Southern Handles Lewisburg With Ease (Story/Video recap)

Tagged under: District 4, Gameday Hub, News

Dave Fegley | September 20, 2026

Tigers win Saturday night 61-8

Final Southern Columbia 61 Lewisburg 8 by PAFootball Newsdotcom

From the start, Southern Columbia controlled Alumni Stadium as host Lewisburg had no answer for any of it. The Tigers defeated the Green Dragons 61-8 in Milton as Bucknell University wasn’t available.

“I was very pleased with the performance. The defense played great, and that gave our offense excellent field position throughout the game,” said Southern coach Jim Roth.

On the opening kickoff, the Green Dragon returner had a mental lapse and allowed the ball to sit at the one-yard line. Southern’s Kaden Zachman pounced on it, and Gavin Brown scored on the next play to give the Tigers a 7-0 lead just four seconds into the action.

“I think he thought it was going to go into the end zone, but it didn’t reach the goal line,” Zachman said. “As I ran down the field, I didn’t see the ref make any signal, so I dove on top of the ball.”

Southern built a 27-0 lead less than a minute into the second quarter.

“It was one of those games where we didn’t have to work really any long drives,” said Roth.

After throwing an interception on his first attempt of the game, Tiger quarterback Ayden Hockenbroch responded with three touchdown throws to three different receivers.

Grady Garcia caught the first one 15 yards out on a wheel route, Jace Malakoski scored on an 11-yard slant, and Blaise Kissinger then hauled in the third TD catch on a 14-yard fade.

“I have confidence in all my guys. I know if I throw a good ball, they can do damage,” Hockenbroch said.

The Tigers extended the lead to 41-0 at the half as Garcia rushed one in from 15 yards and fullback Joey Williams scored on a 1-yard carry.

In the first half, Lewisburg ran 24 offensive plays. On 12 rushes, the Green Dragons had negative-15 yards. On their 12 pass attempts, Lewisburg completed just two of them.

“Our defensive front, we just come out and try to bully the other team from the start,” said SCA defensive end Bobby Nenstiel. “Our linebackers and secondary came up and filled the holes really well to make the stops.”

After having a career day last week with over 200 receiving yards and four touchdowns, the Tigers held Lewisburg’s Jaylen Walker to no receptions on Saturday.

“Blaise Kissinger did a great job against him. His job was to follow him throughout the game,” Roth said. “Walker had shown that he can make big plays, so that was the focus in practice this week. At times, we had a safety helping over the top to allow Blaise to play press coverage.”

Southern’s defense forced four turnovers during the dominant effort. Chase Williams recovered a fumble while Kane Cecco and Cael Williams each had an interception.

“I think our defense definitely looked the best it has looked so far this season,” said Cecco. “They weren’t our toughest opponent, but we still all came in focused and took care of the job.”

In the third quarter, the Tigers marched down the field and Garcia scored his third touchdown on a six-yard carry before the starters were pulled. Gavin Trometter and Will Wojtowicz extended the lead to 61-0 in the fourth before Tristan Roupp scored the lone Lewisburg touchdown on a 35-yard reverse.

“We didn’t have as much success running the football early on as we would have liked, but as the game went on, we were doing a better job of blocking. The execution got better, and it allowed for guys like Garcia to get out in the open and gave Hockenbroch time to throw,” Roth said.

Lewisburg (1-3) will travel to Warrior Run next week. Southern (4-0) welcomes Central Columbia for Homecoming.

“We have to keep the foot on the gas and do what we need to do in order to come out with the win,” Nenstiel said.

Southern Columbia 61, Lewisburg 8

SCA — LBG

First Downs: 17 — 4

Rushes-yds: 42-302 — 22-58

Passing yds: 97 — 16

Total yds: 399 — 74

Passing (C-A-I): 7-9-0 — 2-13-2

Penalties: 2-10 — 5-55

Fumbles-lost: 1-0 — 7-2

Southern Col. (4-0): 20-21-7-13 — 61

Lewisburg (1-3): 0-0-0-8 — 8

1st Quarter

S– Gavin Brown 1 run (Lincoln Billig kick), 11:56.

S– Grady Garcia 15 pass from Ayden Hockenbroch (Billig kick), 5:11.

S– Jace Malakoski 11 pass from Hockenbroch (kick missed), 1:09.

2nd Quarter

S– Blaise Kissinger 14 pass from Hockenbroch (Billig kick), 11:10.

S– Garcia 15 run (Billig kick), 7:42.

S– Joey Williams 1 run (Billig kick), 3:21,

3rd Quarter

S– Garcia 6 run (Billig kick), 9:07.

4th Quarter

S– Gavin Trometter 1 run (Billig kick), 11:06.

S– Will Wojtowicz 9 run (knee), 8:52.

L– Tristan Roupp 35 run (Roupp pass from Patrick Fleck), 4:28.

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS

RUSHING — Southern: Grady Garcia 15-107, 2 TDs; Joey Williams 8-55, TD; Gavin Brown 6-49, TD; Ryan Davis 3-48; Gavin Trometter 4-16, TD; Kane Cecco 3-12; Will Wojtowicz 1-9, TD; Jacoby Karlovich 1-3; Orion Wojtowicz 1-3. Lewisburg: Tristan Roupp 1-35, TD; Ethan Coleman 3-25; Mitch McSwenn 5-9; Patrick Fleck 2-2; CJ Manicawa 1-1; Colin Papson 1-0; Owen Fellon 5-(-3); Anthony Morgan 1-(-3); Jaylen Walker 3-(-8).

PASSING — Southern: Ayden Hockenbroch 7-9-1, 97 yds, 3 TDs. Lewisburg: Patrick Fleck 1-9-2, 13 yds; Jett Jamieson 1-4-0, 3 yds.

RECEIVING — Southern: Blaise Kissinger 4-70, TD; Grady Garcia 1-15, TD; Jace Malakoski 2-12, TD. Lewisburg: Drake Osunde 2-16.