Southern Columbia Wins Regular Season Finale
Tagged under: District 4, Gameday Hub, News
Dave Fegley | October 28, 2023
Murphy highlighted SCA’s 55-6 rout over the Braves
The most explosive offensive weapon throughout the regular season for Southern Columbia has been Louden Murphy.
The senior capped off his final regular season game in style as the Tigers thumped Shikellamy 55-6.
Needing just a punt return to score every way possible besides throwing a TD pass and on special teams with his leg, Murphy checked his final box.
Not once, but twice.
“I went into the game knowing that this might be my chance to get my punt return for a touchdown. I was happy to get one, but it worked out that I was able to get two of them. Credit to the guys that were out in front blocking,” said Murphy.
Murphy put the Tigers up on the Braves 14-0 with punt return touchdowns of 48 and 79 yards.
“I know there were a lot of fans in attendance for our Senior Night,” Murphy said. “We were able to take care of business and blow this team out early. Everyone did their part in making it happen. We did what we had to do.”
Jim Roth has a state-record 492 wins, and this week it was his defensive coordinator Andy Mills getting his first career win as the interim. Mills has been in the position for the entirety of Roth’s career, and this wasn’t something that he ever thought he would be in the position to do.
“It was different mainly pregame. Usually it is Jim (Roth) that is the one doing the bulk of the talking by reviewing the game plan and talking about potential adjustments. We just kind of did this as a group,” said Mills.
Many expected the Tigers to run away with the win over the Braves. However, nobody could have imagined the way the six-time defending PIAA champs would have scored eight touchdowns in the first 19 minutes of action.
By the time the second quarter ended, Southern registered just one first down compared to four from Shikellamy.
Clearly the number was skewed because the Tigers simply didn’t have many opportunities to pick up first downs. They ran past down the first down markers and finished off plays in the end zone.
Murphy’s unforgettable night also included two rushing touchdowns in as many carries. He had two carries for 148 yards in the win. Fellow senior Garrett Garcia had 141 rushing yards and three touchdowns. Carter Madden added an 85-yard stroll to pay dirt to point an exclamation point on the Senior Night on the turf of Jim Roth Field.
Mills will be the head coach as well next week as the 2A District 4 postseason will open on Saturday.
“The only thing that was different was the voice in the pregame speech and Coach Roth not leading us with the kneel down right before kickoff. Everything else seemed pretty normal. All the assistant coaches did a great job,” Madden said.
Entering the regular season finale, the Tigers were the second seed in the standings. They trailed top-seed Troy by just a small margin for the top seed.
Either way, if the Tigers want to up their Pennsylvania record to 14 state titles in December, they know that they need to beat any team that comes along the path.
“It’s a new season now. At this point it is one and done. You have to come to practice prepared and listen to the scouting report. We have a home game to start the playoffs and we are focused now on next week,” said Mills who had a defense that stopped Shikellamy running game all night.
Southern Columbia 55, Shikellamy 6
SHK — SCA
First Downs: 10 — 4
Rushes-yds: 26-28 — 30-426
Passing yds: 148 — 12
Total yds: 176 — 438
Passing (C-A-I): 20-29-2 — 1-3-0
Penalties: 5-43 — 9-78
Fumbles-lost: 3-1 — 0-0
Shikellamy (2-8): 0-0-6-0 — 6
Southern (9-1): 28-27-0-0 — 55
SCORING PLAYS
1st Quarter
SC — Louden Murphy 48 punt return (Isaac Carter kick), 8:05.
SC — Murphy 79 punt return (Carter kick), 6:46.
SC — Murphy 68 run (Carter kick), 4:27.
SC — Garrett Garcia 1 run (Carter kick), 1:46.
2nd Quarter
SC — Carter Madden 85 run (Carter kick), 11:22.
SC — Murphy 80 run (Carter kick), 9:15.
SC — Garcia 47 run (Carter kick), 7:24.
SC — Garcia 80 run (no attempt), 5:00.
3rd Quarter
SK — Connor Fasbinder 12 catch from Brody Rebuck (missed kick), 3:11.
4th Quarter
N/A.
INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS
RUSHING — Southern: Louden Murphy 2-148, 2 TDs; Garrett Garcia 8-141, 3 TDs; Carter Madden 2-86, TD; Joey Williams 7-26; Gavin Brown 1-12; Brayden Andrews 5-7; Ayden Hockenbroch 2-5; Nathan Gallagher 2-4; Anthony Martino 1(-3). Shikellamy: Brody Rebuck 9-27; Luke Keally 3-11; Corbin Stahl 1-6; Asher Moyer 7-2; Thomas Pollock 2-0; Team 4-(-18).
PASSING — Southern: Blake Wise 1-3-0, 12 yds. Shikellamy: Brody Rebuck 20-29-2, 148 yds, TD.
RECEIVING — Southern: Jake Hoy 1-12. Shikellamy: Thomas Pollock 9-52; AJ Benedict 3-38; Connor Fasbinder 5-36, TD; Asher Moyer 2-13; Charlie Walter 1-9.
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