Interception by Blake Marks helps Tigers seal off the Seals
By: Dave Fegley (Twitter: @DFegs9)
Last season, the Southern Columbia vs Selinsgrove showdown came down to the Tigers defense making a key interception late in the game to ice the victory. It was Southern senior linebacker Billy Barnes picking off a pass a season ago. Almost a year to the day later, another senior linebacker, Blake Marks, came up with an interception in the closing minutes to stop a potential comeback and give the Tigers a win. “We were in a man-coverage on the play, but my guy stayed in the backfield to block. When I noticed that he wasn’t a threat, I just kind of flowed to the outside when their quarterback rolled out. Fortunately, I was able to get my hands on the pass and pick it off,” Marks said. The win for the Tigers wrapped up their fourth consecutive undefeated regular season, and handed the Seals their lone loss. SCA also gained bragging rights as the mythical overall PHAC Champions with both teams winning their respective divisions.
With under three minutes left in the game, and Southern leading 21-14, Selinsgrove had the ball at the Tiger eight yard line facing a third and goal with a chance to tie or potentially take the lead. Logan Leiby rolled out to his right and threw a pass to an outside receiver in the flat. Marks stepped in front of the intended target and intercepted the pass at the four yard line. “Blake’s just a gamer. He seems to make big plays when we need them the most. You can tell he has spent a lot of time out on the playground and that’s just a phrase because he lives nowhere near a playground. The point is if you know him, he is always out doing something. The kid can’t sit still,” said Southern coach Jim Roth.
After a back and forth first half, the second half was dominated by both defenses. “Defense wins championships and tonight that proved to be correct. Being able to shut down Selinsgrove’s star runner Juvon Batts in the second half and contain their quarterback is a nice accomplishment for our defense,” said Tiger defensive back Cam Young who picked off two of Leiby’s passes. The halftime score would be the final score, 21-14, with neither team being able to find the end zone after the break. A surprising turn of events considering that both teams have been scoring points at will through the first nine weeks in 2015. In fact, Southern came into Harold L. Bolig Field on Friday night as the top scoring team in the state averaging 49.4 points per game.
On the first possession of the game, Tiger quarterback Nick Becker was intercepted inside the ten yard line which looked like it would prevent the Tigers an opportunity to score first. However after Garrett Campbell picked off the pass for the Seals, he was stripped on the same play by Marks who also recovered the football setting up a first-and-goal to go. Two plays later, Becker took advantage of the play made by his fellow senior teammate and found Marks for a five yard score to put Southern up 7-0. “This game was a huge momentum booster for us. We didn’t play our best game, but we got the win and that is really all that matters at this point with the playoffs coming up next,” said Marks.
Selinsgrove tied it early in the second quarter when Leiby connected on a perfectly thrown pass to Nick Swineford from 36 yards out. Becker put the Tigers in front again with a five yard run on the next possession. “I am happy that Nick was running with a sense of urgency. He did a nice job with his legs tonight and showed some emotions to get the team excited which he doesn’t let out very often,” Roth said about his quarterback. Becker carried the ball 12 times on Friday night, which is more than double the amount of designed attempts he has had in total since coming back in week three after an early season upper-body injury. After Tyler Keiser’s extra point, Southern’s lead was 14-7. Three plays later, Juvon Batts reeled off one of his long runs that Seals fans have grown accustom to seeing over the years. The senior scored from 53 yards out blowing past the Southern defense and after Joey Radel’s PAT the score was knotted up at 14-14.
Becker was intercepted again by Campbell on the next drive giving Selinsgrove a chance at grabbing their first lead, but Young answered the call with his second interception as well on the ensuing series. “I look forward to being challenged every week. Everyone I go up against is taller than me, but I just try to battle for every pass thrown my way. It takes technique and focus,” said Young who is listed at only 5’7” on the depth chart. With 42 seconds left in the first half, Marks got behind his offensive line and scored what ended up being the game-winning touchdown from three yards out.
Every possession in the second half resulted in either a punt or a turnover with both defenses coming up with key stops. Neither team threw the ball particularly well after halftime. Becker and Leiby each were intercepted three times on the night, and neither team had a running back break free for a long run like many fans around the area have seen from Batts of Selinsgrove and Marks, Hunter Thomas, and Jared Torres from Southern through the first two months. “Our running game is obviously our main strength. Nick may not have had his best game throwing the ball, but our receivers do have to make sure that they are making an effort trying to get back to some of the balls that aren’t necessarily the best passes in the world. He hasn’t let the six interceptions that he’s thrown over the last two weeks affect his role as a leader and that is certainly a good thing heading into the playoffs,” said Roth. If Becker is able to pull off some of the powerful runs like he did on Friday night, defenses will have nightmares trying to figure out a way to stop the four guys in the backfield of Roth’s Wing-T offensive scheme.
Selinsgrove will be heavily favored as they will host Columbia-Montour Vo-Tech in the District IV AAA playoffs next Friday night. The Tigers will travel back home as the top seed to take on a Troy squad out of the Northern Tier League. “The main positive to take from this game is the fact that we were able to post a shutout against a quality team like Selinsgrove. It takes a strong defense to have sustained success in the playoffs. I like the way our defense has been playing and they are going to need to keep it up for us to be successful,” said Roth. Southern will try to win their first ever District IV AA championship this year after making the move from Class-A after the 2013 season. “We are hungry to try and make some noise in the playoffs this year. We need to stay focused now because it’s win or go home from this point forward,” Marks said. With the win, Southern has guaranteed itself home-field advantage for the next three weeks in the district playoffs if they are to keep winning. Selinsgrove has also earned home-field advantage throughout district play.
SCA: 7-14-0-0 = 21
SEL: 0-14-0-0 = 14
SOUTHERN COLUMBIA (10-0)
RUSHING:
Jared Torres 16-66; Nick Becker 12-59, TD; Blake Marks 10-63, TD; Hunter Thomas 16-72
PASSING:
Nick Becker 8-17-3, 63 yds, TD
RECEIVING:
Blake Marks 3-20, TD; Cam Young 1-10; Hunter Thomas 4-33
1st DOWNS: 20
PENALTIES: 3-25
SELINSGROVE (9-1)
RUSHING:
Juvon Batts 22-119, TD; Logan Leiby 6-15; Ethan Trautman 2-7
PASSING:
Logan Leiby 4-15-3, 107 yds, TD
RECEIVING:
Colin Hoke 2-20; Ricky Cope 1-51; Nick Swineford 1-36, TD
1st DOWNS: 9
PENALTIES: 3-28
Selinsgrove stats courtesy of Damien Scoblink (PE)
5 Responses
District 4 is weak, SCA moved up to AA and continued to dominate. Mountoursville stopped them last year, but SCA had already lost their backfield due to injuries and were minus their top receiver. Teams don’t have the physical size the kids once had and the work ethic isnt there with most. Coaches want fancy formations with no huddle offenses while SCA sticks with what works year in and year out. Playing time is key for younger players also, they need the Friday night experience to build on. Hope both teams go all the way this year!!
Brian,
At SCA regular seasons are meaningless. Yes this group didn’t ever lose a regular season game, but if they don’t win a state playoff game, this group of seniors will be the least successful group in the Tigers storied history. Congrats to them on the regular season, but the postseason is all that matters!
A lot of people may not realize but the seniors on this team have never lost a regular season game. I know that doesn’t mean much in the grand scheme of things because this group also has never won a state playoff game. However, this is the first time in school history a group of seniors can say this and that says a lot because there’s been a lot of success at southern. Now its time for them to win a state playoff game or 2 this year.
First time I have seen southern play this year, and they certainly do look to have a pretty solid team. It’s going to be tough again for them to win a state playoff game. They will get through D4 with ease, but I think Roth needs to have Becker run even more in districts. He looks to be a much better runner than he is a passer. He should run the ball more times than he throws it because he doesn’t look like he makes very good decisions when throwing the football. Looking at the stats in this article, he threw five more times than he ran. I would think the Tigers are better off if he runs twice as much as he passes. He probably has around 10 interceptions this year now already in not too many pass attempts if the local paper is accurate. SCA could have beaten us by three or four scores if Becker didn’t throw some of those ill-advised passes. The last time the Tigers had a team that was good enough to go all the way to Hershey was when their QB didn’t throw a single INT all season if my memory serves me correctly. Luckily for SoCo last night, Marks was able to bail them out at the end because I think the Seals would have went for 2 if they scored late!
Keep your heads up Seals…time for playoffs next Friday!
Sounds like this game was all that it was cracked up to be. From the beginning of the year I figured Southern would be the cream of the crop based on the running backs that they have. They shouldn’t have any trouble at all in District 4 playoffs. There is no way they can compete against the top teams in the west though. This was Southern’s first real game of the year. They basically played JV opponents the first nine games of the year. It’s not their fault, but it’s hard to get prepared for the playoffs when you are forced to play teams like Warrior Run, Bloomsbrug, Shamokin, Mount Carmel, and other weak teams week in and week out.