LCCC holds open house for Technology and Trades Center

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$28 million hotel and conference center planned for downtown Wilkes-Barre

The passing game worked so well, even Mike Gesicki hung onto a couple catches. Heck, even Hack caught a pass.The highlight of Penn State&#8217;s 39-0 pounding of Illinois came when quarterback Christian Hackenberg tossed a lateral to running back Nick Scott &#8212; who then threw back across the field to a wide-open Hackenberg. Then Hackenberg brought the already frenzied home crowd at Beaver Stadium to a roar when he put his head down and charged into the end zone, picking up enough yards after the catch to complete a 14-yard touchdown.Mainly, though, Hackenberg spent most of his afternoon completing such passes, throwing for two touchdowns and over 250 yards. And with it, Penn State easily passed its first test of four straight difficult Big Ten games to end the regular season.OFFENSEThe ground game wasn&#8217;t producing a whole lot, but the passing game was. Grade: B-OFFENSIVE LINE: Allowed three sacks and didn&#8217;t exactly pry open huge holes. Grade: CQUARTERBACK: Hackenberg showed poise in the pocket even under pressure, and directed a couple nice scoring drives. Grade: ARUNNING BACKS: Saquon Barkley and Mark Allen added late touchdown runs, but Barkley failed to hit 100 yards on his 20 carries. Grade: C+WIDE RECEIVERS: Former Wyoming Valley West standout Eugene Lewis made his first start of the season, and responded with a leaping 6-yard touchdown catch for his first career score at Beaver Stadium. Grade: ADEFENSEDidn&#8217;t allow a single point to an Illinois team that had every intention of running a wide-open attack. Grade: A+DEFENSIVE LINE:Austin Johnson and Carl Nassib were their usual disruptive selves, and each recorded a sack. Grade: A+LINEBACKERS:Jason Cabinda was all over the field to make sure the Illini didn&#8217;t get down the field. Grade: ASECONDARY:Marcus Allen delivered a couple of jarring hits and his fellow safety Jordan Lucas finished with four solid tackles. Grade: ASPECIAL TEAMS:The sudden struggles of Joey Julius continued when he had two extra point attempts blocked and sailed a kickoff out of bounds. Tyler Davis did a nice job of relieving him and connecting on a pair of field goals. Grade: B-COACHING STAFF:Defensive coordinator Bob Shoop deserves another shot to be a head football coach and Brent Pry deserves an award for what he&#8217;s done with Penn State&#8217;s linebackers after Nyeem Wartman-White went down in the season opener. Grade: A<style>
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<div class="neCaption">Penn State coach James Franklin celebrates a field goal during the Nittany Lions&#8217; win over Illinois on Saturday. </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo0>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/10/web1_franklin-nuts.jpg</photo0><caption0>Penn State coach James Franklin celebrates a field goal during the Nittany Lions&#8217; win over Illinois on Saturday. </caption0><photoCredit0>Gene J. Puskar | AP photo </photoCredit0></div></div>
<div class="metaInfo"><subheadMeta>Lions pass the test</subheadMeta></div><div class="metaInfo"><bylineMeta>By Paul Sokoloskipsokoloski@www.timesleader.com</bylineMeta></div><div class="metaInfo"><shirttailMeta>Reach Paul Sokoloski at 570-991-6392 or on Twitter @TLPaulSokoloski</shirttailMeta></div>

Report card: Nittany Lions pass the test vs. Illinois