Columbia County Clash: Southern Beats Central 54-12
Tagged under: District 4, Gameday Hub, News, pfn
Dave Fegley | September 21, 2024
Flags all over the place in Tigers win
Friday marked the 169th anniversary of the Bloomsburg Fair. Nearly double that mark, and you find yourself in a number of how many penalty yards were in Southern Columbia’s Mercy Rule victory over Central Columbia.
For the 29th time in a row, the Tigers defeated the Blue Jays with a 54-12 thumping on Friday. However, the highlight of the nearly three-hour marathon was the combined 41 penalties for 328 yards.
Last week was Friday the 13th, so throw that bad luck narrative out of the window.
What else could have resulted in a game that had even more additional flags thrown that were offsetting penalties?
There was a near full moon shining above Jim Roth Field that may have resulted in some superstition. There wasn’t a rush to get to the fair in the county that both schools reside in as it will go on into next weekend, but maybe the excitement entered to take away focus.
Whatever the case, after Central scored less than three minutes in following a turnover, Southern took command on their home turf for the majority of the action.
“It was mainly adjusting some things up front. We didn’t execute as well to start the game, but we picked it up and made some adjustments. Our defense played solid once again minus a few plays,” SCA coach Jim Roth said. “We still can’t have that many penalties as a team on offense. That has hurt us this season especially when we have drives going . In this game it didn’t make a difference, but going to Danville next week will be important to limit mistakes. It could play a part in the outcome. We won this game but need to still clean things up.”
Like last season inside of Tiger Stadium, the Blue Jays scored first. A year ago, Aidan Huntington had a rushing touchdown before Southern cruised to a victory. This time, Huntington intercepted an Ayden Hockenbroch pass that went through the hands of the intended receiver.
Ty Regan scored from a yard out following the turnover to make the score 6-0 after the Tigers blocked a PAT following last week’s 7-6 loss at Mount Carmel due to ultimately getting an extra point blocked early on in the third quarter to decide the outcome.
Hockenbroch on the following possession connected with Brayden Andrews. The successful extra point from Southern’s Preston Shadle, who forgot to put in his mouthpiece before attempting a late go-ahead field goal last Friday at the Silver Bowl, put the Tigers in front by a point.
Following Hockenbroch’s 18-yard connection with Andrews, he threw a second TD pass in the first quarter to Jace Malakoski. On the 39-yard score, Malakoski caught the ball near Central’s sideline and reached pay dirt after breaking a tackle and staying in the field of play.
After Andrews scored on a run just before the half to make the score 21-6 at the break, Joey Williams scored on back-to-back early runs of 19 and 22 yards to expand the lead in the third.
“I wasn’t happy with my first half, so I decided to step it up in the second half,” said Williams who scored his touchdowns exactly two minutes apart. “The line definitely looked better tonight outside of the penalties. On both of my touchdowns I was completely untouched. It was great play-calling from the coaches. They know what they are doing with all the success they have had over the years.”
The Tigers would tack on three more rushing touchdowns to finish with 305 yards on the ground and 435 yards of total offense. Talon Piatt, Grady Garcia, and Brady Arnold each found the end zone in the second half for the victors. Crue Chipelski scored for Central in the fourth after Southern’s run of unanswered points.
The starting defense for the Tigers only gave up one first down following Central’s early touchdown before the starters were pulled.
Chase Williams was one of the main leaders for Southern’s defense as the Tigers scored 42-unanswered points following Central’s early score on Friday.
“After that first score they got, we got more aggressive and made plays to stop them,” Williams said. “Defensively, we wanted to make the stops to get our offense back out there on the field.”
Now, Southern will travel to undefeated Danville next Friday.
“We aren’t going to be able to afford that many penalties against Danville next week,” Roth said. “We need to put together a full game and play with a lot of energy and passion.”
After Southern gave up the opening touchdown, the Tigers limited the Blue Jays to less than two yards per play for the remainder of the win.
“We know we are better than that. We had to put our heads into the game and prove that we can be a great team. After the first couple of drives, we started to take over and dominate,” Southern defensive tackle Adam Barnes said. “We have put in all the work, and this is a blessing to be a part of the defense for Southern. Every play, we want to show the other team what we have as a unit.”
Central will look to pick up a second win in 2024 against Montoursville in their next game.
“I think the first half we played well if you throw out all of the penalties. It’s hard enough against them, so when you commit that many penalties it makes it even tougher. I really liked our effort in the beginning of the game,” Central coach EJ Smith said. “Penalties have killed us all year. Until we cut those out, this is the result we are going to get. We have to be smarter in those situations.”
Out of all Central’s penalties, nine of them were 15 yarders which included one player’s ejection. It was unclear based on the head official’s ruling if a second Blue Jay got tossed.
Regardless, it was a good thing that high school games have shorter quarters and media timeouts compared to the NFL and NCAA. If not for that, this game could have gone on into the wee hours of the night.
Roth, who is the state’s all-time winningest coach, couldn’t remeber more penalties in a game prior to this one in his legendary career.
“A bizarre game for sure. I don’t know how many penalties that each team ended with, but the game just kept going, going, and going until it finally ended,” said Pennsylvania’s all-time winningest coach.
Southern Columbia 54, Central Columbia 12
SC — CC
First Downs: 21 — 6
Rushes-yds: 41-305 — 32-112
Passing yds: 130 — 29
Total yds: 435 — 141
Passing (C-A-I): 7-13-1 — 3-13-0
Penalties: 16-121 — 25-207
Fumbles-lost: 0-0 — 2-0
Central (1-4): 6-0-0-6— 12
Southern (3-2): 14-7-21-12 — 54
SCORING PLAYS
1st Quarter
C – Ty Regan 1 run (PAT blocked), 6:51.
S – Brayden Andrews 18 pass from Ayden Hockenbroch (Preston Shadle kick), 3:48.
S – Jace Malakoski 39 pass from Hockenbroch (Shadle kick), 0:18.
2nd Quarter
S – Andrews 3 run (Shadle kick), 1:40.
3rd Quarter
S – Joey Williams 19 run (Shadle kick), 11:32.
S –Williams 22 run (Shadle kick), 9:32.
S – Talon Piatt 3 run (Shadle kick), 1:43.
4th Quarter
C – Crue Chipelski 37 run (two-point failed), 9:22.
S – Grady Garcia 7 run (PAT blocked), 6:08.
S – Brady Arnold 15 run (knee), 1:33.
INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS
RUSHING — Southern: Grady Garcia 12-111, TD; Joey Williams 7-74, 2 TDs; Talon Piatt 5-32, TD; Brayden Andrews 6-27, TD; Nate Gallagher 3-17; Brady Arnold 1-15, TD; Gavin Brown 1-13; Ayden Hockenbroch 3-9; Caden Hopper 1-5; Parker Pesarchick 2-2. Central: Ty Regan 12-40, TD; Crue Chipelski 6-36, TD; Aidan Huntington 4-27; Parker Day 4-12; Aiden Mahamadou 1-0; Cole Horrax 2-(-1); Tanner Regan 3-(2).
PASSING — Southern: Ayden Hockenbroch 7-13-1, 130 yds, 2 TDs. Central: Parker Day 3-13-0, 29 yds.
RECEIVING — Southern: Jace Malakoski 1-39, TD; Blaise Kissinger 2-33; Brayden Andrews 2-23, TD; Joey Williams 1-23; Talon Piatt 1-12. Central: Aidan Huntington 1-23; Alex Zeisloft 1-5; Ty Regan 1-1.
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