The Times Leader from Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania • 9

i SPORTS THE TIMES LEADER www.timtsleader.com SUNDAY, MAY 2, 2010 HIGH SCHOOL ROUNDUP Trojans keep pace in WVC Volleyball i i Valley View's Cameron Damskl delivers BILL URUTiS FOR THE TIME 5 LEADER a pitch In a game against Mid Valley In Throop on Thursday afternoon. Abington Heights, Scranton Prep finish boys' tennis seasons undefeated in division play. By TOM ROBINSON For the Times Leader Brandon Bisignani led the way Wednesday night when North Pocono maintained sole possession of second place out of 16 teams in Wyoming Valley Conference boys' volleyball by sweeping Tunkhannock in three games. Bisignani had 13 service points and 11 kills in the 25-17, 25-15, 25-10 romp. Jeremy Ferguson added seven kills to help defending champion North Pocono improve to 8-1.

Holy Redeemer remains alone in first place at 10-0. Boys' tennis Many times through the years, an Abington Heights-Scranton Prep regular-season match had championsltip implications. Now that the Lackawanna League has realigned and the Comets and Cavaliers have been placed in different divisions, their April 22 match was technically just for bragging rights. Division 1 champion Abington Heights posted a 4-1 win over Division 2 champion Scranton Prep to establish the league's best team for this season. Abington Height completed league play 10-0 while Scranton Prep was 8-0.

Both have clinched spots in the district tournament. Montrose and Valley View tied for second in Division 2 at 6-2 and had to have a playoff Thursday to determine which qualified for the fourth spot in the District 2 Class AA Tournament along with Scranton Prep, Dallas and Wyoming Seminary. Abington Heights will be part of the District 2-4 Class AAA Tournament. District team tennis is scheduled for Tuesday at Kirby Park with Class AAA semifinals at followed by AA semifinals, AAA final and AA final. Singles play follows Thursday and Friday.

The first two rounds of the Class AAA singles and doubles tournaments have been moved to the Lull Tennis Center at Wyoming Seminary. Class AA will remain at Kirby Park. Girls' soccer Emma Black scored with less than Set TENNIS, Pag 10A AREA COLLEGE SPORTS TOM ROBINSON KEEPING SCORE McGIoin, Hubbard target starling spots Mi art McGIoin has had better days than his performance before about 55,000 hopeful Perm State fans in the Blue-White Game April 24. The Nittany Lions are in need of a starting quarterback and McGIoin is in the middle of that battle because of those better days and the fact they have been plentiful under fewer watchful eyes. "A couple of passes got me in trouble today, but it's nothing I can't fix," McGIoin said, according to a post-game interview transcript on Perm State's Web site.

"I've just got to regroup, get in the film room and get better." What was mast clear in a game dominated by the defense in the Blue's 17-3 win was that the quarterbacks and the offense as a whole need a lot of work to get Penn State up to its standard level of performance. The Nittany Lions leave the spring with the stage set for a preseason battle for the starting quarterback job and the opportunity to be the center of attention when the progress of the entire unit is assessed. McGIoin, a West Scranton graduate, has come a long way to get himself in the middle of the battle with highly touted Kevin Newsome. Overall, it has been a special spriftg for McGIoin and Julie Hubbard, another Lackawanna County athlete who arrived at Penn State with work to do. McGIoin was a former walk-on and Hubbard was a potential soccer star who, after committing early to Penn State, had been robbed of her junior season and half of her senior season at Abington Heights because of injuries.

McGIoin may have missed the opportunity to move in front as the popular choice for his high-profile position while leaving a favorable impression in the minds of his coaches while they waited months to put the team on the field again. But, the work he has done the last two springs has put him in a spot where walk-ons just are not found at places like Penn State. Sure, there are walk-ons, especially those encouraged by the coachesjo come to the school in the first place, who make rosters and sometimes earn scholarships, as McGIoin did a year ago. Some, even find their way into the starting lineup. But, at quarterback, the sport's highest-profile position, responsible for directing the entire offense? "If you said to me, 'who's going to be starting quarterback in the I couldn't tell you," Penn State coach Joe Paterno said in a press conference prior to the Blue-White Game.

There was a time when Newsome would have been the likely answer and McGIoin an extreme long shot. Even after a forgettable performance in the Blue-White Game, that is no longer the case. Will McGIoin start at quarterback for Penn State in the fall? Ever? That still remains to be seen, but McGIoin has reduced the odds of it happening through what he has shown his coaches and teammates on a daily basis. Hubbard is also fighting for a starting spot in the fall. She has beaten some odds along the way as well.

Still working her way back from a variety of complications that went with her recovery from reconstructive knee surgery, Hubbard seemed like a candidate for a redshirt season as a true freshman last fall. Instead, she improved as the season progressed, and made sir. appearances, including one in an NCAA Tournament victory, for a Penn State team that won its 12th straight Big Ten title. In Penn State's informal spring schedule, Hubbard was often in the starting lineup, usually at forward. After playing midfield as a freshman, Hubbard scored a goal in the first game of the spring and put herself Set LIONS, Psgt TIA Having returned key players, Valley View has emerged as a team to beat.

By TOM ROBINSON For the Times Leader Valley View baseball coach Jason Munley has a simple explanation for his team's early success this season. "Everything is working well so far," Munley said. "We have good pitching and defense and that usually equates to wins." The Cougars shut out two of their first five opponents, held one to a single run and held another to two runs. When Holy Cross rallied for two seventh-inning runs before losing, 6-4, at Valley View Wednesday' the Crusaders matched the highest run total any opponent had produced in a 7-0 start by the Cougars. Munley said he is not surprised by the start the team has put together a year after finishing in a second-place tie in the division with a 9-5 record, four games behind first-place Riverside.

"We had our top two pitchers with experience from last year and Brandon Cholish coming back in relief," Munley said. In addition to experienced pitching, the Cougars returned their catcher and i 711 -Jr -A I 1 El TTXT I i' 4,11 i BILL TARUTIS FOR THE TIMES LEADER Valley View's Shane McGarr rounds second base on his way to a triple against Mid Valley. three of four infield starters. The last spot in the infield was filled by a player with some experience. Logan Kanuik took a 6-2 lead into the seventh before Cholish came on to get the final two outs for the save.

The game was the first for Kanuik since he threw a one-hitter April 22, -V- L'wrfy draft ending." A year ago, defensive lineman Antoirie Holmes followed up a career at Lackawanna and North Carolina State by heading to training camp with the Minnesota Vikings. He was released within days of the season opener but was a paid member of the Arizona Cardinals and Washington Redskins during the season, spending time on the practice squad of each NFL striking out 14 in a one-hitter during a 1-0 win over Lakeland. The Chiefs joined Old Forge at 4-2, two games behind the Cougars going into Thursday's action. "The Lakeland game was key," Munley said of the win over the defending District 2 Class AA champions. "They're always a good rival of ours." The win improved Kanuik to 4-0 with 40 strikeouts and a 1.10 earned run average.

Kanuik's dominance was needed that day. It was the only time in the first six games that the Cougars failed to produce at least six runs with what has generally been a balanced offense. Senior third baseman Shane McGarr leads the offense with a .429 average, two doubles, seven runs and three RBIs. Cholish, a junior who plays shortstop when he is not working as a relief pitcher, is secord with a .417 average. He has three doubles, six runs and three RBIs.

Brian Lalli, the newcomer at second base, is hitting .417 with two doubles, a homer, six runs, and seven RBIs. Cameron Damski is 3-0 with an 0.67 ERA and 14 strikeouts as the second starting pitcher. Mike Casey had two hits and was one of five players to drive in run in See VALLEY VIEW, PaqelOA NFL contracts team. Holmes still has a chance to make the Redskins active roster this year. Duda, a fourth-round draft pick who spent 55 games, including 34 starts, with the St.

Louis Cardinals from 1983 to 1987, said players have a better chance of making the NFL as free agents than during his playing days. "When I was drafted, there were 12 rounds," he said; "It's better because agents can do a better job slotting their guys into a place where they have an opportunity rather than where they were drafted." Even though they are working against the odds of making regular-season NFL rosters, Duda said his former players have landed dream opportunities. "These guys who get in to camp, basically have had a dream come true," Duda said. "Whether they last a week or six weeks or six years, they have the opportunity to compete with the best in the land. Tm certainly proud of them." McKenna hit 137 of 260 passes for 2,514 yards and 28 touchdowns hile at Lackawanna.

At Albany State, McKenna was a conference Most Valuable Player and led the1 team into the national Division II playoffs. As a senior, he passed for 2,027 yards and 19 touchdowns wlale running for 328 yards and another touch- Set DRAFT, Pg HA Four former Lackawanna College Falcons sign Scranton native A.J. McKenna among players headed to mini-camps. By TOM ROBINSON For the Times Leader The National Football League's first three -day draft came to an end April 24. Within an hour, the phones of former Lackawanna College football players began ringing.

And, soon after, so did the phone of Lackawanna coach Duda. By the time the flurry of communication ended the next day, five former Falcons had signed free agent contracts with National Football League teams. "Sometimes, we might get two signed," Duda said. "That's a lot of guys. "To put it into perspective, you've got a school like Rutgers with four or five guys signed or drafted.

And, Lackawanna has five from its '07 team." Former Scranton High School quarterback A.J. McKenna signed with the Super Bowl champion New Orleans Saints after playing at Albany State in Georgia. Bloi-Dei Dorzon went from playing running back at Jackson State University to signing with the Tennessee Titans. Wide receiver Donald Jones and defensive end Will Croner both signed with the Buffalo Bills. After playing his junior college football at Lackawanna, Jones finished up at Youngstown State.

Croner SUBMI'TED PHOTO Former Lackawanna College wide receiver Donald Jones, shown above playing for Youngstown State, recently signed a free agent contract with the Buffalo Bills In the NFL played at Howard University. Mike Balogun, who started at linebacker for Oklahoma in the national championship game against Florida, signed with the San Francisco 49ers. "These kids had all been to these places and worked out for these coaches," Duda eaid. "The teams had a pretty good book on them. Most of them were done immediately, within an hour or two of the.