First To 15: Tigers Golden Again
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Dave Fegley | December 5, 2025
Southern Columbia blows past Farrell for 2A Title. It’s not about how it starts. It’s about how it is finished. Southern Columbia finished off its 15th consecutive win with a PIAA record 15th state championship.
The Tigers heard the noise and the trash talk from Farrell all week. In the end, though, the Pennsylvania kings showed the result and why they are what every other program in Pennsylvania wants to become. The Tigers shut down the Steelers in a memorable 43-22 performance.
For Southern head coach Jim Roth, it was three decades of waiting for revenge against the Western power that had twice beaten his Tigers by a total of just eight points in 1995 and 1996.
“It feels nice to get them after losing years ago, but the main thing is winning the championship. Getting these players the experience of winning a state title and the seniors going out on top is what I am the happiest about,” said Roth. “The team having such a tremendous turnaround is unbelievable, the way they did it. I will say, though, being 1-2 against them now all-time sounds a lot better than 0-3.”
Southern’s defense was dominant throughout, limiting the Steelers to negative-34 yards rushing on 13 rushing attempts.
“Hats off to Southern Columbia. They shut down what made us successful all season. Their defense was outstanding, and offensively they were equally impressive with the way they ran the football,” said Farrell head coach Anthony Pegues, who was the quarterback for the Steelers in the 1995 matchup.
The Tigers controlled the tempo throughout the first half. In the first two quarters, 4 of Southern’s 42 offensive plays were runs.
The backfield for Southern each played a part in contributing to the success. Grady Garcia led the way with 108 rushing yards, Joey Williams finished with 91, Brayden Andrews added 87, and Ayden Hockenbroch had 67.
The offensive line had its toughest test of the season, but passed it with near perfection”.
“It feels great. I mean, we brought the intensity into our preparation for this starting last November after we lost in districts, SCA lineman John Quinton said. Now, to be standing here as state champions, there isn’t a better feeling than this.”
Farrell relied on its rushing attack all season to get to this point. Their feature back, Juelz Johnson, was hoping to finish his career as the school’s single-season rushing record holder and a state gold before signing with Nebraska next week.
None of his wishes came to fruition as Southern’s defense held him to 15 yards rushing. He did add 78 receiving yards, but 55 of them came in the final minute against the Southern reserves after the starters were pulled to a standing ovation at Chapman Field.
“He had his offers coming into the game, but that didn’t scare us. We completely shut him down, and it showed how dominant our defensive line was. If that kid is Division 1, the stats in this one showed that he wasn’t going to do what he had done in the past,” said Tiger defensive tackle Jaden Carter.
The inside reverse worked all game for the Tigers, and the victors used it from the start.
Garcia scored from 32 yards out on the fifth play of the opening drive.
The lead didn’t last long.
Jadon King-Vincent returned the ensuing kickoff 90 yards, and a two-point conversion run from Johnson made the score 8-6 in favor of Farrell.
Garcia found the end zone for the second time with 4:21 left in the first quarter to give the Tigers the lead for good. Hockenbroch converted on a two-point run to make the score 14- 8. Farrell’s Aaron Pegues, the coach’s son, was sacked on the next drive, and the Tigers recovered it. The Steeler quarterback was strip-sacked, and Chase Williams fell on it.
“I came off the block and saw that Caius (Morrow) already had him tied up. We were able to knock it free, and I was like army crawling after it. I felt people coming behind me, so I knew I needed to get on the ball quickly. It was a huge turning point,” Williams said.
On a fourth-and-goal, Andrews got a reverse and went four yards to cross the goal line for a touchdown. Hockenbroch then connected with Jace Malakoski on the two-point try to extend the lead to 22-8.
Following a three-and-out on the next drive, Southern got the ball, and Garcia scored from a yard out with just 19 seconds remaining in the half.
Carter sacked Pegues on the final play of the half as the Tigers took all the momentum into the locker room, leading 28-8.
“It was huge to take that momentum into the locker room. The players gave a full effort and deserved to have that lead. Our defense hadn’t given up much of anything at that point. The only success they had was on that kick return for a touchdown,” said Roth.
Although the Tigers held a three-score advantage, the coaches knew that the game was far from over.
“Obviously, we were pleased with the way the first two quarters played out, but we knew that Farrell could make a comeback with the athletes and speed that they had,” Roth said.
With 4:32 left in the third quarter, Pegues found an open Johnson for a 15-yard TD on a 4th and 12. Morrow then stopped Pegues on the two-point try to keep the score 28-14.
Southern gave the ball back to Farrell quickly on a three-and-out, but the Tigers weren’t letting the Steelers steal any momentum.
Farrell gave the ball right back after three plays that resulted in a loss of 18 yards, including an intentional grounding penalty.
“We didn’t want to. “We didn’t want to be in it and make it a one-score game with still over a quarter to play. We went out defensively and got constant pressure on their quarterback,” said Ethan Makowski, who was part of the defensive line that terrorized the opposition throughout the 2025 season.
Andrews scored from five yards out, and Chase Williams followed with a conversion grab. That touchdown was set up by a 17-yard clutch catch from Blaise Kissinger on a fourth-down toss from Hockenbroch.
“I saw the middle “a” open, and then their defender tried to undercut it. Ayden got it over his head, and I was able to bring it in,” Kissinger said.
Joey Williams capped off the scoring for Southern on a 19-yard run to extend the lead to 43-14. Then, it was time to celebrate the accomplishment as the final two minutes ran off the clock at Cumberland Valley High School.
“We saw things in the media that Farrell was going to be chippy and talk a lot, and they did that right when we came out for warmups,” said Joey Williams. “We knew to keep our heads in the game and focus on what we needed to do. We weren’t worried about what we were doing.”
This was the 23rd appearance on the final stage for Southern. Roth has been in command for all of them. There have been 11 other head coaches to lead a program to the state final at least five times, with Cathedral Prep coach Mike Mischler getting there eight times, the closest to Roth.
With his 15th state title, Roth now moves even further ahead of the rest of the coaches in Pennsylvania history. The man with the second-most is the late George Curry, who led Berwick to six PIAA golds.
“We didn’t have superstars on this team. We just had a bunch of high-character kids who bought into the program. This team reminds me of our state title team from a decade ago. The 2015 group was similar in the fact that they all bought in as a group to what we preached to them. No Division 1 players, just a group that worked to win a state championship,” said Roth.
Game Highlights:
Southern Columbia 43 Farrell 22
Score by Quarters
Farrell – 8 0 6 8 – 22
Southern Columbia – 14 14 0 15 – 43
First Quarter
SC- Grady Garcia 32 yd run, (kick failed), 9:56 – 5-62
F – Jadon King-Vincent 90 yd kickoff return, (Juelz Johnson rush), 9:41
SC – Garcia 25 yd run, (Ayden Hockenbroch rush), 4:21 – 10-60
Second Quarter
SC – Brayden Andrews 4 yd run, (Jase Malakoski from Hockenbroch), 4:31 – 15-54
SC – Garcia 1 yd run, (rush failed), 0:19 – 9-43
Third Quarter
F – Johnson 15 yd pass from Aaron Pegues, (rush failed), 4:32 – 9-70
Fourth Quarter
SC – Andrews 5 yd run, (Chase Williams from Hockenbroch), 8:15 – 9-49
SC – Joey Williams 19 yd run, (Preston Shadle pat), 2:01 – 7-93
F – Johnson 3 yd pass from Pegues, (Nemo Jones from Pegues), 0:42 – 3-57
Individual Stats
Rushing: F – Johnson 4-15, Pegues 9-(-43). Totals: 13-(-28). SC- Garcia 12-108, Williams 15-91, Andrews 22-88, Hockenbroch 9-66, Team 1-(-1). Totals: 59-352.
Receiving: F – Dorean Cain 5-97, Johnson 6-78, Jones 2-27. SC – Blake Kissinger 2-27, Nathan Gallagher 1-4, Malakoski 1-(-2).
Passing: F – Pegues 13 for 26, 202 yards, 2 TD. SC – Hockenbroch 4-for-4, 29 yards.
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