Southern’s Defense Dominates Lewisburg

Tigers post shutout on an eventful night

Lewisburg gained four yards. There are probably a few questions running through your head at this point after reading that statement. Four yards on what: their first carry, their first pass, or their first touchdown? The answer to that statement is simple…in the game. The Southern Columbia defense posted a shutout in another Mercy Rule fashion. This time the Green Dragons were the victims with the Tigers winning 35-0. “This was definitely the best our defense has played this season. Our defensive line was in the backfield all game it seemed,” said Cam Young who scored both an offensive and defensive touchdown in the victory.

Lewisburg came in to Tiger Stadium on a bad night for any opponent. Southern Columbia was celebrating their annual Homecoming by honoring the 1966 Susquehanna Valley League champions on the 50^th anniversary. The school also held a postgame ceremony to recognize Jim Roth with their home field being renamed after him. “It’s certainly an honor that I appreciate. It’s not as much about me as it is about all of the players past and present that have been a part of the program. I’m grateful for the gesture. As for the game, I’m glad that our defense was able to control the game the way that they did tonight,” Roth said. The Tigers held the Green Dragons to negative-5 yards rushing on 21 attempts which almost defies belief.

Through the first three losses that the Green Dragons have suffered this season, the offensive line has given up 22 sacks. The Tigers added to that total with five more in handing Lewisburg their fourth loss of the year. “We knew coming in that we had to establish pressure early. That was the game plan coming in and we were able to execute. We played with a chip on our shoulder because our defense has been a little shaky at times this year,” said Tyler Bendas who had two of the sacks. It wasn’t until there was 2:30 left in the first half when Lewisburg was able to finally crack through and pick up a first down after their first five drives ended with three-and-outs. The next play, after picking up their lone first down of the night, Young intercepted a pass and took it 49 yards for a touchdown to add to the struggle.

The storyline coming in was SCA’s quarterback Stone Hollenbach going against his former team as the sophomore was a Lewisburg player a season ago. “I think he was nervous at first tonight for sure. I mean anyone would be in that situation. They were talking a lot of smack before the game about how they were going to beat us. Clearly that wasn’t even close to happening, and I thought the line improved a lot tonight from last week,” said Southern center Troy Donlan. Hollenbach’s stats didn’t jump off of the paper, but he was operative in completing 8 of 11 passes for 91 yards and a score. His opposition, freshman Nicholas Shedleski, completed just one pass on the night for nine yards while also throwing a pick six.

Gaige Garcia started the Tigers scoring with two short runs. He scored on a one yard run with 3:36 left in the first quarter and then again on another one yard carry with 10:27 to play in the half. Elijah Hoffman’s two extra points helped to put Southern in front 14-0. Thomas Manley, who is filling in for injured star Hunter Thomas, added the third touchdown of the game with a four yard run and then Young’s defensive score lifted the Tigers lead to 28-0 at halftime. “We controlled both sides of the line all game. We didn’t let their quarterback get comfortable at any point. Then our offense was able to get the ball back in good field position most of the time after they had to punt,” defensive end Jeffrey Cox said. Young put the game into the Mercy Rule early in the third quarter when he caught three passes for 49 yards on the opening drive after half including an 11-yard scoring strike from Hollenbach. Hoffman’s fifth successful PAT made the game 35-0 with no more scoring for the rest of the action.

Lewisburg plays another tough opponent next week as they travel to play Montoursville in a divisional meeting. The Tigers have arguably their easiest matchup of the season next Friday when they travel to take on winless Milton who hasn’t been competitive really at any point thus far. “It was good to see our defense post a shutout like they did. As a coaching staff, we are always looking for improvements as the season progresses and we hope to build on this performance moving forward,” Roth said. The win moved Southern’s regular season winning streak to 46 consecutive games.

SCA: 7-21-7-0 = 35
LBG: 0-0-0-0 = 0

SOUTHERN COLUMBIA (4-0)

RUSHING:

Gaige Garcia 11-85, 2 TDs; Nic Fetterman 9-65; Thomas Manley 5-15, TD; Nate Crowl 8-47; Stone Hollenbach 1-10; Teagan Wilk 3-8; Ty Roadarmel 6-23; Tristan Heim 1-1

PASSING:

Stone Hollenbach 8-11-0, 91 yds, TD

RECEIVING:

Cam Young 3-49, TD; Julian Fleming 2-21; Thomas Manley 1-9; Gaige Garcia 1-8; Nic Fetterman 1-4

1st DOWNS: 19

PENALTIES: 3-20

LEWISBURG (1-4)

RUSHING:

Trey Delbaugh 7-10; Donte Malone 1-10; Andrew Ramirez 4-2; Hunter Murphy 1-2; Charles Blough 3-(-5); Nicholas Shedleski 5-(-24)

PASSING:

Nicholas Shedleski 1-8-1, 9 yds

RECEIVING:

Nathan Gose 1-9

1st DOWNS: 1

PENALTIES: 1-5

Lewisburg stats provided by Damien Scoblink (PE)