EDITOR’S NOTE: As a step in getting ready for the upcoming 2022 fall sports season, NEPASportsNation.com is taking a look back at the 2021 season in District 2.
Team champions
Dallas and Scranton Prep won the two district team titles and also won the top divisions of the two leagues.
Wyoming Valley Conference Division 1 champion Dallas won District 2 Class 3A.
Lackawanna League Division 1 champion Scranton Prep won District 2 Class 2A, repeating both championships.
From top to bottom, Scranton Prep, Riverside, Lackawanna Trail and Montrose were the four Lackawanna champions.
Hazleton Area and Lake-Lehman won the WVC Division 2 and 3 titles.
Individual champions
Logan Paczewski from Dallas won the District 2 Class 3A title while Michael Lugiano from Lake-Lehman won District 2 Class 2A.
State impact
Billy Pabst Jr. from North Pocono finished second in the state in Class 3A while Paczewski finished tied for fourth.
Nick Werner from Wyoming Seminary tied for sixth in Class 2A.
James Flickinger from Abington Heights gave District 2 a fourth individual state medalist by tying for eighth in Class 3A.
Dallas finished sixth in the state in the Class 3A boys tournament.
Standings
Lackawanna Division 1: Scranton Prep 10-0, Abington Heights 8-2, North Pocono 6-4, Honesdale 2-7, Valley View 1-7-2, Wallenpaupack 1-8-1.
Lackawanna Division 2: Riverside 9-1, Dunmore 6-2-2, Scranton 6-4, Holy Cross 3-6-1, West Scranton 2-7-1, Delaware Valley 2-8.
Lackawanna Division 3: Lackawanna Trail 9-0-1, Mid Valley 8-1-1, Lakeland 5-5, Carbondale 4-6, Western Wayne 3-7, Old Forge 0-10.
Lackawanna Division 4: Montrose 8-0, Blue Ridge 5-3, Forest City 4-4, Elk Lake 3-5, Mountain View 0-8.
WVC Division 1: Dallas 9-1, Pittston Area 6-4, Wilkes-Barre Area 2-8, Tunkhannock 2-8.
WVC Division 2: Hazleton Area 10-0, Crestwood 7-3, Wyoming Valley West 4-6, Berwick 0-10.
WVC Division 3: Lake-Lehman 12-0, Hanover Area 10-2, Wyoming Seminary 8-4, Holy Redeemer 6-6, Wyoming Area 3-9, MMI Prep 2-10, Nanticoke 1-11.
Playoffs
Scranton Prep won 26 of a possible 27 match play points on its way through three rounds of Lackawanna Class 2A playoffs. The Cavaliers downed Forest City, 8½-½, in the quarterfinals, then stopped division champions Riverside, 8½-½, in the semifinals and Montrose, 9-0, in the final.
Riverside was the only team to win on the road in the Class 2A playoffs, beating fourth-seeded Mid Valley in the quarterfinals as the fifth seed.
Second-seeded North Pocono defeated top-seeded Abington Heights, 5-4, in the Lackawanna 3A final.
Dallas avenged its only regular-season loss and defeated Hazleton Area, 323-327, for the WVC’s berth in the district Class 3A final. Lake-Lehman defeated Hanover Area, 318-350, in Class 2A.
Power Rankings
Dallas and Scranton Prep were the No. 1 teams in the final Scranton Golf Center Super Six Power Rankings.
Dallas was followed in Class 3A by No. 2 Abington Heights, No. 3 North Pocono, No. 4 Hazleton Area, No. 5 Crestwood and No. 6 Pittston Area.
Scranton Prep was followed in Class 2A by No. 2 Lake-Lehman, No. 3 Hanover Area No. 4 Riverside, No. 5 Montrose and No. 6 Lackawanna Trail.
Noteworthy
Lake-Lehman was the only new division champion. The other six division titles were repeat performances. … Eddie Cimoch retired as Scranton Prep coach at the end of the season with an 83-match Lackawanna regular-season unbeaten streak intact. The Cavaliers are 80-0-3 since losing at Wallenpaupack Sept. 3, 2015. Scranton Prep tied Abington Heights in 2015 and then tied North Pocono and Abington Heights back-to-back in 2020. … Lackawanna Trail ended the season on a 21-match unbeaten streak in the Lackawanna and Montrose on a 15-match winning streak. … Paczewski’s 2-under-par, 69 was the best score during the state team tournament. … Paczewski defeated Pabst in a seven-hole playoff between the previous two champions to determine the district Class 3A title. … The playoff loss was the first of two for Pabst, who shot 2-under, 69 in the state individual tournament, then lost to Downingtown West’s Nick Gross on the second hole of a sudden-death playoff. … Brothers Cael and Eli Ropietski were a big part of Lake-Lehman’s rise to the top of the WVC small schools, but Eli Ropietski did not get to compete in District 2 team or individual tournament play because of an eligibility ruling from the Pennsylvania Interscholastic Athletic Association after transferring from Holy Redeemer in the offseason. … Lugiano passed up playing in the PIAA Championships to instead compete in the Sir Nick Faldo/Hurricane Series event in South Carolina where he won the 14-15-year-old title.
