Tigers Win District Crown

Southern Columbia and Montoursville battled to the end

By: Dave Fegley (Twitter: @DFegs9)

The biggest question mark that Southern Columbia Area had coming into the 2015 season was the way the offensive line would come together and play as a unit. This group has not only changed that question mark, but they have made it into an exclamation point. The big boys up front paved the way for the skill players to score eight times on the ground and helped grind out one of the most memorable victories in program history. The Tigers outlasted Montoursville 56-50 on their way to picking up the school’s first ever District IV AA Championship after winning plenty of District IV A titles over the past three decades. “The offensive line is the area of the team that essential won the game for us. When you have 50 points scored on you and you can still win the game, the offensive line has to do a great job,” said Southern coach Jim Roth. “In the second half Montoursville had to know that we weren’t passing. We just kept running it at them and they just weren’t able to stop us which speaks volumes for the offensive line’s play.” The second half play calling resulted in 24 runs to just one pass attempt.

After the Tigers took a 14-0 lead into the second quarter, with touchdown runs of eight yards by Jared Torres and 17 yards from Hunter Thomas, Montoursville scored to open up the second quarter. A six yard run by Keith Batkowski, who ends his career as the Warriors all-time leading rusher, made the score 14-7. On the first play of the next drive Thomas took a handoff 80 yards into the end zone to put Southern ahead 21-7. “It was another one of those games where we just wanted to run the ball up and down the field. Once we established the run, we just wanted it more and didn’t stop until the backs got into the end zone,” said SCA offensive tackle Aaron Kroh. The Warriors answered back on the next play when Tom Shea returned the ensuing kickoff 91 yards to pay dirt cutting back into the Southern lead.

Southern would use a nine play drive to score on their next possession with the highlight coming on a Thomas 54 yard dash taking the ball deep into Warrior territory. “It’s really easy to do your job when you have great backs like we have. When you gash teams with the running game, it makes all of us feel more confident,” said Tiger tight end Garrett Henry. Quarterback Nick Becker scored from a yard out and converted on a two-point conversion pass to Blake Marks to put the Tigers up 29-13. “There is a lot of communication involved and we rely on each other to block up front. Every single play we need to go 100% and I think we do a pretty good job of that as an offensive unit,” said Tiger offensive tackle Gabe Delbo.

Montoursville, showing no quit, would score the final 16 points of the first half to go into the break knotted up at 29-29. “These kids are the toughest kids that I have ever been around. They learned how to battle through adversity even in defeat and I couldn’t be any prouder of them,” said Montoursville coach J.C. Keefer. Ben Cerney scored on a one yard plunge to make it a one score game after a successful two-point conversion. The Warriors recovered the ensuing onside kick, and then Batkowski scored from 15 yards out. To tie the game, Montoursville quarterback Brycen Mussina hit his tight end Mitch Rothrock with less than a minute to go in the first half off of a fake extra point attempt.

Montoursville had their first chance to take the lead to start the second half, but Cam Young intercepted a pass and returned it 33 yards to put the Tigers back in front 36-29. Mussina, who came up with clutch throw after clutch throw in the second half, threw a 34 yard touchdown pass on the next drive to Dylan Fontenol to tie the game once again. Southern answered the call when the backs ran behind the line with the final run coming on a seven yard score by Torres. “We just need to play with the mentality that every play could be the last. We were fortunate to win this one, but it’s important that we give it our all,” senior center Dale Houser stated. “The rest of our lives we will be able to look back at this, but when it’s over it’s over so we need to play in the moment.”

Mussina converted a 4^th and nine on the next drive with a 44 yard pass to Shea which set up a short Cerney run to make the game 43-43. Thomas, who finished with a career high of 241 rushing yards, answered the call by scoring his third touchdown of the night from 15 yards out to put the Tigers back in front. “We have a great set of backs with rare talent and it’s satisfying to see the yardage that they are able to get,” said Andrew Bell who is the Tigers lone underclassman on the line. Southern would head to the final 12 minutes with a 50-43 lead.

Mussina converted another fourth down on the next drive. This time he was faced with a 4^th and 15, but connected with Shea for 19 yards. “Brycen Mussina is an outstanding quarterback. He gets better every second with every throw that he makes,” said Keefer about his junior QB. That set up a Batkowski two yard run to make the score 50-50 which also marked the first time Southern Columbia has given up 50 points in a game since a 68-52 playoff victory over Canton back in 2010. On the Tigers next possession, the offensive line opened holes and allowed for Torres to go over the 100 yard mark, finishing with 121 in total, and continued to wear down the Warriors defense. Becker scored from two yards out with under four minutes left in the game. The Tigers missed the PAT, and it gave the Warriors momentum with a chance to win the game with the Tigers lead sitting at 56-50.

That set up Southern Columbia’s defense with an opportunity to make a rare stop and win the game on Montoursville’s final possession. “Obviously our defense could have played much better. It’s not often that you can give up 50 points and still be in the lead. We knew we just had to make one stop to win the game,” said Tiger linebacker Matt Bell. That one stop came from the senior inside linebacker duo of Bell and Austin Knepp. On fourth down, the Tigers drew up a blitz and it was the tandem of Knepp and Bell that sacked Mussina to win the game. “Matt and I both blitzed on that play up the middle. It was a ton of relief after we made that sack especially with the way our defense struggled, but we got it done when we needed to,” Knepp said. All the Tigers had to do was take two knees to wrap up a 56-50 dramatic victory.

Montoursville ends their season as silver-medalists and a record of 9-4 after taking home the district gold last year. Southern Columbia, District IV’s victors, moves to 13-0 and will face District III champion Berks Catholic next Saturday afternoon. “In over 30 years of coaching, you think you’ve seen every type of game there could be. I never thought this would happen though,” Roth said. This SCA senior class has never lost a regular season game and now has won three of the last four district titles. However, with the success that the program has had at the state level over the years, they want to be known outside of just the district. Tiger football has been put on a pedestal where the success of a season is measured in the state playoffs. Fair or not, when the school has the most state titles in Pennsylvania history, the expectations are that much higher and this group is motivated to make some noise across the Keystone state.

The one thing that none of these Southern seniors have is a state playoff victory against a team outside of District IV, and they are determined to not break a streak that started before any of them were even born. Incredibly, every graduating class of Southern Columbia has had at least one player with a state playoff victory dating back prior to the Tigers first of six state championships in 1994. This group wants to keep that streak alive with a win next week. “The past three years we’ve won some district titles, but we haven’t done anything in the state playoffs. We are going to be motivated next week and want to put our mark in school history and that starts with winning in the state playoffs,” said four-year starting lineman Josh Yoder. Southern fans can expect another high scoring affair next week in the opening round of the state playoffs. The Tigers and Saints will come in as the two highest scoring AA offenses in the eastern part of the state playoff bracket. The game will take place at Governor Mifflin High School in Shillington, near Reading, with a 1:00 kickoff tentatively scheduled.

SCA: 14-15-14-13 = 56
MTV: 0-29-14-7 = 50

SOUTHERN COLUMBIA (13-0)

RUSHING:

Hunter Thomas 16-241, 3 TDs; Jared Torres 19-121, 2 TDs; Blake Marks 10-74; Nick Becker 8-25, 2 TDs

PASSING:

Nick Becker 7-10-0, 83 yds

RECEIVING:

Steve Toczylousky 2-42; Jared Torres 1-24; Hunter Thomas 2-17; Blake Marks 2-0

1st DOWNS: 24

PENALTIES: 8-70

MONTOURSVILLE (9-4)

RUSHING:

Keith Batkowski 24-109, 3 TD; Ben Cerney 6-41, 2 TD; Brycen Mussina 3-(-19)

PASSING:

Brycen Mussina 17-30-1, 233 yds., TD

RECEIVING:

Tom Shea 9-122; Dylan Fontenot 4-78, TD; Mitchell Rothrock 2-16; Keith Batkowski 1-17; Ben Cerney 1-0

1st DOWNS: 18

PENALTIES: 3-25