Same Faces in Different Places guide Tigers
By Dave Fegley (Twitter: @DFegs9)
Southern Columbia won their first ever District IV AA playoff game on Friday night after dominating the Class A level for the better part of the last 30 years. The top-seeded Tigers defeated Hughesville by a score of 35-13, but Southern head coach Jim Roth wasn’t pleased with the way the victors played. “I didn’t like the way we played the whole night to be honest. I thought some players picked up their game, but if you want to do anything in the playoffs the whole team has to elevate the level of play. The whole team has to give a full effort, play aggressive, and play with a lot of energy. I didn’t feel that we had that across the board as a team,” Roth said.
One thing that Roth was happy with though was the play of his running backs, especially the ones that played the position this week for the first time all season. At the start of the year, the starters in the backfield were Matt Jeremiah, Blake Marks, Hunter Thomas, and Brad Noll. Unfortunately, Jeremiah is the only one that remains fully healthy for the Tigers. Marks and Thomas have both went down with season-ending leg injuries and Noll has missed over half the season with an injury as well. Friday night the Tigers brought in Steve Toczylousky, Billy Barnes, and Billy Marzeski to join Jeremiah in the backfield. The three new additions have all been starters since the season opener, but they have done their part on defense. “They are all good athletes and very good runners. It was pretty impressive to see how well they did without playing the positon prior to this game,” said Roth.
Not only did the four-headed monster lead the Tigers to victory, but they did so in a dominant fashion that looked like they had all been playing those spots since day one. The four runners combined to rush for 458 yards on 36 carries to go along with four scores. It’s almost unheard of to see a backfield rush for nearly 13 yards per play, yet alone a backfield that was put together less than a week prior. “It was nice to see those guys fill in and step it up to take Blake Marks and Hunter Thomas’ places like they did. I thought Stevie, Billy, and Billy all played really well and it was nice that I didn’t have to carry the ball as many times as last week,” said Jeremiah. The senior fullback carried the ball 14 times for 141 yards.
Toczylousky started the game with a 36 yard run on his first carry of the season. Five plays later, he scored from four yards out to give Southern a 7-0 lead after Tyler Keiser’s first of five extra points. “I played halfback up until eighth grade, but I haven’t played the position since then. It felt awesome to get to run the ball again like I used to. I have to give all the credit to the line though because they did a great job of opening all the holes to run through,” said Toczylousky who finished with 167 yards on just nine carries.
Southern’s defense came up with a stop on the next possession giving the Tigers the ball near the 50 yard line after the punt. The drive was short-lived once Nick Becker was intercepted on the third play of the drive by Christian Fish after Becker was hit by Melvin Derhammer. The Spartans set up shop at the Tigers’ 40 yard line, and took it down to the one after a long run by Clint Snyder. On the next play quarterback Logan Henry took it in to make the score 7-6.
Barnes started off the second quarter with an 18 yard run followed by a 21 yard run that lead to a 28 yard touchdown scamper by Toczylousky to extend the SCA lead to 14-6 with seven minutes left before halftime. “I carried the ball in middle school sometimes, but tonight was the first for me at the varsity level. The line did a good job and that makes the backs look good,” Barnes said. Southern’s defense forced a three-and-out on the next drive. The offense took advantage of it when Brad Noll put the Tigers up 21-6 after catching pass in the flat from Becker from seven yards out.
Then on the next drive the Tigers tried extending their lead even more, but Becker was intercepted for the second time in the first half. This time Derhammer was the one that picked off the pass and returned it deep into Tiger territory. Unfortunately, Hughesville missed a 34 yard field goal as the clock hit zero to send Southern into the break leading by a score of 21-6. “The passing game was disappointing for us. It was a combination of the protection and not being able to execute on the throws. It’s been a problem for us and we need to find a way to correct it. We have addressed it, and we need to try and getter better with it real quick,” Roth said. Southern also lost their top wide receiver in week one when returning all-stater Luke Rarig blew out his knee against Mifflinburg.
Southern’s defense came up with a stop early in the third quarter while the Spartans were threatening to score. Hughesville had the ball in the red-zone, but Barnes came up with a sack on third down and then on fourth down Jake Ryan intercepted a Henry pass at the two yard line. The Tigers took the ball 98 yards for a score to put a damper on any chance of a Hughesville upset. The key play of the drive was a 63 yard run down the sidelines by Toczylousky. Two plays later, he ran behind his line for his third touchdown, this one from seven yards out, to put Southern up 28-6 with 5:40 left in the third quarter.
Marzeski delivered the knockout blow in the final quarter when he outran the Spartan’s defense from 52 yards out to put the Tigers up 35-6. “With all the other guys getting hurt, I wanted to step up my game. I run as hard and as fast as I can every time I get the ball, and obviously the goal is to not get tackled,” said Marzeski. Hughesville would add a late score on a pass from Henry to John Warg to make it a 35-13 final. The Spartans season comes to an end with a record of 6-5, and the undefeated Tigers will host the winner of Saturday night’s Lewisburg vs Montoursville contest next Friday night at Tiger Stadium with a District IV AA title berth on the line. “The bottom line is we need to play a lot better next week if we want our season to continue. It’s going to be a tough challenge no matter who we play,” Roth stated.
SCA: 7-14-7-7 = 35
HHS: 6-0-0-7 = 13
SOUTHERN COLUMBIA (11-0)
RUSHING:
Matt Jeremiah 14-141; Steve Toczylousky 9-167, 3 TDs; Billy Marzeski 4-72, TD; Billy Barnes 7-78; Brad Noll 2-(-1); Nick Becker 4-10; Jake Potter 2-9; Jared Torres 2-(-7); Nic Fetterman 2-4
PASSING:
Nick Becker 10-21-2, 53 yds, TD
RECEIVING:
Mike Klebon 3-21; Matt Jeremiah 2-13; Brad Noll 2-9, TD; Steve Toczylousky 1-11; Cameron Young 1-3; Billy Barnes 1-(-4)
1st DOWNS: 24
PENALTIES: 5-35
HUGHESVILLE (6-5)
RUSHING:
Clint Snyder 9-61; Nick Yeager 9-27; Logan Henry 6-8, TD; Ori Shaner 1-3; Wyatt Spring 1-(-3)
PASSING:
Logan Henry 11-24-1, 138 yds, TD
RECEIVING:
Sean Poust 5-92; John Warg 3-36, TD; Nick Yeager 2-6; Clint Snyder 1-4
1st DOWNS: 9
PENALTIES: 6-59
Hughesville Stats provided by Damien Scoblink (PE)
5 responses to “Running Game Propels Southern to Win”
I guess you got a little humble pie there dragon. Lewisburg lost to Montoursville. So much for beating SCA next week. Guess you should’ve waited 24 hrs to make your post.
I disagree with the only tough team they play is Mount Carmel. Selinsgrove gives them a good battle every year and since 2000 the years they played I bet its around a .500 record for the 2 teams against each other.
Hey Glenn,
Even in the last part of the pre-Roth years, SCA started picking up victories with Andy Ulicny as the coach. Since Roth has taken over though, domination is an understatement! Bloomsburg, Central Columbia, & Danville used to be rivalry games. Now Southern looks at those games as a joke. The Tigers kill all three of those teams and make it look like a waste of time. Southern picked up Shamokin about 10 years ago to try and start another rivalry, but that has turned into an automatic “W” for the Tigers each year. The biggest rivalry Roth’s teams have each year is Mount Carmel Area. They’re the only school besides Southern that has done anything to make the district proud in the state playoffs since the early 90’s. However, Southern can basically look at MCA as an in-season scrimmage anymore. The Red Tornadoes stink & don’t appear to be getting any better any time soon. Southern’s Achilles Heel is the rest of their opponents. It’s hard to get better when every team you play is below-average. Most fans say that the Tigers schedule is always so easy, but it’s not their fault that the teams they play can’t put a quality team on the field. Southern is playing all AA & AAA teams, so people can’t make the argument that they play a bad schedule. The only other option for the Tigers is to schedule road games 3-5 hours away to play against Catholic schools (that shouldn’t even be allowed in the PIAA) & Pittsburgh powerhouses.
Impressive showing last night by the SCA running backs. I think the season will end next week though. I think Lewisburg will win tonight & then upset the Tigers next week. Lewisburg showed a few weeks ago when they played at Tiger Stadium that the Green Dragons had a much better passing game than the the Tigers have. The bottom line is when it comes to playoff football, you need to be clicking in all aspects to win. The Tigers have an outstanding running game, run stopping defense, and special teams. The lack of a passing game, and the breakdowns in the secondary will be their downfall.
I think Loyalsock will defeat a young Lewisburg squad in the AA final two weeks from now. Don’t quote me on that though, because it sounds like Datres hasn’t played his best football lately for the Lancers.
Mr. Fegley must be forgeting the pre-Roth years, which is less than 50 years, when Southern was a good team to schedule for homecoming. He might want to cut his dominance statement to about 19 years.