BERWICK – Mike Bennett rattled off everything which went so right for Berwick in the first half of Friday’s season opener against five-time defending state champion Southern Columbia.
There was an effective running game. A handful of key pass plays to extend drives led to two touchdowns. And most importantly, they kept the Tigers’ vaunted Wing-T offense off the field.
Everything for Bennett and the Bulldogs was going to plan.
And then there was a flash of lightning. And another. And another.
The near two-hour break at halftime cost Berwick its momentum after opening a two-score lead. That same two-hour break allowed Southern Columbia to gather its thoughts and reset.
After recording just 7 yards of offense in the first half, Southern gouged the Berwick defense for 313 yards and six touchdowns in the second half of a 42-27 victory at Crispin Field. Jim Roth, Pennsylvania’s coaching wins leader, avoided only his second career opening-week loss with a defense that found its footing in the second half and an incendiary offense.
“It feels like a new game almost,” Roth said of the nearly two-hour lightning delay between the first and second halves. As a coach, you don’t sense being behind as much because of that long break. That’s in the past more. So you go out and feel like it’s a new game and go get after it. But it was just a crazy game overall.”
It was crazy in the sense that Berwick played a perfect brand of ball-control offense in the first half, limiting the Tigers to just seven offensive snaps in the first 24 minutes. During those first two quarters, Berwick’s offense held the ball for 20 minutes, 29 seconds.
Southern Columbia also had a kickoff return for a touchdown called back because of a penalty. It dropped a pair of touchdown passes on the same drive. Its defense allowed a couple of ridiculous third-down completions which both led to Berwick touchdowns. And it lost all-state linebacker, Garrett Garcia, to a potentially serious knee injury.
Berwick was living out Murphy’s Law in the first half, as Southern Columbia suffered through its antithesis. The Bulldogs, playing their first game under Bennett, himself an alum of Berwick’s football glory days, gave the home crowd reason to relive those glory days, even if just for 24 minutes. They had Southern Columbia on the ropes. Berwick executed its game plan perfectly. It had momentum. It had confidence. It had a 14-point lead.
Then rainless lightning flashed over Crispin Field just as the second half was getting underway. The remnants of a thunderstorm that doused neighboring Bloomsburg skirted past Berwick last night. But its flashes of lightning made their presence known.
As teams prepared to return to the field following the first 30-minute delay, the sky lit up like a summer afternoon as a bolt of lightning appeared. Thirty minutes later, it happened again. Twice both teams were preparing to return to the field. Twice they sat back down to wait another 30 minutes.
Berwick lost all momentum it had gained with a nearly flawless first half. Southern Columbia got the opportunity it needed to refresh.
“I thought if it was only 30 minutes we’d be OK and we could get the adrenaline going again,” Bennett said. “But then you get up and it gets pushed back. Then you get them up again and it gets pushed again. We came out flat and they took it to us.”
It wasn’t an excuse from Bennett, it was reality. After receiving the second-half kickoff, Southern needed just seven plays to find the end zone and cut its deficit in half with a 3-yard Carter Madden touchdown run.
Following a Berwick three-and-out, the Tigers needed just two plays, capped with Madden’s 30-yard scoring run on an inside reverse. And after another three-and-out, the Tigers needed just four plays to go up 21-14 when Braeden Wisloski found the end zone from 36 yards out.
Berwick spent 24 minutes building confidence and momentum. Southern stole it back in 8:03 of the third quarter.
“There’s only so many times you’re going to corral Wisloski and (Wes) Barnes,” Bennett said. “Those guys are players. We held them in the beginning but they got theirs and we failed to meet the standards in the second half that we met in the first half.”
Madden, Wisloski, and Barnes each ran for a pair of touchdowns in the second half. Those six touchdown runs covered an average of better than 40 yards a pop, including a 73-yard run by Wisloski, and 44 and 56-yard jaunts right up the middle by Barnes.
“They looked like they were really trying to play outside, especially because of the way we normally run with Braeden,” Roth said. “So we thought we were going to have to go up inside ore, and in that second half we had a lot of success running inside.”
“We just stopped playing football for some reason,” Bennett said. “And when you have the five-time defending state champion over there, they’re going to take advantage of that.
Berwick cut its deficit back to one score thanks to an 8-yard catch-and-run from Matt Lonczynski to Spencer Kishbaugh. But Wisloski and Barnes scored on three consecutive offensive snaps in the fourth quarter for the Tigers.
“I wanted these kids to show their families and the alumni what they’re capable of and what their potential is,” Bennett said. “I think we did that. I wish we saw it for four quarters.”
Southern Columbia 42, Berwick 27
Southern Columbia 0 0 21 21 – 42
Berwick 0 14 0 13 – 27
Second quarter
B – Drey Wilk 8 pass from Matt Lonczynski (Luke Peters kick), 7:58
B – Lonczynski 1 run (Peters kick), :05.
Third quarter
SC – Carter Madden 3 run (Isaac Carter kick), 9:51
SC – Madden 30 run (Ryan Kerstetter pass from Jake Toczylousky), 6:54
SC – Braeden Wisloski 36 run (run failed), 3:57
Fourth quarter
B – Drey Wilk 40 pass from Lonczynski (Peters kick), 11:51
SC – Wisloski 73 run (kick failed), 11:36
SC – Wes Barnes 44 run (Wisloski pass from Blake Wise), 7:34
B – Spencer Kishbaugh 80 pass from Lonczynski (kick failed), 7:22
SC – Barnes 56 run (Carter kick), 7:12
SCA Ber
First downs 9 17
Rushes-yds 25-283 42-77
Com-att-int 2-6-0 12-22-2
Pass yards 37 254
Total yards 320 331
Fumbles-lost 0-0 3-0
Penalties-yards 3-24 1-17
INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS
Rushing: Southern Columbia, Braeden Wisloski, 7-133, 2 TDs; Wes Barnes, 8-112, 2 TDs; Carter Madden, 6-40, 2 TDs; Jake Biemass, 1-0; Blake Wise, 1-0; Team, 2-(-2). Berwick, Bo Sheptock, 16-49; Ryan Bankes, 12-33; Drey Wilk, 1-12; James Deandra, 2-2; Spencer Kishbaugh, 2-(-1); Matt Lonczynski, 9-(-18), TD.
Passing: Southern Columbia, Blake Wise, 2-6-0, 37 yds. Berwick, Matt Lonczynski, 12-22-2, 254 yds., 3 TDs.
Receiving: Southern Columbia, Wes Barnes, 1-23; Carter Madden, 1-14. Berwick, Spencer Kishbaugh, 5-124, TD; Drey Wilk, 4-66, 2 TDs; Bo Sheptock, 1-35; Rowan Slabinski, 1-15; Ryan Bankes, 1-14.
INTERCEPTIONS: Berwick, Southern Columbia – Jacob Hoy, Wes Barnes.
RECORDS: Berwick (0-1); Southern Columbia (1-0).
