NEPA Sports Nation

Today in NEPA Sports Nation, 10/29

Three sports are in action Friday with significant contests.

Field hockey is first with District 2-4 Class 2A semifinals, followed by girls tennis with Pennsylvania Interscholastic Athletic Association state team quarterfinals and football, with division championships on the line in 3 of 11 games, all of which are regular-season finales.

The afternoon field hockey semifinals are Wyoming Valley West at defending champion and top-seed Crestwood and Wallenpaupack at Selinsgrove.

Unbeaten Wyoming Seminary is playing defending state champion Knoch at the Hershey Indoor Racquet Club at 4 p.m. in the girls tennis team state quarterfinals.

The two No. 1 teams in the Gaughan Auto Store Super Six Power Rankings of Lackawanna Football Conference and Wyoming Valley Conference teams on NEPAFootball.com go head-to-head for the LFC Division 2 title.

Scranton Prep, ranked as the No. 1 Small School every week of the season, is 3-0 in the division and 8-0 overall.

Valley View, the No. 1 Big School, is 3-0 and 9-0.

London Montgomery leads Scranton Prep, averaging more than 16 yards per carry.

Montgomery is coming off a game of 406 yards of total offense and 6 touchdowns in a 41-8 victory over Lake-Lehman. He has run for 1,630 yards and 28 touchdowns in 6 games and last week turned his first catch of the season – on a screen pass – into a 53-yard touchdown.

Linebacker Mike Golay leads the Cavaliers in tackles with more than eight per game, followed by Mick O’Malley, Jack Gentile and Aidan Colleran.

Scranton Prep has scored at least 41 points in every game and has outscored the three divisional opponents, 146-34.

Valley View has scored at least 34 points in every game and has held five opponents to a touchdown or less. The Cougars have outscored the three division teams, 138-21.

Andrew Heid, Dante Randle, Jordan Rebar and Dylan Walsh all average more than five tackles per game for the Cougars.

Sean Mackinder leads the team with 4 interceptions and is the top receiver with 19 catches for 279 yards.

Valley View has kept rolling in three games since losing starting quarterback Adam Howanitz to a season-ending knee injury.

Domenic Memo has hit 62.5 percent of his passes since becoming the starter and all-purpose threat Colin Skeen also spends time at quarterback.

Skeen has 11 touchdowns this season, including 2 punt returns and a kickoff return. On offense, his nine carries have averaged 23.2 yards and produced 5 touchdowns while his 9 catches have averaged 20.8 yards and results in 3 more scores.

Connor Hilling leads the ground game with 874 yards and 15 touchdowns.

Delaware Valley (3-0, 6-3) is at North Pocono (3-0, 8-1) for a game that will decide the LFC Division 1 title and serve as the backdrop for a special night for the Trojans.

North Pocono is celebrating the 30th anniversary of its unbeaten 1991 team, which spent time ranked first in the state in Class 3A, but missed out on a state playoff chance in the era when only four teams got the opportunity.

Keith Olsommer, the leader of that team as a two-way end, is the head coach at Delaware Valley.

Olsommer was an all-state defensive end at North Pocono on his way to a career as the starting tight end at Penn State.

Delaware Valley brings a six-game winning streak into the game while North Pocono has won seven straight.

The other title on the line is in the Wyoming Valley Conference Class 6A/5A Division where Williamsport (5-4) could force a tie for first with a win at home over Hazleton Area (6-3).

Hazleton Area has won six of its last seven with only a 14-9 loss to Delaware Valley during that stretch.

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