Southern Columbia dominant in Mercy Rule victory
By: Dave Fegley (Twitter: @DFegs9)
Give credit to first-year Mount Carmel Area head coach John Darrah. He brought his troops into Tiger Stadium Friday night with more wins than most people had expected at this point by starting the season 3-2 with a limited amount of players on the roster. That was before the Red Tornadoes met District IV’s most lethal weapon, the Southern Columbia Area Tigers who are also ranked #1 in the EasternPAFootball AA poll. “Our kids have been doing an excellent job the past couple of weeks of doing what they have been asked to do. That goes for both sides of the ball, and it will be important for us to continue to stay focused as we approach the playoffs,” Southern head coach Jim Roth said. The Tigers, who won 42-0, have now won their last 37 regular season games dating back to 2011.
How dominant was SCA against their arch-rival MCA? Well you can start by looking at Mount Carmel’s first half passing numbers. They completed two passes for negative-20 yards. Yes, you are reading that correctly, 20 yards the wrong way through the air. Both of the completions were screen passes that the Tiger defense seemed to know were coming before the ball was even snapped. “They actually have had some success before this game with their passing game. We knew with the scouting report that they were going to be much more run-oriented, but the secondary still needed to stay disciplined,” said Roth. On the ground they weren’t much better. Last week, Kyle Karycki set the Mount Carmel Area single-game record with 368 rushing yards. Friday night, he didn’t even go in during the second half after finishing with 29 yards on 13 first half carries. “The defense is playing more consistently. Tonight we knew the key was stopping number one (Kyle Karycki). He obviously has been their workhorse, but I commend our defense for staying disciplined and executing the way they were supposed to,” Roth said. It also didn’t help that the Big Red was playing without two-way starter Wes Shurock who was ejected in last week’s win over Danville after attempting to throw a punch at one of the opponents.
The first score for the Tigers came on their fourth play from scrimmage when Nick Becker hit Steve Toczylousky in stride for a 68 yard score after the Tiger defense forced the Red Tornadoes to punt on their opening series. Surprisingly, those were the only points scored in the opening 12 minutes of action. The teams traded defensive stops to end the quarter with both teams coughing up the football on the ground. “We knew that they might try to get some passes in early, but ultimately the plan was to shut down their running attack,” said Tiger defensive lineman Nick Freeman who recovered one of the fumbles. Southern held the Tornadoes to less than 100 yards of total offense on the night, and the Tigers did not commit a single penalty for the first time all season. Jim Roth’s team didn’t have to punt a single time either.
The second quarter was when Southern Columbia decided to take over and show the Mount Carmel faithful that the Tornadoes are just no match for the top dogs. “I feel like we just have a mental block whenever we go against Southern lately,” said Mount Carmel coach John Darrah. “The last few times we’ve played them, we haven’t done too much.” Over the last three games between these two teams, Southern has outscored Mount Carmel by a margin of 142-20. The Tigers are now 12-8 in the 20 times that these two teams have played all-time since the rivalry began.
SoCo rushed for four touchdowns in the second frame including a trio of them by the magician, Blake Marks. His first one seemed to set the tone for the rest of the game. On the 12 yard run, he made mincemeat out of the Tornado defense by literally running over a linebacker and carrying five other defenders into the end zone with him. “There was a great hole created by the offensive line. I saw their one linebacker and just lowered my head. After running over him I just tried to keep my feet moving until I reached that goal-line,” Marks stated. Jared Torres scored from seven yards out before Marks reached pay dirt two more times to end the half.
“In the beginning it was kind of hard to adjust to some of their slanting, but as the game moved forward we started to pick up on it,” said center Dale Houser. “It’s great to know that we have so many different options to go to in order to pick up yards and score touchdowns in helping us pick up wins.” The 35-0 halftime score, another Mercy Rule for the black and gold, allowed for Southern to rest their starters like usual. “It’s nice going out and getting the job done, but it sucks because it doesn’t really prepare us for the postseason when we will be playing the whole game,” said Marks who is one of the SCA seniors that has never experienced a regular season defeat.
Hunter Thomas scored the only touchdown of the second half to make the final 42-0 after Tyler Keiser kicked his sixth successful extra point. “It’s always nice to post a shutout especially when our defensive line plays well. Our whole defense came through for us,” Freeman said. Southern Columbia (6-0) will play their final home game next week against Warrior Run before finishing with three straight on the road. The Red Tornadoes (3-3) will take on North Schuylkill, the 50th meeting between the two Coal Region foes, at the Silver Bowl in Mount Carmel with both teams trying to make a late playoff push.
SCA: 7-28-7-0 = 42
MCA: 0-0-0-0 = 0
SOUTHERN COLUMBIA (6-0)
RUSHING:
Blake Marks 7-59, 3 TDs; Jared Torres 10-67, TD; Hunter Thomas 5-45, TD; Billy Marzeski 3-21; Nic Fetterman 6-33; Thomas Manley 1-5; Sami Abdul 2-22; Cole Potter 1-(-4)
PASSING:
Nick Becker 7-10-0, 114 yds, 1 TD
RECEIVING:
Steve Toczylousky 1-68, TD; Hunter Thomas 3-8; Blake Marks 2-26; Cam Young 1-12
1st DOWNS: 18
PENALTIES: 0-0
MOUNT CARMEL AREA (3-3)
RUSHING:
Tommy McDonald 7-47; Kyle Karycki 13-29; Zach Zarkowski 9-25; Michael Cuff 1-8; Cameron Britt 1-0; Gabe Bogutskie 1-(-1); Allen Yancoskie 1-(-1); Lane Tanney 1-(-6)
PASSING:
Tommy McDonald 3-9-0, 5 yds
RECEIVING:
Michael Hood 1-25; Allen Yancoskie 1-(-10); Kyle Karycki 1-(-10)
1st DOWNS: 6
PENALTIES: 4-30
MCA stats provided by Damien Scoblink (PE)
