NEPA Sports Nation

Today, NEPA Sports Nation, 9/28

Two championships are specifically on the schedule while Wednesday’s action should decide another and could take major steps toward determining more.

District 2 will crown its Class 3A and Class 2A girls golf team champions in tournament action at Elmhurst Country Club, beginning at 9 a.m.

Teams can use up to five players and will count their three lowest scores.

To advance into regional play with a shot at the Pennsylvania Interscholastic Athletic Association state tournament, the championship teams also need to post a score of 300 or better.

Scranton Prep, which won the district title and finished fifth in the state last year, has moved down from Class 3A to Class 2A where it is now a prohibitive favorite. Elk Lake won the last four titles.

Tunkhannock, the Class 2A runner-up last season, has moved up to Class 3A where Hazleton Area, North Pocono and Abington Heights were second, third and fourth, within nine strokes of each other last year.

After the girls decide their team championship, the Lackawanna League starts its eight-team Class 2A boys playoffs to determine a district championship match representative.

There are four quarterfinal matches, each scheduled for 3:30 p.m. to allow time for any tiebreakers that might be needed to determine a winner.

Scranton Prep, the six-time defending district champion, is the top seed and will host Western Wayne at Glenmaura National. The other matches have Dunmore playing second-seeded Riverside at Pine Hills, Mid Valley taking on third-seeded Lackawanna Trail at Stone Hedge and Holy Cross facing fourth-seeded Montrose at Montrose CC.

The Lackawanna League boys cross country lead will be on the line in a six-team meet at Abington Heights.

Four of the top five teams will all square off against each other.

This is the week that groups of three teams that run together all season are scored against each other for the only time.

That teams Abington Heights, Valley View and North Pocono are opponents for the only time.

Scranton and Abington Heights enter the day tied for first at 9-0. Valley View, which beat Scranton out of Saturday’s title at the Lackawanna County Commissioners’ Invitational, and North Pocono are each 8-1.

On the girls side where Montrose has more wins, Abington Heights is currently second at 9-0 while Scranton is fourth at 8-1.

West Scranton and Mid Valley are the other teams in the meet, which will be run at the Abington Heights Middle School.

The Mid Valley girls team is 7-2 while North Pocono and Valley View are each 6-3.

Wednesday also became a big day on the Wyoming Valley Conference cross country schedule because the meet when cluster partners Lake-Lehman, Dallas and Tunkhannock are scored against each other was postponed to this date when those three teams are also competing against Pittston Area, Wyoming Area, Wyoming Valley West and Wilkes-Barre Area.

That means the host Black Knights, Mountaineers and Tigers will all be scored for six meets, including some that could shape the title races.

On the boys side, Pittston Area is 9-1 while Dallas, Lake-Lehman and Tunkhannock are all 2-1.

Dallas and Lake-Lehman are both 3-0 in girls where Wyoming Area is 8-2.

The other WVC cross country meet features Holy Redeemer (10-0) and Berwick (2-1) boys facing each other at Hanover Area.

Two of the remaining three Wyoming Valley Conference Division 1 field hockey unbeatens go head-to-head when co-leader and defending champion Wyoming Seminary (4-0 in division, 6-2-1 overall) hosts Honesdale (3-0, 8-0). Four-time defending state champion Wyoming Seminary’s losses have come to teams from outside the state and its tie came against a non-PIAA opponent.

Two other ranked field hockey teams meet when Lackawanna Trail (1-2, 6-2) goes to Wyoming Area (4-0, 11-0).

Scranton Prep (12-0) can win the Lackawanna League girls tennis title when it plays road matches against both Holy Cross (6-6) and Western Wayne (1-10). Even one win would clinch a first-place tie for the Classics, who are coming off Tuesday’s 4-1 victory over Abington Heights in a match to break a first-place tie in the league.

Delaware Valley (4-0, 5-1) puts its Lackawanna League Division 1 girls soccer lead on the line at third-place Valley View (3-1, 8-1).

The division’s second-place team has a high-level, non-league game when Abington Heights (7-1) travels to Lake-Lehman (8-3).

In boys soccer, Wilkes-Barre Area (3-2, 6-3) is at Hazleton Area (2-2, 2-3) in WVC Division 1 where they are two of the five teams within 1½ games of the lead.

There are also girls volleyball matches on the schedule.

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