Southern Columbia bounces back with a 54-12 win over Central Columbia

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Davin Ridall | September 21, 2024

CATAWISSA – The Tigers entered week 5 hoping to rebound after a disappointing loss to Mount Carmel last week. Although they struggled early in the game, Southern Columbia (3-2) caught their stride in the second half, cruising to a 54-12 win over Central Columbia (1-4).

The Blue Jays took an early advantage in the game after an interception by Aidan Huntington set Central Columbia’s offense up at the Tigers’ 41 yard line. Nine plays later, the Blue Jays got on the board with a one yard touchdown run by Ty Regan, making the score 6-0. Southern Columbia answered right back with a touchdown drive of their own, a 46 yard drive that was capped off with a 17 yard touchdown pass on a 4th & 9 from quarterback Ayden Hockenbroch to Brayden Stevens. After forcing another Blue Jays 3 and out, Southern Columbia took over from their own 40 yard line, and drove all the way to the end zone in just four plays, scoring on a 39 yard touchdown pass to Jace Malakosk, giving Southern Columbia a 14-6 lead after one quarter.

The two teams’ defenses stepped up in the second quarter, as we wouldn’t see another score for almost the entire quarter, until the Tigers finally cashed in once again, this time with a 3 yard touchdown run by Brayden Andrews, increasing Southern Columbia’s lead to 21-6 heading into the halftime break. Both teams struggled with penalties in the first half, which is something both head coaches mentioned was something that needed to be fixed in the second half.

“We’re hurting ourselves on offense with penalties,” coach EJ Smith said at halftime when asked about what the biggest problem was in the first half. However the penalties didn’t go away in the second half for either side, luckily for Southern Columbia, their offense caught their stride in the second half.

The Tigers wasted no time scoring the first points of the second half with a 19 yard touchdown run by Joey Williams not even 30 seconds into the third quarter. Just two minutes later, Joey Williams added a second touchdown to his total, this time from 22 yards out, increasing Southern Columbia’s lead to 35-6. Following another Blue Jay punt, the Tigers capped off another drive with a touchdown, this time on a 3 yard run by former Blue Jays running back Talon Piatt, making the score 42-6 heading into the final frame.

Central Columbia’s offense finally made their way back to the end zone in the fourth quarter as Crue Chipeleski took a handoff 37 yards to the end zone making the score 42-12. The Blue Jays wouldn’t see the end zone again for the rest of the night. Southern Columbia, however would get there twice more in the fourth quarter, first with a 7 yard run by freshman running back Grady Garcia with 6:08 left to play, and then again with a 15 yard run by Brady Arnold with 1:33 let to play, sealing the final score at 54-12.

“We were having some issues with assignments and things up front, and we kind of just picked it up, made some adjustments,” coach Jim Roth said when asked about what had changed in the second half. “We kind of picked things up, but a lot of it was up front, just adjusting to some things up front and doing a better job in that area with our offensive line.”

Head coach Jim Roth mentioned that limiting penalties will be a big part of practice in the upcoming week as Southern Columbia (3-2) will have their toughest test of the season next week as they will matchup on the road against Danville (5-0).

Central Columbia (1-4) will be hoping to also limit the penalties in this upcoming week as next week they will try to get back in the win column next week as they will have a home date with Montoursville (3-2).

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