Last Friday’s SCA Offensive Recap

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

Dave Fegley | November 12, 2022

Southern dominated Line Mountain 69-6

In Southern Columbia’s unprecedented championship filled history, the most points they have ever scored in a game is 76. That mark was set on three different occasions. The first in the memorable 2004 playoff win over Pius X when the Tigers broke the national record for rushing yards, then twice again in the remarkable 2019 season including a 76-7 rout in the PIAA Class 2A title game against Avonworth.

Last Friday night in the opening round of the District 4 playoffs, that record looked like it was going to be broken in the first half

In Wes Barnes’ return from injury, the senior fullback scored on a 58-yard touchdown run on the first offensive play of the game and the five-time defending PIAA Champions went on to score 69 points with more than half of the second quarter remaining to be played.

“It definitely felt good to get back out there with my boys. That first touch being able to go the distance showed me that I can still play effectively despite being injured,” said Barnes.

As the points kept piling up, two individuals had decisions to make. Southern Columbia’s hall of fame head coach Jim Roth, who has won more games (479) and more state championships (12) than anyone else in state history, was trying to figure out a way to give each of his starting running backs at least one touch. During this time, scoreboard operator had to be thinking what to do with the scoreboard as there are only two digits in the scoring column on each side in Tiger Stadium.

“It was something. At the point where we were up by 50-some points, our starting four running backs had combined for like five or six carries, and Louden Murphy didn’t have a touch yet,” Roth said. “It was incredible the way that it played out. For as good as our offense looked, I was even more pleased with the defensive performance.”

Murphy got his lone carry of the game with 6:28 remaining in the first half and took it 46 yards for a touchdown.

In total, Southern ran 11 offensive plays in the first half and scored 10 touchdowns. Barnes finished with 99 yards and a pair of touchdowns on four carries. Senior halfback Braeden Wisloski scored on both of his carries for 60 yards. Murphy and Carter Madden, who rotate at the other halfback spot, each scored on their lone carries.

As if the dominance for the black and gold wasn’t enjoyable enough, two individuals were extra excited throughout the first half scoring onslaught. Junior kicker Isaac Carter, who scored a goal on Tuesday for the boys soccer team in a gut-wrenching 3-2 loss to end their season in the district semifinals, got the chance to play in the defensive line.

In addition to making all nine of his PAT attempts and touchbacks on all but one of his kickoffs, Carter made an immediate impact on defense.

“Coach (Andy) Mills asked me if I wanted to try and play some defense with soccer being over, and I immediately said yes. Whatever I can do to help the team, I want to do. Getting this chance made me super excited being out there with my friends,” said Carter who registered five tackles including two for losses.

Senior defensive end Tyler Arnold also got the chance to rotate each series at quarterback with the starters. He carried the ball twice, and one of those runs went for a 36-yard touchdown.

“It has been a long 11 weeks for us, but we continue to battle into the playoffs. I wanted to get the chance to work in at quarterback. With our starter Blake Wise being able to make key passes, and me running the ball, I think it helps provide different ways for our offense to take some of the load off of our great running backs,” Arnold said.

Wise threw the ball just one time in the win, but that went for a 77-yard touchdown to Kyle Christman. Christman also had a 29-yard interception return for a TD with 1:16 remaining in the first quarter to give the Tigers an unheard of 42-0 lead after 12 minutes.

“At the beginning of the season I was hurt, but I think Blake and I have developed confidence with our chemistry,” said Christman. “Losing Garrett Garcia for the season early in the first game and then when Wes (Barnes) got hurt, I think it brought us down mentally. Now we are as close to full strength as we will be so we are excited moving forward.”

Wisloski also had an interception return for a score. The Maryland commit grabbed a Kaiden Maurer pass with one hand and galloped into the endzone.

The leading rusher on the season for the Tigers also had a punt return called back, or else he would have had four touchdowns on four total touches in his final game at Tiger Stadium.

“This is something that I’ll always remember for the rest of my life. Knowing it was the last time that I would play at our home stadium, I wanted to make it memorable. We definitely made it a memorable game, that’s for sure. Honestly, we thought we might score 100 points, but our coaching staff has too much class to let that happen,” Wisloski said.

Line Mountain (4-7) is a young team with a bright future, but Southern Columbia (8-3) was on a completely different level on Jim Roth Field.

As crazy as it sounds, with the Tigers in front 69-0 at halftime, the Eagles held a 7-2 advantage in first downs at the half because SCA was scoring on nearly the first play of every drive.

The leading rusher in the game was freshman Ian Bates, but the Line Mountain running back had negative-two yards on eight carries against the Southern starters.

“This was a good game in the fact that we played aggressive, we looked fast, and we executed on offense. The starting defense didn’t give up any yards and overall, they played disciplined throughout the short amount of time that they were on the field,” said Roth.

The Tigers will hit the road for the first time in quite some time during district postseason action. Southern has played 31-cosecutive district playoff games inside of Tiger Stadium. Ironically, the last time SCA played an away district game was in a 2009 championship win at Line Mountain.

Southern will travel up north to Bradford County next Friday to Troy for a battle with the No. 2 seeded Trojans who defeated Towanda 43-13 on Friday. This will be the fifth time that these teams will play, with the first coming in 1994 and the most recent in 2018, and SCA has won each of the previous meetings.

Mount Carmel Area will host Hughesville, a 12-3 winner over Bloomsburg, in the other District 4 Class 2A semifinal.

Southern Columbia 69, Line Mountain 6

SC—LM

First Downs: 6 — 12

Rushes-yds: 31-401 — 30-132

Passing yds: 77 — 92

Total yds: 478 — 224

Passing (C-A-I): 1-1-0 — 10-24-3

Penalties: 6-45 — 1-5

Fumbles-lost: 2-1 — 3-1

Line Mountain (4-7) 0-0-0-6 — 6

Southern Col. (8-3) 42-27-0-0 — 69

SCORING

First Quarter:

SC — Wes Barnes 58 run (Isaac Carter kick), 11:45.

SC — Braeden Wisloski 52 run (Carter kick), 10:04.

SC — Wisloski 8 run (Carter kick), 7:53.

SC — Kyle Christman 77 pass from Blake Wise (Carter kick), 4:48.

SC — Tyler Arnold 36 run (Carter kick), 2:01.

SC — Christman 29 interception return (Carter kick), 1:16.

Second Quarter:

SC — Barnes 25 run (Carter kick), 11:44.

SC — Wisloski 24 interception return (Carter kick), 11:37.

SC — Carter Madden 47 run (Carter kick), 9:49.

SC — Louden Murphy 46 run (no attempt), 6:28.

Third Quarter:

None.

Fourth Quarter:

LM — Ian Bates 42 pass from Kaiden Maurer (two-point failed), 11:37.

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS

RUSHING —

Southern: Wes Barnes 4-99, 2 TD’s; Braeden Wisloski 2-60, 2 TD’s; Brayden Andrews 5-48; Carter Madden 1-47, TD; Tyler Arnold 2-47, TD; Louden Murphy 1-46, TD; CJ Swank-Dworchak 6-21; Brady Arnold 3-16; Parker Pesarchick 5-12; Jack Beirmaas 2-5.

Line Mountain: Ian Bates 25-124; Kaiden Maurer 2-11; Chase Zerbe 1-1; Quinn Dunkelberger 2-(-4).

PASSING —

Southern: Blake Wise 1-1-0, 77 yds, TD.

Line Mountain: Kaiden Maurer 10-23-3, 92 yds, TD; Ian Bates 0-1-0.

RECEIVING —

Southern: Kyle Christman 1-77, TD.

Line Mountain: Ian Bates 3-46, TD; Dalton Schadel 2-24; Connor Finlan 2-10; Quade Michael 1-6; Quinn Dunkelberger 1-5; Brayden Boyer 1-1.

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