PIAA Class 2A Semi-Final Preview: A Look At Southern Columbia

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

Dave Fegley | November 30, 2023

Southern Columbia (13-1) @ Dunmore (12-2) (Hazleton HS) – 7:00 pm

How they got here: 

State Bracket: PIAA Playoffs

District Bracket: District 4 Playoffs

2023 Schedule: Overall Results

The Tigers rolled through their division in the Pennsylvania Heartland Athletic Conference. In the league’s toughest division (D2), SCA went undefeated with its most impressive victory coming over PIAA Class 3A quarterfinalist Danville by a final of 40-17. The only regular season blemish was a road loss at Mount Carmel Area, but the Tigers got revenge by defeating their rival in Mery Rule shutout fashion (43-0) in the postseason a week before winning their record 31st District 4 gold.

Key’s on Offense:

Getting into a passing rhythm. Southern has always been known as a run-first type of team, but throughout the season senior Blake Wise has been able to execute play-action passes and find open receivers down field. Although Wise has thrown for 1,177 yards and 10 TDs with just four interceptions, the chemistry has been off a bit the past couple of games. If the Tigers are able to execute on a deep ball against Dunmore early on, it will help spread out the Bucks on defense to get the ground game off and running for the reigning champs.

Senior Garrett Garcia leads the Tigers with 1,504 rushing yards and 25 touchdowns. Louden Murphy, who has emerged in his senior campaign as a lethal weapon, has also ran for 1,356 yards with 28 total touchdowns. Carter Madden has added to the power of the senior trio with 734 rushing yards and eight scores in the backfield.

Keys on Defense:

Keep playing with the same motive. Throughout the past three games, Southern has held three state-ranked opponents (Bald Eagle Area, Troy, and Mount Carmel Area) to a combined one touchdown. That lone touchdown came last Friday when the Tigers were leading the Bald Eagles late in the fourth by three scores.

Garcia and junior Dominic Fetterolf both recently became the second and third Tigers to ever reach 400 tackles in a career. This season, Fetterolf leads the team with 112 and Garcia is second with 102.

Defensive tackle Isaac Carter has been a force all postseason. The senior has team-highs in sacks (10), tackles for loss (17), and hurries (20) to go along with 60 tackles on the year. Fellow senior Colden Bloom has has 47 tackles and 18 hurries from his defensive end spot.

Southern has done fairly well in pass coverage throughout the year. The Tigers have a trio of seniors that start in the secondary and they have all come up with big plays to stop drives.

Coach Says:

Nobody is more experienced or more successful at this time of the season than Southern Columbia head coach Jim Roth. He has his Tigers rolling as they are now just two wins from adding to their record for state titles.

“Both teams are heavily run-oriented, so the line play both on offense and defense are going to be the biggest keys in this game,” said Roth. “I am sure Dunmore is looking at it the same way. Neither of us throw the ball a whole lot, but I do think that the passing game could be a key element in this game.”

This is the 23rd Eastern Final that Roth’s Tigers are playing in during his 40-year tenure. His record in this game has been simply remarkable as Southern comes in with a 21-1 record all-time in the state semifinal.

“Both defenses will be focused in on stopping the run, but one big pass play could open things up for either side. For us, we need to stay disciplined and execute. Right now, we are pretty much at full strength with the health of our players,” Roth said.

Southern is hoping to add a 14th PIAA Championship to its shelf in just over a week. However, they know that Dunmore wants to end their current streak which sits at six straight state titles.

“My biggest concern on offense is being able to execute. From what we saw on film, they move people around and give different looks. Our guys up front need to be focused and carry out their blocking assignments. They have done a pretty good job of that, especially in the playoffs, against some very good teams that we have played over the last month,” said the head coach.

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