Our Opinion: Fill caseworker posts at beleaguered Luzerne County Children and Youth agency

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Structure dumped on island in Susquehanna River in 2011 flooding continues to cause controversy

SUSQUEHANNA &#8212; Holy Redeemer and Susquehanna arrived at the midway point in the high school football season in similar condition.Both were 1-4, on four-game losing streaks and had their lineups thinned out a bit, at least temporarily, because of injuries.Each coach had the same response, with lineup juggling that included turning the offenses over to new, young quarterbacks with a little look to the future at the same time they were trying to turn around the current season.The new looks mixed some exciting times with a few too many mistakes in a combination that created a game that went down to the final 30 seconds before Susquehanna secured the 14-7, non-league victory at William Emminger Memorial Field.&#8220;We&#8217;re like them,&#8221; Holy Redeemer coach Scott Dennis said. &#8220;We&#8217;re young. I think we started eight sophomores and two juniors.&#8220;We made a lot of young mistakes.&#8221;Sophomore J.D. Turosky took over at quarterback for Holy Redeemer. He completed 10 passes, including a 53-yard touchdown to Alex Wampole on the first play of the fourth quarter, but the touchdown play accounted for more yardage than the Royalsm managed in their other 45 plays combined.Turosky, a 6-foot-2, 210-pounder, had already been in his second season as a starting tight end before Dennis decided it was time to make the move.&#8220;There were a lot of really good signs,&#8221; Dennis said. &#8220;We&#8217;re very shorthanded. We started with 31 players, but we&#8217;re down to 21.&#8221;Dennis expects some players back by next weekend and for the team to return to close to full strength in another week.Those returnees will be working with a new quarterback.&#8220;I thought it made us a better football team,&#8221; Dennis said of the move.Susquehanna went even younger at quarterback, turning its option offense over to freshman Canyon Stone after being plagued by a series of turnovers and penalties in its losing streak.The Sabers still had to overcome 102 yards in penalties and five lost fumbles, but they came up with more big plays.Jarred Mills did all their scoring on consecutive offensive plays in the second quarter. He ran 11 yards for a touchdown with 10:16 left in the half. Then, after Evan Aldrich made three straight tackles for losses to earn good field position, Mills raced 45 yards for another score.With Stone at the controls, the Sabers started and finished strong.Stone had runs of eight and nine yards in Susquehanna&#8217;s first three offensive plays. He ran 14 yards on fourth-and-10 with 27.9 seconds left to reach the Holy Redeemer 1 and put the Sabers in position where they could kneel down on one play to end the game.Although he did not complete a pass, Stone did run for 52 yards on 16 carries.Holy Redeemer picked up 23 yards and two first downs on its first possession to move into Susquehanna territory. The Royals did not gain another first down and were held to minus-9 yards total offense over their next six possessions.Holy Redeemer started moving late in the third quarter with the help of two 15-yard personal foul penalties on Susquehanna.The Royals opened the fourth quarter with Turosky hitting Wampole on a hook pattern on third-and-13. Wample found a seam and raced through the middle of the Susquehanna secondary for a 53-yard touchdown.Holy Redeemer got as far as the Susquehanna 40 before giving the ball up on downs with five minutes left.Aldrich recovered a fumble at the Royals 15 with 2:18 left the fourth-down conversion finally put the game away.Turosky, Cam Brennan and Brian Greenawalt led the Holy Redeemer defense. Turosky made eight tackles, including two for losses, and assisted on four others. Brennan had six tackles and two assists while also forcing and recovering a fumble. Greenawalt made a game-high nine tackles while adding two assists.Susquehanna 14, Holy Redeemer 7Holy Redeemer`0`0`0`7`&#8212;`7Susquehanna`0`14`0`0`&#8212;`14First quarterNoneSecond quarterS &#8211; Jarred Mills 11 run (Dan Braun kick), 10:16S &#8211; Mills 45 run (Braun kick), 7:55Third quarterNoneFourth quarterHR &#8211; Alex Wampole 53 pass from J.D. Turosky (Mauricio Rodriguez kick), 11:48Team statistics`HR`SFirst downs`7`10Rushes-yards`27-17`49-234Passing yards`72`0Total yards`89`234Passing`10-19-1`0-3-0Sacked-yards lost`1-13`0-0Punts-avg.`4-31.8`4-24.0Fumbles-lost`5-3`6-5Penalties-yards`6-47`13-102INDIVIDUAL STATISTICSRUSHING &#8212; HR, Thomas Engle 15-27, Turosky 8-minus 1, Justin Januszko 3-minus 3. SUS, Mills 19-119, Wes Richardson 13-64, Canyon Stone 16-52.PASSING &#8212; HR, Turosky 10-19-1-72, SUS, Stone 0-3-0-0.RECEIVING &#8212; HR, Wampole 5-61, Connor Thole 2-11, Engle 3-0.INTERCEPTIONS &#8212; SUSQ, Shaun Andersen 1-1.MISSED FGs &#8212; None.<div class="metaInfo"><bylineMeta>By Tom RobinsonFor Times Leader</bylineMeta></div><div class="metaInfo"><shirttailMeta>Reach Times Leader sports at 570-829-7143 or on Twitter @TLsports</shirttailMeta></div>

High school football: Young Holy Redeemer team comes up short