Sports

PECKVILLE – Susquehanna graduates Colton Stone and Steven Loby each saw considerable playing time for the City Thursday night when it fell to the County, 35-28, in the 90th annual Scranton Lions Club Dream Game.

The forecasted lightning storm caused a delay from Wednesday in the all-star game for recent graduates of Lackawanna Football Conference programs. When the game, which was presented by Northeast Rehab, was able to be played the next night, an entertaining contest was conducted in front of an announced crowd of 7,164 at Valley View's John Henzes/Veterans Memorial Stadium.

Although neither was in the starting lineup, both Susquehanna graduates saw playing time in the City line on both sides of the ball and were also involved in multiple special teams plays.

The most frequent action saw Stone playing the majority of the game at defensive end after the first series. He also was used at tight end.

Each player assisted on one tackle.

Loby was a two-way tackle.

The longest running play of the game for the City, its second-longest play overall and the game's second-longest running play came midway through the second quarter with Loby leading the way.

Lackawanna Trail's Lukas Gumble followed Loby off left tackle for a 33-yard run to the County 25. Two plays later, the City scored on a 6-yard run by Dunmore's Danny Pigga to create the game's last tie at 14-14.

The City had the advantage in the running game, outrushing the County, 277-177.

Mid Valley's Jordan Chmielewski, Honesdale's Cameron Hedgelon, Delaware Valley's Jadyen Ramirez and Western Wayne's Frankie Leyshon were able to create enough big plays, however, to lead the County to victory.

"We definitely wanted to run the ball," Gumble said, "but we also wanted to pass it just as much.

"It didn't turn out exactly how we wanted."

Chmielewski was the game's leading rusher and one of the people who helped the County have the advantage in the passing game. He carried nine times for 123 yards and two touchdowns, hit four of 11 passes for 78 yards and another score, then intercepted a pass at the 9 with 1:56 left to help secure the win.

All three of the game's turnovers came on County interceptions.

Hedgelon had two of those interceptions, broke up another deep pass, made five tackles and assisted on two others.

Ramirez caught a 38-yard touchdown pass from Leyshon early in the second quarter and a 47-yard touchdown pass from Chmielewski on the last play of the half for a 28-14 lead. He finished with three catches for 101 yards.

Leyshon was 5-for-7 for 74 yards passing.

All-state linebackers Justin Kalitsnik and Nick Donvito were the game's top tacklers.

Kalitsnik, the Old Dominion University commit from Delaware Valley, had a sack among his seven tackles and assisted on two others for the County.

Dunmore's Donvito had seven tackles, including one for a loss, and an assist for the City.

The City took the lead on the game's first possession, but was never in front after the first Ramirez touchdown with 9:07 left in the half.

Scranton's Billy Maloney passed for one score and ran for another in the second half, pulling the City within a touchdown each time.

The City then threw the County for losses of four and seven yards to take over at its 18 with 6:57 left.

Nine straight runs drove the ball to the County 30 before one pass play resulted in a loss and the next was intercepted by Chmielewski.

The County ran on the game's last five plays, killing the clock when Riverside's Reese Gaughan picked up first downs on two of his four carries.

Gumble, who led the City with 114 yards on 16 carries, opened the scoring with a 6-yard run.

Chmielewski broke a 55-yard touchdown run on the first County possession to pull the County within 7-6 midway through the first quarter.

Gaughan followed the first Ramirez touchdown with a two-point conversion run for a 14-7 lead.

After Pigga tied the game, Chmielewski accounted for two touchdowns in the last 2:18 of the half.

Chmielewski ran 8 yards for the go-ahead score, then Hedgelon's second interception with 15.7 seconds left led to the Chmielewski-to-Ramirez touchdown.

Maloney threw 26 yards to Scranton Prep's Liam Barrett for a third-quarter touchdown and ran 14 yards for a score in the fourth.

In between, Reese ran for a 1-yard score.

Dunmore graduate Vic Fangio, the former Denver Broncos head coach and current Philadelphia Eagles defensive coordinator, was honored at halftime as the Scranton Lions Club Man of the Year.

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.