Montour Vo-Tech’s touchdown.
Dakota Knight had six tackles and two assists for the Meteors. Heaton had five tackles and three assists to go along with his fumble recoveries while Nabywaniec added four tackles (one for a loss) and four assists to his interceptions.
Last week’s report on the Montrose-Susquehanna game was missing one 48-yard carry by Montrose’s Sawyer Aukema, altering the final statistics.
Aukema rushed for 122 yards on 16 carries.
Montrose led Susquehanna, 164-133, in rushing yards and, 273-256, in total offense.
KINGSTON – Holy Redeemer destroyed Susquehanna for the first quarter, carried that into the first play of the second quarter and used the strong start as a springboard to a 26-7 victory Saturday night in a non-league game at Wyoming Valley West’s Spartan Stadium.
Four seconds into the second quarter, the Royals were already in front 19-0 and had 128 yards of total offense while forcing two turnovers and holding the Sabers to minus-5. From that point forward, Susquehanna outgained Holy Redeemer, 185-182, but was unable to cut into the deficit as Holy Redeemer held the ball.
The Royals finished with a 31:52-16:08 advantage in time of possession.
Brady McDermott accounted for three touchdowns while helping the Royals defeat the Sabers for the second straight year after previously being 0-11 in the series. McDermott hit five different receivers in the first quarter and finished 15-for-28 for 229 yards passing.
Since the start of the 2023 season, the Royals are 2-2 against the Sabers and 1-29 against everyone else.
That advantage last year gave Holy Redeemer the last spot in the District 2 Class 2A playoffs. The Royals and Sabers join unbeatens Dunmore, Lakeland and Riverside as the five teams trying to qualify for four spots.
McDermott threw his two touchdown passes in the first quarter, hitting Josh Grochowski for 34 yards and Kevin Arroyo for 6. The scores came 2:14 apart after Susquehanna turnovers.
Lucas Shrader returned a punt 16 yards, caught a 26-yard pass on third-and-11 on the last play of the first quarter and scored on a 3-yard run on the next play.
Holy Redeemer was in position to blow the game open before Keegan Reese intercepted a pass at the 20 and returned it to the 40.
The Sabers were still without a first down at that point, but on third-and-nine, Owen Cook hit Mason Keyes on a slant pattern for a 59-yard touchdown. Cook added the kick to make it 19-7.
Following Susquehanna’s only touchdown, Holy Redeemer held the ball for six minutes and drove to the 4. Cook and Donovin Baldwin threw McDermott for a 3-yard loss, then Hunter Hobart came up with a 10-yard sack on fourth down with an assist from Cook.
The Sabers then seemed to be gaining momentum in a comeback bid, making three straight trips into Royals territory.
Cook and Keyes connected again for an apparent, 41-yard score in the third quarter, but it was erased by a penalty.
McDermott hit a 33-yard pass to Kaden Sepkoski on third-and-16 to set up his 1-yard run with 4:13 remaining for the clinching touchdown.
Hobart, a freshman, led the Susquehanna defense. He made eight tackles and assisted five more. Of those tackles, three were for losses, including one sack, and another forced a fumble. He also rushed McDermott into three incompletions.
Reese made eight tackles and assisted on another.
Gabe Maby had four tackles, including one for a loss, assisted on 10 and broke up a pass.
Joey Allen had five tackles, four assists and a fumble recovery.
Cook passed for 99 yards, including three completions for 87 yards to Keyes. Maby carried 15 times for 56 yards.
SCRANTON – The Mountain View boys finished eighth in the team standings and Emma Radford had the top individual varsity performance by a Susquehanna County runner Saturday during the 32nd annual Lackawanna County Commissioners Cross Country Invitational at McDade Park.
Abington Heights, coached by Susquehanna graduate Frank Passetti, won the girls’ title and finished second to Riverside in the team standings.
Riverside’s Jack Davies and Scranton Prep’s Vella Byrne won individual titles.
Mountain View's Radford was 26th in varsity girls.
The top 25 in each of the four races received trophies.
Trey Hummel led the Mountain View boys, finishing 33rd out of 132.
While the varsity runners came up short of awards, county athletes found success on the junior high level.
Forest City’s Blake German won the junior high boys’ race, completing the 1.8-mile course in 11:08.98.
German was one of five Foresters, three boys and two girls, to earn trophies.
Reed Lesjack and Isaac Olivares were 10th and 17th, but Forest City did not have the five boys needed for a team score.
Aubrey Franks and Anna Nebzydosky were fifth and seventh in the girls’ race.
The Lackawanna League cluster schedule in cross country got underway Wednesday and four county teams started 3-0.
The Elk Lake boys and girls, as well as the Blue Ridge girls, swept three opponents in the meet hosted by Blue Ridge.
Susquehanna went 3-0 in a girls’ meet at McDade Park.
Elk Lake’s Parker Upright was the only runner to break 17 minutes at Blue Ridge.
Trevor Upright was third for the Warriors.
Blue Ridge was led by Paxton Pingarelli in fifth place and he was followed by Montrose’s Jamison Myers and Graydon Myers.
Western Wayne’s Kaitlyn Kloss won the girls race.
Elk Lake placed Kendyl Weisgold, Kylee Pond and Madison Kerr second, fourth and fifth.
Montrose’s Ava Rebello and Blue Ridge’s Trinity Lord were sixth and seventh.
In girls’ volleyball, Montrose opened Lackawanna League play by pulling out a five-set victory over Blue Ridge Sept. 8, then swept Elk Lake Friday.
Montrose beat Blue Ridge by scores of 25-22, 25-17, 18-25, 22-25, 15-8.
Sadie Jones and Molly Weller combined for 35 kills while leading the way.
Jones led the team in kills (18), digs (24) and aces (two). Weller had 17 kills and two blocks.
Lyndee Barbour had 16 kills for Blue Ridge.
In girls’ tennis, Montrose defeated Honesdale, 4-1, Friday to improve to 8-0 and hold on to sole possession of first place in Lackawanna League Division 2.
The Lady Hornets went into the match with a chance to create a tie for first place.
DALLAS TWP. – Susquehanna had three runners earn varsity trophies Sept. 5 when they opened the season in the 51st annual Cliff Robbins Sr. Memorial Cross Country Invitational at Misericordia University’s Letterkenny Fields.
The top 25 in each race received trophies and Evan Beamer, Josey Kelly and Kiera Burke all made it easily with top-12 finishes.
Beamer took fifth out of 218 varsity boys’ runners with a time of 17:24.1 for the 3.1-mile course.
Jacob Borrelli from Mid Valley finished in 16:48.8 to win by nearly 10 seconds over Henry Decker from Lakeland.
Montrose’s Jamison Meyers was 13th in 18:05.6.
Wellsboro’s Lauren Kosek dominated in the sloppy, muddy conditions, winning by 1:54 with a time of 18:46.1 to repeat as varsity girls’ champion.
Kelly took eighth in 21:27.0 and Burke was 12th in 21:43.4.
The Sabers also excelled on the junior high level.
Sawyer Mazikewich was fourth and Forest City’s German was fifth in the junior high boys’ race.
Mazikewich ran the 1.8-mile race in 11:34.5, less than nine seconds behind the winner, Ben Hufford from Wyoming Seminary.
Susquehanna also had seventh-graders Cru Stengel and Raymond Conklin finish 13th and 18th out of 155.
Jackson VanTassel and Caelen Dilmore earned medals for Montrose by finishing seventh and 24th.
Montrose had Olivia Bowman and Zoe Allen finish 13th and 14th out of 163 in the junior high girls’ race.
Forest City’s Franks was 21st.
The Holy Redeemer combination of Lia Pacelli and Olivia Pambianco finished first and second.
Mountain View is at Western Wayne Wednesday in a Lackawanna League Division 2 girls’ soccer match between teams that entered the week with 2-0 records.
Blue Ridge was 2-0 in Division 3 to start the week and is home against Lakeland, which started 1-0, Friday.
In girls’ volleyball, Montrose entered the week 2-0 in Lackawanna League Division 1 and has matches ahead against the two teams that shared the lead at 3-0.
The Lady Meteors are at North Pocono Thursday and host Abington Heights Tuesday, Sept. 22.
In boys’ soccer, Blue Ridge is at Elk Lake Thursday in a key Lackawanna League Division 3 game. The Raiders started the week 1-0-1 while the Warriors were in first place at 3-0-1.
In football, Montrose is at Holy Cross and Susquehanna hosts Lakeland in a pair of Saturday afternoon football games that send unbeaten teams to face winless teams.
Both games are scheduled for 1:00pm.
The Meteors are looking to be the first team to get to 2-0 in Lackawanna Football Conference Division 3 play.
The Sabers are in a non-league game with the defending LFC Division 2 champions.
Our high school football predictions were 12-2 (85.7 percent) in Week Two, then 10-5 (66.7 percent) in Week Three when they were made without the benefit of Week Two results because of the earlier print deadlines in the holiday week. That leaves the season record at 32-13 (71.1 percent).
This week’s predictions, with home teams in CAPS: MONTROSE 30, Holy Cross 7 … LAKELAND 40, Susquehanna 22 … RIVERSIDE 49, Lackawanna Trail 6 … HONESDALE 15, Carbondale 14 … OLD FORGE 18, Tunkhannock 13 … Wallenpaupack 24, SCRANTON 0 … North Pocono 33, VALLEY VIEW 18 … WYOMING AREA 12, Mid Valley 10 … DUNMORE 49, Lake-Lehman 0 … ABINGTON HEIGHTS 16, West Scranton 13 … WESTERN WAYNE 35, Holy Redeemer 16 … Scranton Prep 24, DELAWARE VALLEY 22.
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.