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Coming home

FOLLOWING THE FORGE

by RICK NOTARI - rnotari@psdispatch.com

Whether they knew it or not on Friday night, the Old Forge football team played its 21-20 victory over Carbondale in front of an NFL coach.

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Blue Devils alumni, and Indianapolis Colts Special Team Coordinator RJ Rychleski was back where it all started for him, watching from the sidelines at Old Forge Veterans Memorial Stadium.

Rychleski – whose undefeated Colts are on bye this week from the regular NFL schedule – decided to make the trip back east for Homecoming games at his alma mater on Friday, and at the University of Maryland yesterday where he coached previously for nine seasons.

Old Forge gave Rychleski a treat by playing in its most competitive and exciting game to date. And ironically, the Blue Devils held on to win after a Chargers mistake on special teams – a missed extra-point.

Playoff soccer

The Old Forge soccer team not only clinched a .500 or better season with its overtime win over Dunmore on Friday afternoon, it also clinched the Blue Devils first-ever post-season game.

As it is set up right now, Old Forge would earn a play-in game and travel to Montrose (3-6-1) on Thursday at 4:15 p.m.

But that could all change depending on the outcome of games yet to be played on Monday and Tuesday.

Should the Blue Devils beat both Forest City (11-0) and Lakeland (4-5-1) on the road, they would clinch the last district automatic berth among the LSL teams. However, a win over the Foresters would be a monumental victory, and probably the soccer upset of the year.

If Old Forge were to split – they tied Lakeland at home earlier this year – and beat the Chiefs, they could still earn an automatic bid if Carbondale (6-5) was to tie or lose to Blue Ridge. Should the Chargers win, they would clinch the final berth with an Old Forge split. Carbondale beat the Red Raiders earlier this year.

However, if Lakeland were to beat Old Forge it could secure the last automatic bid if the Blue Devils lose to Forest City and Carbondale loses to or ties Blue Ridge.

If the Blue Devils do in fact gain an automatic berth, they would not play until the D2 quarterfinals on Oct. 28 or Oct. 29 against the top-seeded team from the Wyoming Valley Conference which at press time was Wilkes-Barre Meyers (7-4-1).

OK. If you were able to digest all of that, here is more food for thought.

If the Blue Devils were to lose its two remaining matches or Carbondale was to defeat Blue Ridge, Old Forge would then enter the play-in round. Who they would play won’t be determined until all LSL league games are complete.

Right now, Mt. View is the only team with a solid spot in the play-in round. The Eagles (5-7-1) will finish below .500 in Division I, meaning they will travel to a Division III team on Thursday. Right now that team would be Lakeland. But as stated before, that could change.

Now, Elk Lake (4-4-2), St. Gregory’s (3-6-2) and Montrose are all batting for the Division II automatic bids and play-in bid.

The remaining schedule projects Elk Lake and Montrose to earn the automatic bids in Division II and St. Gregory’s to earn the play-in bid.

What all that means is this:

If Old Forge is in the play-in round as the third team from Division III, it would travel to Montrose, Elk Lake or St. Gregory’s on Thursday. If the Blue Devils are the fourth team from Division III, it would host Mt. View on Thursday.

Hopefully you got all that, because right now my head is spinning.

What I do know for sure is this.

Holy Cross (7-3) has clinched an automatic berth and the Lackawanna Soccer League’s top seed in the District 2 Class 1A playoffs. The Crusaders play in Division II.

Division III champ and undefeated Forest City (11-0) is the only other Class 1A school to clinch an automatic berth.

After that, it all depends on the outcomes of the other games.

Junior Devils

Old Forge will have two teams playing this afternoon when the Jr. Blue Devils ‘A’ and ‘C’ teams play in the ACC American Conference semifinals.

The Jr. Devils ‘A’ team will take on rival Taylor in Moosic at 3:30 p.m. Old Forge (6-2) received a bye last week after finished second in the division. Taylor (2-7) upset West Side, 20-6, last week to earn the semifinal bid. The Jr. Devils shut out the Jr. Vikes earlier this season. A win by Old Forge would pit them against the Lakeland/Moosic winner at West Side next Sunday at 3:05 p.m. for the right to represent the American Conference in ACC Super Bowl X.

The Old Forge ‘C’ team takes on West Side today at noon in Taylor. The Jr. Devils (4-5) bumped off rival Moosic last week, 26-6, in the first round at Pocono Mountain. West (5-3) was the No. 2 seed in the playoffs and earned a bye in the opening round. A win by Old Forge would advance them to the ACC American Conference Final next Sunday at noon against the North Pocono/Lakeland winner at West Side.

The Jr. Devils ‘B’ team was eliminated last week in another tough-luck loss. Old Forge (3-6) dropped its fifth game by a touchdown or less when it lost, 20-13, to West Side at Pocono Mountain.

The Rick’s Top 10

With five of The Rick’s Top 10 teams playing after deadline on Saturday, I decided to hold off on this week’s version of my top District 2 football teams in case of any possible upsets among the Top 10 teams facing each other. So check back next week for the Week 8 version of the Top 10.

Class 1A standings

The District 2 Class 1A standings took a major shift Friday night when Riverside lost to Lakeland and Wilkes-Barre Meyers defeated Holy Redeemer. The combination loss by the Vikings and win by the Mohawks moved Riverside (2-5) down a spot to No. 4 and Meyers (3-4) up a spot to No. 3. Meyers currently has 370 points while Riverside’s total is at 290.

If the district playoffs were to start this week, Riverside would be at Old Forge and Meyers would be at Northwest. The Rangers also lost on Friday night, to Columbia Montour Vo-Tech a home – a team that lost to Nanticoke.

The Vikings lost a major opportunity to gain ground on Northwest and set up hosting a playoff game. Instead, Riverside will now battle with Meyers for the right to avoid the Blue Devils in the opening round.

Meyers has Lake-Lehman (4-3, 2A), Pittston Area (2-4, 3A) and GAR (5-2, 2A) left on the schedule while Riverside has Western Wayne (3-4, 3A), Montrose (1-6, 2A), and Dunmore (6-0, 2A) remaining.

Old Forge (7-0) has all but clinched the top seed, and a home game, in the D2 tourney with 920 points.

MMA Returns

Northeast MMA will sponsor Cage Fight 2 on Black Friday, November 27 at 7 p.m. at the old Scranton CYC.

Former Old Forge football player Corey Cavalieri will be part of the card as one of 10 amateur bouts that will take place before four professional matches end the night.

Cage Fight 2 is the second Mixed Martial Arts event to take place in the Scranton area after the state’s first card was a huge success this past June.

The card is headlined by “The Destroyer” Spencer Paige, a lightweight from Cortland, NY who is 6-2. His opponent has yet to be determined. Other professional fights include Randy Smith v. Corey Mullins, Bobby Gorman v. Darryl Madison, and local fighters Jim Hettes of Swoyersville v. Justin Hass of Hanover. Hettes is 6-0.

Other local amateurs that will be featured include Guy Salano of Pittston, Dave Morgan of West Scranton, Jay Colarusso of Moosic, Marty Flynn and Tyler Calver of Scranton, Rich Gates of Exeter and Sulaiman Ismail of Wilkes-Barre.

Ticket prices range from $28 to $75 and can be purchased locally at Dooley’s Pub in Old Forge and Talcom Nextel in Taylor, or online at www.pacagefight.com

District Golf

Old Forge’s Michael Long shot 91 during the District 2 Golf Championships at the Elmhurst Country Club on October 5. The junior finished his golf season as the only Blue Devils player to qualify for the championships. Scranton Prep golfer Nick Reach won the event with a 69.

Corrections

In my rush last week I made a few mistakes which I certainly regret. I apologize for getting two first names wrong in stories from last week.

First off, my apologies to Tori Tansley who played an outstanding game in defeat against Riverside last week in a junior high girls’ basketball game. Tansley scored 14 points in the Blue Devils 21-18 loss to the Lady Vikes.

One would have thought that I could keep track of the Tansley kids since Tori is the daughter of two of my classmates from the Old Forge High Class of 1989, Kevin Tansley and Christine Victor Tansley-Gaul. But instead I gave credit to Debi. Sorry guys.

Secondly, I mistakenly gave Scranton Prep running back John Mariotti the wrong first name when I called him Chris. But I am sure Cavalier fans do not care what he is called as John keeps putting up numbers like he did last week against Riverside when he rushed for 226 yards and four touchdowns.