Southern Stomps Mount Carmel
Tagged under: District 4, Gameday Hub, News, Playoffs
Dave Fegley | November 11, 2023
Carter highlighted Tigers 43-0 trouncing
As Southern Columbia senior Isaac Carter left the field, giving way to the reserves with a commanding lead by his squad, the senior used his #43 jersey as a makeshift towel to wipe off the sweat from his face. It was a fitting way to finish his final home game at Tiger Stadium considering the result.
Ironically enough, his team scored exactly the same amount of points as his jersey number in a 43-0 shutout over their biggest rival.
Southern took control from the get-go and completely dominated rival Mount Carmel Area in the District 4 Class 2A semi-finals.
“This was a good performance, but we aren’t ready to celebrate. We are happy to beat Mount Carmel, but we still have more work to do. The job isn’t finished,” Carter said.
After watching from the sidelines with a concussion in October’s regular season loss to the Red Tornadoes, Carter made sure to show the spectators that his void was a key component in that meeting.
“Isaac Carter’s presence was huge. He played really well and had the best game of his career. More importantly, he brings a leadership quality to our team. When he is on the field his presence uplifts the group. He plays with a lot of energy and enthusiasm,” said SCA head coach Jim Roth.
After winning the regular season meeting in a rivalry that has been named ‘The Game’, the Red Tornadoes just couldn’t find a way to match the performance by the Tigers.
It’s not the fault of Mount Carmel. Others across the state have tried to figure out what kind of animal the Tigers are, but the results speak for themselves.
“The Tigers in the postseason are just a whole different monster. Everyone knows what we have to do in the playoffs when you are part of this program. You need to be focused and have the right mentality in order to have success,” said Southern’s Louden Murphy who rushed for three touchdowns in the win.
Southern is now on a 37-game postseason winning streak, including a 6-0 record against Mount Carmel in the span, and they will travel to unbeaten Troy next week to try and capture a 31st District 4 championship.
“We were pumped up from the start. Whenever you play your biggest rival you want to perform at your best. I am happy that we were able to beat them, but we aren’t done yet. We have more football to be played,” said Madden.
Southern got the opening kickoff, and they went five plays, capped off by a Garrett Garcia 31-yard touchdown run.
The @SoCoTigerSports strikes first as Garcia dances 31 yards to paydirt for an early 7-0 advantage over @GOBIGRED19 1Q 9:34 @PaFootballNews pic.twitter.com/Ify48vDCsR
— CC Hastings (@CCHastings1863) November 11, 2023
Included in that drive was a third-down conversion by senior Blake Wise who completed all five of his passes in the win over his cousin who was the Red Tornado QB.
“Blake did a nice job of completing passes when we were in a position to throw the ball. He’s got a lot of experience, so he knows what to do do,” Roth said.
Following a fumble by Mount Carmel’s Luke Blessing, the Tigers used a short field to score again. Murphy carried the pigskin seven yards to pay dirt, extending the Southern lead to 14-0.
“Just the start of the game, it was a big momentum swing. Southern came out and took all the momentum and we couldn’t recover from it,” said MCA head coach John Darrah. “I am proud of our kids. I know it is tougher for the seniors right now, but they will get over this and I’m sure they will go out and do great things in their future endeavors.”
On the ensuing drive, Red Tornado quarterback Cole Spears was picked off by Murphy who returned it deep into Mount Carmel’s end of the field. Two plays later, Garcia scored from a yard out and added a two-point conversion following a Red Tornado penalty.
After the Tiger star Carter had one of his remarkable four first half sacks, the Red Tornadoes had to punt it back to the reigning champs.
On that Tiger drive, Garcia went down in pain on a carry. The all-stater needed help coming off the field and was in street clothes for the second half with ice on the same knee that he tore on the opening kickoff last season and also had an icepack taped to his ankle.
Madden finished the drive off with a one-yard TD run to make the score 29-0 with 7:48 remaining in the first half.
It’s all @SoCoTigerSports in the first half as Madden adds another Tiger tally and it’s 29-0 Southern over @GOBIGRED19 2Q 7:48. On the prior play Tiger RB Garrett Garcia was helped off the field nursing an apparent knee injury. @PaFootballNews pic.twitter.com/CvQwZYeJy9
— CC Hastings (@CCHastings1863) November 11, 2023
“We are all hoping that he is going to be okay. Hopefully it turns out to be a sprain. Either way though, we are going to have to all step up if he isn’t able to play,” Madden said.
Murphy then added the final touchdown before the break for the Tigers on Jim Roth Field.
“I was very pleased and how can’t you be to have this result after losing to them in the regular season. We played really good defense all year except for the first Mount Carmel game. Mount Carmel had a lot to do with that because they played great offensively in the first meeting,” said Roth.
In the second half, Southern’s Nate Gallagher intercepted Spears which set up Murphy’s third rushing touchdown on the night, from five yards out, for the lone score of the game after intermission.
Southern watched the regular season film countless times to see what they needed to do in order to contain Mount Carmel’s offense. In the meeting a month ago, Spears set a single-game school record with 336 passing yards including 209 to Diaz for the second most ever by a Red Tornado.
Mount Carmel entered the game with a state-record 899 victories, but it was the state-record 13-time PIAA Champions who made sure they won’t be celebrating the 900-mark until next year.
“It would have stunk to lose to our rival. We don’t ever want to lose to them, and then we had the extra motivation of not wanting them to get their 900th win and most importantly we didn’t want our state championship streak to end,” said Murphy.
Southern held Mount Carmel Area to just 126 total yards on offense. The Tigers finished with 301 yards, with most drives starting in great field position, as they only punted one time in the win.
“The way our defense came out and played from the start, it showed the character that they have to respond in that fashion. This is a huge win against a very good team. It gets rid of that bad taste from the first loss, and it gives us a lot of confidence moving on,” Roth said.
Southern Columbia 43, Mount Carmel 0
MCA — SCA
First Downs: 7 — 18
Rushes-yds: 28-95 — 39-254
Passing yds: 31 — 47
Total yds: 126 — 301
Passing (C-A-I): 6-18-2 — 5-5-0
Penalties: 2-30 — 3-30
Fumbles-lost: 2-1 — 1-1
Mount Carmel (9-3): 0-0-0-0 — 0
Southern Col. (11-1): 22-14-0-7 — 43
SCORING PLAYS
1st Quarter
SC-Garrett Garcia 31 run (Isaac Carter kick), 9:34.
SC-Louden Murphy 7 run (Carter kick), 6:52.
SC-Garcia 1 run (Garcia run), 3:39.
2nd Quarter
SC-Carter Madden 1 run (Carter kick), 7:48.
SC-Murphy 8 run (Carter kick), 4:52.
3rd Quarter
None.
4th Quarter
SC-Murphy 5 run (Carter kick), 7:39.
INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS
RUSHING — Southern Columbia: Louden Murphy 11-87, 3 TDs; Carter Madden 15-84, TD; Garrett Garcia 8-65, 2 TDs; Joey Williams 5-18; Blake Wise 2-1. Mount Carmel: Cole Spears 11-45; Luke Blessing 8-34; Cooper Karycki 5-17; Xavier Diaz 4-(-1).
PASSING — Southern Columbia: Blake Wise 5-5-0, 47 yds. Mount Carmel: Cole Spears 6-16-2, 31 yds; Gavin Marshalek 0-2-0.
RECEIVING — Southern Columbia: Kyle Christman 2-28; Carter Madden 2-12; Jake Hoy 1-7. Mount Carmel: Xavier Diaz 3-12; Jacob Schultz 2-16; Chase Balichik 1-3.
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