Southern’s Defense Dominates Hughesville

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

Dave Fegley | November 2, 2024

7-time Defending PIAA Champs Win 39-0

Southern Columbia isn’t worried about the four losses from the regular season. They are battle-tested, and the current Tigers know what is at stake. On Friday, at home, the Tigers dominated Hughesville in the opening round of the District 4 Class 2A postseason, winning 39-0.

Southern’s defense limited the Spartans to exactly zero rushing yards in the first half and held Blake Davis to a completion percentage under 15-percent.

After a pair of turnovers, an interception and a fumble, cost the Tigers points on each of their first two offensive possessions, quarterback Ayden Hockenbroch found Blaise Kissinger for a 36-yard touchdown pass to start the scoring with just over five minutes remaining in the first quarter.

“It was big to get that touchdown on the third drive. We were sloppy with two turnovers in the first two drives, but we built momentum and went forward from there,” said Hockenbroch.

Kissinger finished with 101 receiving yards as Hockenbroch had all 215 of his passing yards in the first two quarters as Southern built a 32-0 lead at halftime.

“It feels great. It feels awesome to be honest,” said Kissinger. “I think it’s really important as we go further along in the playoffs to have our passing game clicking. We got it on point in this game.”

On the final play of the first quarter, Grady Garcia had a four-yard touchdown run to give the Tigers a 14-0 lead.

In the second quarter, Southern’s Brayden Andrews scored twice in just 18 seconds of game action. He had a TD run of eight yards and following a fumble by the Spartans on the ensuing kickoff, Hockenbroch found him wide open from 15 yards out on the second play of the drive.

“We wanted to try to have more success throwing the ball, and the situation played into it because we knew they would be overplaying the run. Early on, we had guys open in the play-action passing game,” Southern head coach Jim Roth said.

Throughout the night, Davis was running for his life as the Spartans’ gunslinger completed only 3 of 21 passes for 34 yards. Although the Tigers registered just one sack, half of Davis’ throws were just to get the ball out of his hands.

“It was definitely good to keep their quarterback running around and not giving him any time to just back there and throw with a clean pocket,” said Tiger defensive end Ethan Makowski. “I wish we would have gotten more sacks, but we did what we needed to.”

On special teams, the Tigers forced a pair of turnovers. Talon Piatt forced and recovered a fumble on a kickoff, and Dom Fetterolf blocked and recovered a punt.

“We fly down the field as quick as we can. Special teams are just as important as any other part of football. We make it a priority to make things happen,” Piatt said. “I got lucky with the situation, but I came up with the ball.”

Joey Williams scored from a yard out in the final minute of the half and Caden Hopper scored the only touchdown of the second half on a two-yard plunge in the middle of the third quarter to put the game into the Mercy Rule.

“I am happy with the defense. They played well throughout the game and had no letups. They all executed all night and did what we wanted them to do,” said Roth.

Hughesville’s starters were able to compile yardage against the Tiger reserves but never compiled enough to reach the endzone.

“The goal was to shut down their run immediately and force them to throw and get pressure on the quarterback,” SCA defensive tackle Adam Barnes said. “The intensity level was up after seeing what they were capable of from the regular season, and our secondary did a great job in coverage.”

Southern will now travel to Mansfield University next Friday to take on Troy. The Trojans are the top-ranked team in the state.

“We definitely have to come out with intensity. We know they are a good team, but if we play the way that we know how, we can beat them,” Makowski said.

With all aspects of the game being important, and a win or go home scenario, the Tigers are looking at this as potentially the toughest district semifinal opponent that they have had since Roth took over more than four decades ago.

“We were the underdogs based on the rankings the past two years and went on the road and beat them. They had two very good teams each time. Now, they have a lot of returning starters and want to beat us,” said Roth. “It’s kind of a cliché to say this, but it is going to come down to who wins the battle up front.”

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