District 4 Class 2A Playoff Matchup: “The Game”

Tagged under: District 4, News, Playoffs

Dave Fegley | November 9, 2023

SCA and MCA ready for semi-final tussle

Last year, the Mount Carmel Area Red Tornadoes defeated the Southern Columbia Tigers in their annual regular season meeting.

The rivalry known as the ‘The Game’ had a different result in the postseason.

It was the Tigers that finished the 2022 season with the bragging rights as they handled the Red Tornadoes 48-18 to claim the school’s record 30th District 4 championship.

This season, the regular season clash was a duplicate result as MCA won 42-30. SCA is hoping to flip the switch again by getting postseason revenge.

In order for the Tigers to have a chance to up their already state record of six consecutive PIAA championships to seven, and win their record 14th state gold overall, they will have to find a way to slow down the Tornadoes offense.

In October’s meeting at The Silver Bowl, senior Cole Spears set a single-game school record with 336 passing yards for Mount Carmel. His top target Xavier Diaz broke the single-game record with 10 catches and had 209 receiving yards for the second most ever by a Red Tornado.

“Anytime that you are able to beat Southern, it’s a satisfying win because of the success that they have had in their program,” said MCA head coach John Darrah. “Ultimately though, the regular season is about getting better each week and being at your best in the playoffs.”

Since that loss, the Tigers have rebounded in impressive fashion by giving Wyoming Area its first loss and have followed it up with Mercy Rule victories over Shikellamy and North Penn-Mansfield.

History is definitely on the side of Southern as the Tigers have won all five of their previous postseason meetings against Mount Carmel.

However, with the Tornadoes win last week over Wyalusing, they now are one win away from becoming the first school in Pennsylvania history to win 900 games.

This clash will be the first postseason battle between the two foes that hasn’t been played in the District 4 final.

The Tigers (10-1) are the two-seed and will host the three-seeded Tornadoes (9-2) inside of Tiger Stadium as top-seeded Troy will host Line Mountain in the other semi-final.

Southern will also welcome back the state’s all-time winningest coach in Jim Roth. The 40-year veteran has missed the previous two games for the Tigers but will be back on the sidelines of the field that is named in his honor on Friday night.

“Execution is going to be the key. We made too many defensive mistakes (in the first game) and that hurt us. Mount Carmel has enough athletes that you can’t have that many breakdowns. We need to block well on the offensive line and not give up big plays on defense,” Roth said.

The Tigers have four seniors in their backfield. Fullback Garrett Garcia leads the team with 1,217 rushing yards and 20 touchdowns. Louden Murphy has 1,051 yards on the ground and 16 TDs to go along with six receiving touchdowns. Carter Madden has 542 yards and eight touchdowns from his halfback spot. Quarterback Blake Wise has thrown for 1,111 yards and 10 scores with just three interceptions.

Spears leads the Red Tornadoes offense as the QB. He has thrown for 1,928 yards and 24 touchdowns to go along with only six interceptions. Leading rusher Luke Blessing missed last week’s game, but the junior will enter with 1,325 rushing yards and 19 touchdowns. Diaz is averaging exactly 10 yards per run to go along with 10 touchdowns while also being the team’s leading receiver (49 catches, 891 yards, 9 TDs) in his senior campaign. Senior Jacob Shultz and junior Chase Balichik have combined to add 54 catches and 11 touchdowns as receivers.

Both teams pride themselves on the defensive side of the ball. The Tigers are led by their all-state linebacker duo in senior Garrett Garcia (83 tackles) and junior Dom Fetterolf (81 tackles). The Tornadoes have three players that are approaching 100 tackles in the trio of junior Ben Miller (98), freshman Max Karycki (98), and senior Maddox Reed (95).

This will be the 34th all-time meeting between these two historic programs. The Tigers hold the lead with 23 wins compared to the 10 that the Tornadoes have in the rivalry that dates back to 1996.

“This is the matchup that you want to be a part of. Both teams want to win and only one team is going to advance to next week. It is going to come down to who plays with more desire and is willing to fight each and every play to get the advantage,” Southern senior defensive end Colden Bloom said.

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