In 2015, Jim Roth’s Southern Columbia Tigers won a 7th PIAA State Championship setting a new state record. He was named the PIAA Coach of the Year. This season however, the case could be made that the man in charge of the Tigers for the past 33 seasons did an even better job. “We knew going into the season that it was obviously going to be a challenge with all the players that we had to replace from last season. The new guys stepped up their level of play from the beginning,” said Roth. After graduating 26 seniors, and returning just one defensive starter and four on offense, the Tigers made it back to Hershey this season. They ultimately fell hard to Steel Valley in the final, but what a season it was in what many thought would be a rebuilding year.
Southern Columbia finished their 2016 campaign 15-1 and extended some more records in the process. They won a 6th Heartland Conference Championship which is the most for any participating school since the conference was put in place a little less than a decade ago. Roth’s Tigers ended the regular season undefeated to extend their streak to now 51-consecutive regular season victories dating back to 2011. “That in itself is a huge accomplishment since many players have been a part of it and is something that they can all be proud of. It will also be motivation for next year’s team to keep it going,” Roth said.
After the regular season, Southern Columbia then went on to route South Williamsport in the district final. The victory was the 24th District IV Championship in the past 26 seasons which is also a record. Two weeks later, SCA won a record 15th Eastern Championship to head back to Chocolate Town. They downed Ligonier Valley 31-27 ending what had been an undefeated season for the Rams before falling to the Ironmen in the state championship game.
Roth will enter the 2017 season with the fourth most career coaching victories in Pennsylvania history. “I have been very fortunate to have a dedicated coaching staff throughout my coaching career. Most of our coaches have been together for a long time and that is very important because everyone knows how we want things done,” said Roth. He has 396 victories and will return eight starters on both offense and defense. Four of the returning starters were named all-state including three freshmen. Barring any major injuries, next year’s version of the black and gold could make a strong case to be right back in Hershey playing again for gold in mid-December.
