By: Dave Fegley (Black Diamond Sports Network) on Saturday, September 7th, 2013
MONTGOMERY—The Tigers (2-0) came in to the game knowing that they were probably going to only let their starters play for a little over a quarter because they were heavy favorites against the Red Raiders (0-2).”We wanted to just come out and take care of business and work on some things early with the starters,” said Southern coach Jim Roth. That part was clear because the starters certainly took care of business from the start.
Montgomery won the toss and elected to receive the opening kickoff. On the third play of the drive, Southern’s Blake Marks intercepted Zach Shadle’s pass and returned it 28 yards to the Montgomery 9 yard line. After two incompletions from Southern quarterback Nick Becker, who completed his next eight passes to finish 8-10 for 158 yards and 2 touchdowns on the night, Marks took a handoff around the end and ran nine yards for the game’s first score with 10:05 left in the opening quarter. “I actually like playing safety a lot better than linebacker,” said Marks who got the start at safety tonight due to the injury of Mason Peters. “I’ll do whatever I have to do to help the team, and that interception I had boosted my confidence level for the game.”
The Tigers next score came on a two-play drive. On the first play, Becker connected on a 47 yard pass to Nate Hunter. From there, Adam Feudale took it into the endzone on a three yard plunge up the middle to make the score 12-0 in favor of the Tigers with 5:13 left in the first quarter. The Tigers scored their third touchdown on another Becker to Hunter hookup through the air. The 12 yard touchdown pass put the visitors up 19-0 with 2:01 remaining in quarter number one. Montgomery fumbled on the next possession and the ball was recovered by Southern linebacker Cody Pavlick. On the Tigers second play of that drive, Becker connected with junior Luke Rarig from 11 yards out to make the score 26-0 in favor of Southern after the first quarter. “We figured the game might of gotten out of hand so we wanted to work the passing game early to get some work in for Nick,” said Roth
The Tigers extended their lead to 33-0 with 9:11 left in the opening half when Hunter carried the ball eight yards for the score on his only carry of the night. The Tigers added one more touchdown in the opening half to make it 40-0 at the intermission. Marks scored on a 49 yard run and he credits his blockers for it. “My line blocked really well up front. They deserve the credit because I wasn’t even touched on that run.” In the opening half, Marks touched the ball on offense six times for a total of 137 yards. “Obviously our backs are the strength for us and we have guys like Blake that can make big plays” said Roth about his talented backfield.
The Tigers defense certainly came to play. In the opening 24 minutes, they held Montgomery to negative 19 yards rushing on twenty carries and did not give up a single first down. They also didn’t allow a completion and forced two turnovers that lead to Tiger scores.
The Tigers scored three touchdowns in the 3rd quarter to make the score 58-0. Billy Marzeski scored on a five yard run. The second touchdown was a 95 yard run by junior Brad Noll who was the game’s leading rusher with 146 yards on four carries. The final touchdown of that quarter came from the defensive side of the ball when safety Steve Toczylousky intercepted a pass and returned it 57 yards for a TD. In the final quarter, Montgomery finally got on the board after Keith Habersham scored on a 37 yard run to make the final score 58-6 in favor of the state’s #2 ranked Tigers.
Southern has arguably its biggest game of the regular season next week as they travel to the Silver Bowl to take on Mount Carmel (2-0). “When you look at the schedule, the Mount Carmel game is always in the back of your mind even in two-a-days before the season starts,” said Tigers halfback Matt Lupold. “We are just going to work hard and execute in practice and we will be ready to take on the Red Tornadoes next week.” I’m sure the rest of the team agrees with Lupold, as the Tigers will head to MCA next week to see who will come out victorious and stay undefeated. Southern leads the rivalry with nine wins in the series compared to Mount Carmel’s eight.
SCA: 26-14-18-0= 58
Mont: 0-0-0-6= 6
SOUTHERN COLUMBIA (2-0)
RUSHING:
Adam Feudale 4-31 , TD; Nate Hunter 1-8, TD; Matt Lupold 2-32; Blake Marks 4-78, 2 TD; Brad Noll 4-146, TD; Billy Marzeski 2-10, TD; Matt Jeremiah 5-40; Matt Bell 3-6; Jake Potter 2-7; Ross Crowl 1-3
PASSING:
Nick Becker 8-10-0, 158 yds, 2 TD
RECEIVING:
Blake Marks 2-58; Nate Hunter 2-59, TD; Luke Rarig 1-11, TD; Zach Tillett 3-29
1st DOWNS: 16
PENALTIES: 2-14
Montgomery (0-2)
RUSHING:
Keith Habersham 4-72, TD; Kyle Becher 4-41; Tyler Betz 9-24; Kobe Galentine 3-5; Austin Armolt 6-5; Zach Shadle 9-(-2); Sergi Cole 1-(-6)
PASSING:
Zach Shadle 0-5-2, 0 yds
RECEIVING:
NONE
1st DOWNS: 6
PENALTIES: 0-0
Final Montgomery stats courtesy of Damien Scoblink (Press Enterprise)
One Response
The Tigers backfield is loaded…obviously they played a very weak team, but they can run like few can in the entire state!