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Happy birthday Zevan Jordan Valvonis!

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Route 80 closed Monday night near mile marker 253 due to fire

<p>Unsure of his assignment, Nanticoke&#8217;s Alec Norton conferred with his coach.</p><p>&#8220;We were running a play and I was, like, I didn&#8217;t know what my first read was,&#8221; Norton said.</p><p>Slight problem here.</p><p>Norton wasn&#8217;t working as an all-star running back/linebacker on the football field. He was at basketball practice.</p><p>&#8220;It was this week in practice,&#8221; Justin Casey, Norton&#8217;s teammate on the football and basketball teams, said with a smile.</p><p>In theory, it would seem football players physically active from summer through early to late November would be able to transition to the court rather comfortably. Not so, said four football-turned-basketball players, all of whom earned postseason all-star honors.</p><p>Norton and Carey, along with Wyoming Valley West&#8217;s Aaron Austin and Sean Judge, are among over three dozen football players on Wyoming Valley Conference basketball rosters. All but one of the 18 WVC basketball teams has a football player on the squad. The lone exception is MMI Prep, which doesn&#8217;t have a football team.</p><p>&#8220;In the first week, you&#8217;re kind of rusty,&#8221; Casey said. &#8220;But it&#8217;s like riding a bike. You never forget.&#8221;</p><p>The skill set, mindset and conditioning are completely different in the two sports. For Norton, he had to turn down the physical level. He was used to being hit on the football field &#8211; running the ball more than any other back in the Wyoming Valley Conference. He was also used to doing the hitting with 107 tackles.</p><p>&#8220;In football, you&#8217;re used to being physical,&#8221; Norton said. &#8220;There are times (in basketball) where you&#8217;re bodying a guy and they call a foul. But in football, that&#8217;s what you want to do.&#8221;</p><p>Running, though, is the biggest difference. When Nanticoke played Holy Redeemer last week, the action was non-stop for the first four minutes.</p><p>&#8220;In the beginning of the year, it was hard because conditioning is a lot different from basketball to football,&#8221; Norton said. &#8220;Football is stop and go, and you get 20 seconds between plays. This is constant running.&#8221;</p><p>Judge, an all-state football player, learned that against Hazleton Area last week.</p><p>Judge accounted for 2,254 yards with the ball in his hands during Valley West&#8217;s football season on his way to a spot on the all-state team. That doesn&#8217;t account for running on defense and special teams as he rarely left the field.</p><p>By doing some simple math, those 2,254 yards equate roughly to running the length of the basketball court 80 times. Judge likely covered that much court alone in the Hazleton Area game where both teams played at a incredibly fast pace in combining for 165 points.</p><p>&#8220;It was probably the first game I probably felt comfortable playing basketball,&#8221; said Judge, a solid 165 pounds. &#8220;It&#8217;s the conditioning. It&#8217;s a lot more running, a lot more sprinting. You don&#8217;t get a lot of breaks like in football.&#8221;</p><p>Meyers basketball coach Pat Toole has seen a difference in his football players, including starters Omar Kelly and Raheem Twyman, since the start of the season.</p><p>&#8220;If you would have seen both of those young men play the first couple games this season and see them now, you&#8217;d see the difference,&#8221; Toole said. &#8220;I really think it takes them a good four or five weeks before they get their basketball legs and coordination down. It&#8217;s just so different.&#8221;</p><p>Austin&#8217;s challenge is unique. As Valley West&#8217;s quarterback, he could survey the defense and know where the football was supposed to be on each play. As a guard on the basketball team, he can see an opponent switch defenses on the fly from man-to-man, zone or press.</p><p>&#8220;It&#8217;s totally different,&#8221; Austin said. &#8220;You have a game plan (in basketball), but you can&#8217;t totally stick to it. You have to go off of it. In football, you have a set play and you know what you&#8217;re doing every play.&#8221;</p><p>Some coaches, both past and present, try to sway student athletes to concentrate or play just one sport. Some basketball coaches have players all year round, participating in summer league or team camps. Those players have a distinct advantage once the season starts.</p><p>Nanticoke coach John Beggs, though, doesn&#8217;t mind having guys show up not completely ready to play basketball.</p><p>&#8220;We want our guys playing more than one sport,&#8221; Beggs said. &#8220;Most of our team played soccer; three or four guys played football. We encourage everybody to play as many sports as they can at Nanticoke.&#8221;</p><style>
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<div class="neCaption">Nanticoke running back Alec Norton (44) finds it difficult at times to keep the physical aspect of football off the basketball court. </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo0>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/01/web1_TTL101114NanticokeMeyersFB_1.jpg</photo0><caption0>Nanticoke running back Alec Norton (44) finds it difficult at times to keep the physical aspect of football off the basketball court. </caption0><photoCredit0>Bill Tarutis | Times Leader file photo </photoCredit0></div><div class="neFile"><img class="neImage" src="https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/01/web1_wvw_dv1faa.jpg">
<div class="neCaption">Despite an all-state season in football, Wyoming Valley West&#8217;s Sean Judge is finally feeling comfortable as a member of the school&#8217;s basketball team. </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo1>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/01/web1_wvw_dv1faa.jpg</photo1><caption1>Despite an all-state season in football, Wyoming Valley West&#8217;s Sean Judge is finally feeling comfortable as a member of the school&#8217;s basketball team. </caption1><photoCredit1>Fred Adams | Times Leader file photo </photoCredit1></div><div class="neFile"><img class="neImage" src="https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/01/web1_wvwaustinjudge01.jpg">
<div class="neCaption">Wyoming Valley West basketball players Sean Judge, left, and Aaron Austin during a game against Hazleton Area. </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo2>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/01/web1_wvwaustinjudge01.jpg</photo2><caption2>Wyoming Valley West basketball players Sean Judge, left, and Aaron Austin during a game against Hazleton Area. </caption2><photoCredit2>Pete G. Wilcox | Times Leader </photoCredit2></div><div class="neFile"><img class="neImage" src="https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/01/web1_wvwaustinjudge02.jpg">
<div class="neCaption">Wyoming Valley West&#8217;s Sean Judge with basketball during a game against Hazleton Area. </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo3>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/01/web1_wvwaustinjudge02.jpg</photo3><caption3>Wyoming Valley West&#8217;s Sean Judge with basketball during a game against Hazleton Area. </caption3><photoCredit3>Pete G. Wilcox | Times Leader </photoCredit3></div><div class="neFile"><img class="neImage" src="https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/01/web1_wvwaustinjudge03.jpg">
<div class="neCaption">Wyoming Valley West&#8217;s Aaron Austin, right, on defense during a game against Hazleton Area. </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo4>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/01/web1_wvwaustinjudge03.jpg</photo4><caption4>Wyoming Valley West&#8217;s Aaron Austin, right, on defense during a game against Hazleton Area. </caption4><photoCredit4>Pete G. Wilcox | Times Leader </photoCredit4></div></div>
<div class="metaInfo"><subheadMeta>Transition from football to basketball not as easy as it seems</subheadMeta></div><div class="metaInfo"><bylineMeta><p>By John Erzar</p><p>jerzar@www.timesleader.com</p></bylineMeta></div><div class="metaInfo"><shirttailMeta><p>Reach John Erzar at 570-991-6394 or on Twitter @TLJohnErzar</p></shirttailMeta></div>

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Transition from football to basketball for high school players not as easy as it seems