Southern Ends Bald Eagle’s Storybook Season
Tagged under: District 4, District 6, Gameday Hub, News, Playoffs
Dave Fegley | November 26, 2023
Tigers win 18-8 in 2A state quarters
Southern Columbia’s defense did its part again in giving the offense the chance to finally break through. Like last week, the Tigers went into halftime in a scoreless battle, and the offense eventually found the goal line in an 18-8 victory over Bald Eagle Area.
After feasting on Thanksgiving, both the Tigers and Bald Eagles weren’t full. The two defenses found room to stuff the opposition on offense.
“Our defense played very well in the regular season, other than that one game, but now they have elevated the performance to an even higher level,” said Southern head coach Jim Roth.
For the second consecutive week, a third quarter run by Tiger fullback Garrett Garcia was the first score of the game.
Southern got the third quarter kickoff, and Brayden Andrews returned it to midfield. From there, the Tigers drove 50 yards on 11 plays. All of those plays followed the ground and pound approach, capped off with Garcia’s leap into the end zone from a yard out.
“As a senior, I feel it’s my job at times to keep some of the younger linemen in check. Obviously, I need to do my job as well. We found a way to get the job done,” SCA center Robert Long said. “It helps a lot having the experience from last season. I can give out tips and pointers to the younger guys.”
In the fourth quarter, Southern added a pair of touchdown runs courtesy of the reverse. The first one, Louden Murphy took 69 yards and then his 54-yard dash made the score 18-0.
“We ran two previous reverses in the first half and the coaches said, ‘You have to take it outside’, so I listened to them and stuck with what they told me to do. My motto is to not let one player bring me down. When I am able to break a tackle, I feel like I am fast enough when I get in space to score,” said Murphy.
Murphy got a nice block from his quarterback Blake Wise on his second TD, and the offensive line did the job in allowing Murphy to get out in space.
“It’s important to fire off the ball and stay low. You want to establish a low base as a lineman, and then after executing a block it’s always nice to see the runners making big plays,” said Long.
The Bald Eagles showed why they were district champions with their no quit mentality. With 3:30 left in the game, Cam Watkins caught a 15-yard TD pass from Carson Nagle. Then, they got the ball back with over two minutes remaining.
“I am really proud of the way this group kept fighting. We are going to let this loss soak in, and eventually we will get back to work to figure out a way to beat this team. Southern Columbia is the king. You can look at any of the six classifications and nobody has come close to what they have done, but I was happy that our guys kept battling as we came within a few plays of dethroning them,” Bald Eagle head coach Jesse Nagle said.
On BEA’s final possession, the Tigers didn’t allow them to score again. Over the past three weeks, Southern has only allowed one touchdown.
“The gameplan coming in was to obviously keep their passing game away from converting big plays. They made some nice conversions, but I thought our guys did a good job of responding and having that bend but don’t break mentality at times,” said Roth. “Bald Eagle had a good team across the board. This was a very tough game and definitely a rewarding win.”
Southern will take on Dunmore on Friday at Hazleton. With a victory over the Bucks, the Tigers would advance to a record 22nd PIAA championship game.
“We will be ready to go. We know what is at stake and will be fully prepared to take them on. Our coaching staff is the best in the state when it comes to gameplans,” said Murphy.
400-Club Triples
Michigan State star linebacker Cal Haladay played his final game in a Spartans uniform last night. With hopes of getting drafted into the NFL, his presence was felt starting at inside-linebacker for Southern Columbia throughout his high school career. When all was said and done, Haladay became the first Tiger ever to top 400 tackles, finishing with 474 in 2019.
Over the past seven days that list has tripled. Last week, Garcia went over 400 tackles for his career in the District 4 championship victory over Troy. On Friday, Dominic Fetterolf joined the 400-tackle list against Bald Eagle Area in the PIAA quarterfinals.
“It’s really cool to go one, two, and three in our program’s history in this short of a time span. Cal (Haladay) played here just a few years ago before going on to make an impact in college,” said Fetterolf. “Now to have Garrett (Garcia) join him last week and me now it’s a great feeling, but it feels even better that we won and advanced.”
The two all-state linebackers are part of a Southern defense that has allowed just one touchdown with the starters on the field now through four playoff games in 2023.
“Garrett and I have played together now for a long enough time where we are comfortable knowing what each of us is going to do. With him being a year older, I didn’t get to play with him his freshman year. Then, last year he suffered that ACL tear on the first play of the season, so this is our second full year of starting together,” Fetterolf said.
Fetterolf and Garcia each made stops on third down passes in the third quarter to force the Bald Eagles to three and outs.
“It’s pretty awesome to be able to get to that 400-tackle mark. Then for Dom (Fetterolf) to do the same thing the following week is even crazier,” said Garcia.
One Last Tiger Stadium Ride
With the PIAA giving the top team in the bracket the option to play at home if their stadium meets the requirements, this was an added treat for the Tiger seniors to top off their Thanksgiving meal.
On Black Friday, the Tigers got to walk down the hill for the final time in their all black uniforms and enjoyed another strong defensive showing.
Senior Colden Bloom was the first player to enter the stadium last night. Like he did two weeks ago in the shutout win over Mount Carmel Area, the defensive end walked on the turf inside of Tiger Stadium about three hours before kickoff in street clothes soaking it all in by himself.
“I told the guys, this is the last game I am ever going to play here and I wanted it bad. It was a very emotional game, and we played with a lot of confidence,” Bloom said. “We also played with that leave no doubt mentality. It’s a great feeling to come out with a huge win against a great team in your last home game ever.”
Bloom was part of a front four that put constant pressure on Nagle throughout the night. He had a sack and two more tackles for loss as the Tigers held their opponent to less than a yard per carry.
“It was a huge key to the game to get the pressure on them. This is one of the best defensive lines that we have had. Having their ability to put pressure on the quarterback without having to blitz as much was very important in helping our secondary in pass coverage. We were confident coming in that we could stop their running game,” said Roth.
7-Up For Southern
In the Tigers quest for a record seventh straight PIAA Class 2A Championship, this was the seventh different program that SCA has ever played out of District 6.
They took on Penns Valley in the first two years of SCA’s existence (1963-1964), and then didn’t play a team from that district again for more than 40 years. In 2006, the Tigers beat Bellwood Antis in the Eastern Final on their way to a then record fifth straight state title, then beat Penns Manor in the 2011 Eastern Final.
Regular season wins over Central Mountain happened in back-to-back seasons in 2014 and 2015, then Southern beat Richland three straight years in the playoffs (2019-2021), before beating Bishop Guilfoyle in last season’s state playoffs.
“This Bald Eagle team came in with a very explosive offense. I think the biggest key was getting pressure on their quarterback early and then not allowing many big plays in the back end of our defense,” said Roth “Having Garcia and Fetterolf compile those statistics in tackles shows that they are disciplined and determined to get to the football.”
Southern Columbia 18, Bald Eagle Area 8
BEA — SCA
First Downs: 15 — 10
Rushes-yds: 19-11 — 40-298
Passing yds: 202 — 6
Total yds: 213 — 304
Passing (C-A-I): 26-46-1 — 3-8-0
Penalties: 5-50 — 8-90
Fumbles-lost: 1-0 — 3-2
Bald Eagle (12-2): 0-0-0-8 — 8
Southern (13-1): 0-0-6-12 — 18
SCORING PLAYS
1st Quarter
N/A.
2nd Quarter
N/A.
3rd Quarter
S— Garrett Garcia 1 run (run failed), 7:09.
4th Quarter
S— Louden Murphy 69 run (pass failed), 11:03.
S—Murphy 54 run (run failed), 6:31.
B— Cam Watkins 15 pass from Carson Nagle (Kahale Burns conversion), 3:30.
INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS
RUSHING — Southern: Louden Murphy 13-149, 2 TDs; Garrett Garcia 18-91, TD; Carter Madden 9-58. Bald Eagle: Cameron Dubbs 11-38; Cam Watkins 1-7; Team 1-(-1); Gavin Burns 1-(-3); Kahale Burns 2-(-13); Carson Nagle 3-(-17).
PASSING — Southern: Blake Wise 3-8-0, 6 yds. Bald Eagle: Carson Nagle 26-46-1, 202 yds, TD.
RECEIVING — Southern: Garrett Garcia 2-5; Kyle Christman 1-1. Bald Eagle: Gavin Burns 9-69; Kahale Burns 8-57; Cam Watkins 6-56, TD; Wyatt Spackman 1-13; Beau Taylor 2-7.
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