Tigers Trounce Tornadoes
Tagged under: District 4, Gameday Hub, News
Dave Fegley | September 13, 2025
SCA wins rivalry 49-16
On a night that Southern Columbia honored the 10th anniversary of their 2015 PIAA Championship squad that went undefeated with a 49-14 Mercy Rule victory over Aliquippa for the 2A crown, and a night where current Tiger assistant coach Josh Tripp was recognized for his courageous battle in dealing with brain cancer, the energy was high inside of Tiger Stadium.
“This was a great atmosphere and a great opponent that we played against. We wanted to beat Mount Carmel and we got it done once we settled in,” said SCA running back Brayden Andrews.
Things didn’t start off the way Southern Columbia had anticipated, but when the Tigers got going, they were going at full force as they were able to knock off rival Mount Carmel Area handily 49-16
The Tigers fell behind by a touchdown midway through the first quarter, but the victors were able to score 21-straight points over the final 2 minutes and 49 seconds of the quarter to take a 21-7 lead.
After Red Tornado quarterback Gavin Marshalek scored from a yard out, the Tigers came to life. Following a long run by Brayden Andrews (35 yards) and a 26-yard reception from Jace Malakoski, Talon Piatt tied the game on a one-yard TD.
Following a Mount Carmel fumble, in which Southern’s Caius Morrow recovered it, Piatt score for the second time in a 67 second span. This time, he bull rushed his way in from the four.
“We played pretty well on defense and got great field position on back-to-back possessions which allowed me to punch it in both times within roughly a minute,” said Piatt. “We need to clean up some penalties though when we go into some of those bigger games.”
In the first half, the two rivals combined for 21 penalties.
“It kind of went both ways in the first half. We were penalized too much and so were they and they had some really big plays called back on them,” Mount Carmel coach John Darrah said.
On the final play of the first quarter, Andrews returned a punt 51 yards to the house.
The Red Tornadoes scored all nine of the points in the second quarter. Josh Miller connected on a 32-yard field goal and then Marshalek found Jaylen Delaney in the flat where Delaney took it 42 yards for the touchdown to cut into the deficit at 21-16 after two quarters.
After deferring to get the ball to start the game, Mount Carmel had the chance to take the lead in the third quarter, but Southern’s defense answered the call.
“We struggled against them against the pass there in the first half, so we needed to do a better job in the secondary. Other than one long run, we pretty much shut their running game down,” said Southern coach Jim Roth.
The Tigers outscored the Tornadoes 28-0 in the second half. Southern’s defense didn’t allow a third quarter first down to their rivals and ran the ball effectively.
Grady Garcia had an eight-yard touchdown after the Tigers forced a three-and-out to start the third quarter, and Andrews scored on a run of six yards to make the score 35-16 heading into the fourth quarter. On the two scoring drives, the Tigers didn’t even attempt a pass. The first was a six-play drive and the second went eight plays.
“We didn’t do anything different really. We just executed much better in the second half. We emphasized to have a better focus and really took control at the line of scrimmage after halftime,” Roth said. “The defense rose up in the second half by not giving up a point. That unit has really played well for us in these three straight wins.”
In the fourth quarter, Malakoski caught a 42-yard pass from Ayden Hockenbroch for a touchdown before the SCA starters were pulled. Gavin Brown then added a short touchdown to complete the dominant second half effort.
“That was a good pass he gave me, and I was able to get momentum to finish it off for the score after breaking off a tackle,” said the Tiger tight end that was the recipient of the TD pass.
Other than one long run by Mount Carmel’s Cooper Karycki, the Tigers shutdown the Tornado run game.
“This week on defense, we keyed in on continuing to do a good job with our run defense like we had done the last two weeks. You can’t be individuals. If you play as a team, that is how you win and that is what we are doing,” said Southern defensive end Chase Williams who had his third blocked punt of the season in addition to four tackles for loss in the win.
Mount Carmel (1-3) will host Montoursville next Friday in what feels like a must win at this point to stay in the playoff hunt.
“We have to figure out to close games in the second half. We do have a lot more guys going two-ways so that probably has something to do with it. At times we played tough defensively in the first half, but in order to win these upcoming games we need to be better in the second half,” Darrah said.
The Tigers (3-1) next two opponents have combined for just one win thus far. In week five, Southern travels to winless Central Columbia.
“When you beat a rival like Mount Carmel, you are definitely pleased. You know going in it is going to be a tough game always. We still have stuff to work on though. I was happy with our second half response, and we need to keep up that intensity because we have a tough stretch coming up later in the season,” said Roth.
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