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Berwick and Southern Columbia Scrimmage was not a marquee game like planned, but the Tigers took the role of the star in stride

Tagged under: District 2, District 4, Gameday Hub, News

| September 6, 2020

Week one of the 2020 regular season was supposed to feature 10-time PIAA champion Southern Columbia and 6-time PIAA champion Berwick. A game at Crispin Field between the two school’s with the most state titles in Pennsylvania high school football history was going to be the marquee matchup of the opening weekend. As everyone knows however, 2020 has been anything but predictable. “I think everyone was excited for the game to take place. With all the changes that had to be made, there wasn’t any way to make this a regular season game anymore, so both teams were just happy to at least be able to scrimmage each other,” said SCA coach Jim Roth.

The Tigers are coming off a third consecutive PIAA State Championship and second consecutive HSFA National Championship, but they had to replace 17 of their 22 starters due to graduation. The backfield, which returns just junior Gavin Garcia, was effective throughout the scrimmage. The trio of Garcia, Wes Barnes, and Braeden Wisloski combined 238 yards and four touchdowns on 22 carries. “It was nice to finally get back out on the field. Everyone was ready to put the pads on and compete,” said Barnes who also added a 48-yard reception.

Southern Columbia’s defense was able to contain Berwick’s new triple-option offensive approach. “I was pleased with how our defense looked especially since this was the first time that any of these guys have faced a triple-option,” said Roth. The Tigers defense forced two turnovers and didn’t allow the Bulldogs to reach the red zone throughout the day giving SCA a commanding 28-0 victory for those keeping score.

Unfortunately for Berwick, who had a couple of players sit out due to preseason injuries, they added another important player to that list. Senior quarterback Blane Cleaver left in the middle of the scrimmage with an apparent leg injury. “Blane felt a ‘pop’ after getting hit from behind and that’s not good,” said Bulldog coach Carmen DeFrancesco. “Hopefully it is just a pulled muscle, but we wont know for sure until he gets an MRI in the upcoming week.”

Southern went with a two-quarterback rotation with sophomore Greyson Shaud starting the scrimmage and junior Liam Klebon coming in after the second series. “Greyson has been our starter during the reps in practice. Liam was a receiver last year, so we know he is comfortable out wide. I thought Liam was more effective in this scrimmage, but I have confidence in Greyson going forward,” Roth said. “As of now we don’t have a clear-cut starter. I only ever went with a two-quarterback rotation one other time about 20 years ago, but right now we could be looking like it is going to happen again.”

The Tigers didn’t need to rely on the passing game to score due to the speed of the backfield getting around the edge. “We were disappointed defensively. We did not set the edge giving them those long runs, and we are going to have to get that fixed. I like that our kids got exposed to that kind of action against an outstanding program. They beat us, but now we are going to be much mor prepared heading into Friday night’s season opener,” DeFrancesco said.

The Bulldogs open their season at Lake-Lehman on Friday evening. The Tigers don’t have an opener as their rivalry with Mount Carmel Area was postponed due to a COVID-19 outbreak at MCA. “We are going to just have to go ahead and continue practicing. At this point it is too late to find an opponent to play this upcoming week. We were looking for another scrimmage, but that isn’t going to happen either,” said Roth. SCA will now open the season September 18th when they host Bloomsburg.

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