Pictured above: Returning all-stater Joe Macciocco (23) from Old Forge.
OPENING NIGHT
The Lackawanna League Division 3 season gets underway Tuesday night with Holy Cross at Old Forge, Carbondale at Riverside and Mid Valley at Dunmore.
SCHEDULE AND FORMAT
Lakeland has the first bye and opens its league schedule Friday at home against Dunmore.
Division 3 teams play a 12-game league schedule, home-and-home against each other team in the division. Games against teams from other divisions are not part of the standings.
2021-22 STANDINGS
Mid Valley 10-2, Holy Cross 10-2, Old Forge 7-5, Dunmore 6-6, Riverside 6-6, Lakeland 3-9, Carbondale 0-12.
Mid Valley defeated Holy Cross, 43-35, in a playoff for the division title.
RANKED TEAMS
All seven division members have been ranked among the Small School boys teams in the Riverfront Sports Super Six Basketball Power Rankings of District 2 teams this season.
Old Forge, Mid Valley, Holy Cross, Riverside and Carbondale are second through sixth, in that order. Dunmore and Lakeland were ranked earlier this season.
SNEAK PREVIEW
Division teams went against each other in tournament action last week.
Carbondale defeated Mid Valley, 49-48, in the Pete Turonis/NBT Bank semifinals.
Mid Valley defeated Lakeland, 54-31, in the Turonis consolation game.
Holy Cross downed Dunmore, 61-48, in the Lynett Memorial Tournament consolation game.
CLASSIFICATIONS
Six of the division’s seven teams compete in Class 3A.
Holy Cross, the lone exception, is in Class 2A.
Old Forge has been pushed up from Class 2A to 3A after making two straight trips to the Pennsylvania Interscholastic Athletic Association state semifinals.
Mid Valley moves down after playing in Class 4A the last two seasons and making last year’s district final.
RETURNING STARS
Eight of the division’s top 11 players, based on last season’s all-star team selections by NEPABasketball.com, are back.
The first team of Gabe Gonzales and Hayden Hosie from Holy Cross, Frankie Antoniacci from Riverside, Joey Macciocco from Old Forge and Danny Nemitz from Mid Valley is all back from the team selected by the website, which is now part of NEPASportsNation.com.
Macciocco is also the only District 2 player back after earning all-state honors. He was third-team choice in Class 2A.
Jaymire Allen from Carbondale, Logan Tierney from Holy Cross and Ricky Vinansky from Mid Valley are returning second-team all-stars.
GETTING STARTED
Current non-league records: Old Forge 7-0, Carbondale 7-1, Mid Valley 6-2, Riverside 6-2, Lakeland 5-2, Holy Cross 4-3, Dunmore 3-5.
ANALYZING THE RACE
NEPASportsNation.com editor Tom Robinson breaks down the race as follows:
When last season ended, Mid Valley seemed well positioned to repeat as champion.
Then, Player of the Year Gabe Tanner transferred to the Perkiomen School.
In the offseason, Holy Cross and Riverside seemed to take the place as the most likely to be labeled as favorites.
Then, Riverside lost Gerry Rose, a starter as a freshman a year ago, for the season.
Holy Cross arrived at Day One as the team considered as the consensus favorite, but the results of the first month are hard to ignore.
The Crusaders have the sixth-best, non-league record in the seven-team division – although granted, it has been against a challenging schedule.
During that time, Old Forge went 7-0 and can’t be accused of doing so against a soft schedule. The Blue Devils, coming off their two straight state semifinal trips, have beaten the defending district champions in 6A (Scranton) and 5A (Pittston Area) and have handed Valley View its only loss in eight games.
The Blue Devils have earned their new status as favorite, but that could change as early as the first night of league play.
In fact, don’t be surprised in frontrunner status changes hands often in the only boys division of District 2 where four teams enter the season as legitimate title contenders and the other three aren’t bad either. The list is longer than four if you choose to consider Carbondale, which won its first seven games, two more than Lakeland, the other surprise team trying to emerge.
There is no way to be confident making projections here, but we did it for the other 11 divisions of Lackawanna League and Wyoming Valley Conference boys and girls basketball, so here is our best shot.
Projected order of finish: 1, Old Forge; 2, Holy Cross; 3, Mid Valley; 4, Riverside; 5, Carbondale; 6, Dunmore; 7, Lakeland.
LOOKING AHEAD
Looking past the obvious exciting opener, just about every date on the schedule contains a game that could directly impact the title chase.
By the time, Holy Cross goes to Mid Valley Feb. 3 for the second rematch of their 2022 division championship playoff, we should have a better idea which team(s) are playing for titles and which are trying to serve as spoilers while getting ready for district play.
