(10-20-18)
When a bar is set at the highest level possible, the journey along the way can sometimes be overlooked. Jim Roth’s Southern Columbia Tigers won their seventh consecutive PHAC divisional title on Friday night after cruising to victory against Hughesville. “The main goal is making sure you are as healthy as possible heading into the postseason and to be playing at a high level. Barring any injury next week, we should be at full strength heading into the playoffs,” said Roth. “For as good as our players have played so far this season, they are ultimately going to be measured by how they finish the season.”
In what is as lopsided of a matchup as you will see at this point in the season, the undefeated Tigers manhandled the winless Spartans 69-8. The game was senior night for the host Tigers, but they expect to play three more games on Jim Roth Field throughout the District IV playoffs. Ironically, for the second straight week the Tigers led 55-0 at the half and finished with 69 points. “From a mental standpoint, I am happy with how the players have approached each game this season. You need to prepare each week and not look ahead to the ultimate goal,” said the eight-time state champion head coach. The win was the 70th consecutive regular season victory for Southern which is currently the second longest streak in PIAA history.
For the third straight week, the Garcia brothers each went over 100 yards rushing. Freshman Gavin Garcia scored two first quarter touchdowns for the Tigers to set the tone on runs of 28 and 53 yards. The seemingly unstoppable duo of juniors Julian Fleming and Gaige Garcia scored the other two touchdowns of the opening quarter. “These games are confident boosters, but they also don’t allow for us to play a full game. As a competitor you want to play as much as possible and we need to be ready to start doing that,” said Gaige Garcia who had a 53-yard touchdown run in the first quarter. Fleming’s touchdown came on a pass of 59 yards from Preston Zachman. Fleming looked like a center fielder as he outran the throw, came back and caught it, then outran three defenders to the end zone.
For the second straight week, Zachman was done throwing after the first quarter. All three of his completions went to Fleming in the game. SCA also didn’t even attempt to field a punt all night as they wanted to get their starting offense as many reps as possible. They were willing to let one of their stars stand back as a returner and not even attempt to field one with the fear that they may return it for a touchdown. It seemingly isn’t about whether the Tigers are going to score on a drive, it is more about how they want to get their starters the reps before eventually reaching the goal line. Just let that theory sink in.
The Tigers added four more touchdowns in the second quarter as their defense continued to dominate. “Everything seems to be really working for us on defense. When we blitz, it really puts the other teams in a tough position because their quarterback has to get the ball off quick,” said linebacker Nate Crowl. In his first career start, Owyne Pursel got the nod at safety with Cade Linn out due to an injury, and the junior intercepted his first career pass in the second quarter. “It felt good to get more playing time. I feel bad that Cade couldn’t play but he will be back next week,” said Pursel. “It was exciting to get that interception to help the team.”
The interception set up a 12-yard touchdown run by Gaige Garcia to put SCA up 35-0. The younger brother, Gavin, scored the next touchdown for his third touchdown in as many carries, on a 29-yard run. Ty Roadarmel scored on the following possession on the first play of the drive on a run of 64 yards thanks to a nice block from Fleming. Then, on the next possession, Gaige Garcia carried the ball 30 yards to the end zone with another pancake block from his fellow junior wide receiver Fleming to send the home team into the locker room ahead 55-0. “We had some missed blocking assignments early in the game but then we got rolling,” said Gaige Garcia. For the third consecutive season, Garcia went over 1,000 yards rushing before the playoffs.
In the second half, the Tigers added two touchdown runs by sophomore Brayden Heim on runs of three and 13 yards. In between those two scores, Hughesville got their lone touchdown of the game on an 18-yard run by quarterback Jacob Corson. Corson added a 2-point conversion. With the final score being 69-8, the Tigers expect a better game next week when they travel to one-loss Danville. “It’s at the point in the season where it is getting cold so it will be nice to get more playing time instead of having to stand on the sideline. We don’t want to freeze standing there,” said a smiling Crowl. If that is the biggest problem that the Tigers, who passed Aliquippa as the highest scoring team in the state, face this season, then they will be able to enjoy some Hershey chocolate in less than two months. Then the problem will be finding another spot to hang a banner and add a trophy in the school, but again nobody will pity them for that.
SCA: 28-27-7-7 = 69
HHS: 0-0-0-8 = 8
SOUTHERN COLUMBIA (8-0)
Rushing:
Gaige Garcia 8-139, 3 TD’s; Gavin Garcia 5-114, 3 TD’s Ty Roadarmel 2-80, TD; Preston Zachman 1-10; Braden Heim 11-50, 2 TD; Jayden McCormick 6-58; Nate Kearney 4-11
Passing:
Preston Zachman 3-5-0, 103 yds, TD
Receiving:
Julian Fleming 3-103, TD
First Downs: 21
Penalties: 2-20
HUGHESVILLE (0-8)
Rushing:
Jase Wright 14- 51; Colton Yocum 15-36; Carter Marquardt 7-15; Joe Corson 1-14
Passing:
Joe Corson 5-15-1, 58 yds
Receiving:
Hunter Laird 2-48; Jase Wright 2-5; Ryan Swink 1-5
First Downs: 9
Penalties: 1-5
