Southern Ran Wild
Tagged under: District 4, Gameday Hub, News
Dave Fegley | October 26, 2024
Tigers cruise past Braves
Shikellamy has some early success in the aerial department, but Southern Columbia controlled the running game, both offensive and defensively, as the Tigers closed out the regular season with a 53-6 win over the Braves.
Prior to kickoff, the seniors on the Tiger roster were honored for Senior Night. Typically, senior night isn’t the last game that those veterans play inside of Tiger Stadium as Southern usually enters the postseason as the highest seed.
“It is what it is at this point. The main goal is to be playing your best football of the season right now,” said Southern coach Jim Roth. “We still have to improve in some areas but overall, I was happy with the performance.”
However, the Tigers won’t know their final playoff standing until later on today and will at most have one more game next week on Jim Roth Field.
After the Braves scored on their opening drive on a 39-yard pass, the Tigers ran the football down Shikellamy’s throat.
Brayden Andrews carried the football five yards on his first carry for Southern, and that run alone was more than Shikellamy had for the game. Andrews would score on a seven-yard run later in the drive to put Southern in front 7-6 as the Tigers scored 53-unanswered to close out the game after the opponent struck first.
“The yards per carry had to be impressive. This was what we needed to see which we haven’t consistently had all year. The tradition of our program has been the big runs. Those are backbreakers,” said Roth.
How impressive? The Tigers rushed for nearly 15 yards per carry, compiled 349 rushing yards in the first half, on their way to a season-high 502 yards on the ground.
On defense, Southern limited Shikellamy to negative-two yards rushing.
“I was a little disappointed in the pass coverage again. We had that early breakdown that they scored on, but the bigger issue were the missed tackles on the short passes,” Roth said. “The defense did a great job though in shutting down their running game. If we can take away some of those mistakes in the pass coverage, I think our defense can get to the next level of where we want to be in the playoffs.”
Andrews, Caden Hopper, and quarterback Ayden Hockenbroch ran the football eight times in the first half for an absurd six touchdowns and 327 yards.
To put the Tigers in front 14-6, linebacker Nate Gallagher jumped a route and intercepted Brody Rebuck’s pass for a 24-yard defensive touchdown.
“We had a breakdown in our defense, and they caught us on that first drive. Then, we came to the sideline and regrouped. We had trust in each other and tightened up the coverage. I had a good read on my interception and was able to take it in for the pick six,” said Gallagher.
The lone score of the second half was a third quarter 51-yard trot by Joey Williams to put Southern over the 50-point mark for the third time this season.
Hopper finished with a career-high 155 yards rushing.
“We have a good mix going right now in the backfield. I got banged up on one of my runs, and Grady Garcia came back in to take over at a halfback spot. Having all the backs rotating in and out keeps us fresh,” Hopper said.
Southern has won 25 straight regular season finales since their last defeat in 1999.
“This was a nice way to end the regular season. Even though Shikellamy only won one game this season, they only got beat soundly by Jersey Shore. They played competitive against everyone else,” Roth said.
The Tiger defense is ready to make a run to keep the state championship streak alive.
“We have to keep the train running. Even though we lost a lot of starters from last year, we know the standard is to get back to the final game” said defensive lineman Jaden Carter who had one of the four sacks for the victors.
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