Marks injured in 2nd half
By Dave Fegley (Twitter: @dfegs9)
Southern Columbia’s Blake Marks took a handoff up the gut towards the end of the 3rd quarter on Friday night for a short gain. The problem wasn’t the fact that he only managed to pick up a couple of yards on the carry; it was seeing the junior lay on the field in obvious pain coming from his knee. “It was very tough to see him go down like that. He’s been a huge part of our offense and defense, and now it looks like he is done for the year,” said fellow junior Steve Toczylousky. “We have to have a lot of guys step it up now. We have to play for the injured guys for the rest of the season,” Toczylousky said referring to both Marks and senior all-state standout Luke Rarig who tore his ACL back in week one.
Both defenses traded stops to start the game, and the first touchdown was scored at the 6:59 mark of the opening quarter when Matt Jeremiah took a hand-off 10 yards into the end-zone to put the Tigers up 7-0 on Lewisburg. Southern’s defense forced a three-and-out on the Green Dragons next drive, but Jeremiah fumbled a screen-pass giving it back to Lewisburg. Trent Gower took advantage of the turnover by completing a pass to Matt Fedorjaka for a 51 yard gain. Two plays later, the two connected again, this time for a five yard score, to tie the game at 7-7. “They did a nice job of passing especially in the first half. Their quarterback put a lot of balls on the money, and they have some nice skill players that can make plays,” said Southern coach Jim Roth.
Southern got the ball back, and after a couple of nice running plays, coughed it up again on a missed hand-off between quarterback Nick Becker and Jeremiah. With the chance to take the lead, Lewisburg wasn’t able to put a drive together thanks to sacks from Tiger defensive linemen Josh Yoder and Chase Tillett on back-to-back plays. “A big part of our defense is trying to get pressure on the other team’s quarterback to limit big pass plays. Lewisburg has a very good passing game, so we wanted to help out our secondary by sacking their quarterback,” said Yoder who finished with two sacks on the night. The Tigers put together a nice drive to end the half, but Becker was intercepted in the end-zone by Fedorjaka to put an end to that scoring opportunity and send the teams into the locker room tied at 7-7.
Southern got the ball after halftime and put together a nine play drive. The Tigers came out and ran nine consecutive times before Jeremiah scored a touchdown from eight yards out to put the Tigers up 14-7. Lewisburg was forced to punt on their first possession, and Southern got the ball at midfield. The offense needed seven plays, all via the run again, to score their third touchdown of the game. Hunter Thomas ran behind his lineman for a two yard touchdown to give the Tigers a little more breathing room at 21-7 after three quarters. “Coach Roth said with how big our offensive line is that we should be able to run the ball on them. At halftime we talked about needing to run more because we weren’t having any success in our passing game,” said Yoder who is also on the offensive line.
The Green Dragons found an answer to start the final quarter. Gower completed a 52 yard dart to Noah Inch, and 15 more yards were tacked on for a late hit at the end of the play. Four plays later, Gower threw a 12 yard touchdown pass to Inch on 4th down to cut into the Tigers lead. That score made it 21-14 in favor of Southern and was the first time that the Tigers were only leading by a touchdown at any point in the second half all year. Southern responded on their next drive after a nice kick return putting the ball in Lewisburg territory. The Tigers ran the ball six consecutive times and Becker was able to muscle his way into the end-zone from 11 yards out to put the Tigers up 28-14. Although Becker had his struggles in the passing game, he was able to carry the ball effectively all night long. “We certainly had a tough time in the passing game tonight for a couple of different reasons, but Nick had success running the ball. He hasn’t had to run too much this year, but now that’s something we can utilize in the future,” Roth stated. Junior kicker Tyler Keiser added a 32 yard field goal in the closing seconds to give Southern a hard fought 31-14 victory.
The Tigers only had 40 yards passing on 14 attempts, but were able to run the ball consistently throughout the course of the entire game. Behind the rushing attack of Jeremiah (22 carries for 131 yards), Thomas (14 carries for 101 yards), Becker (9 carries for 89 yards), Marks (9 carries for 72 yards), and a couple reserves, the team was able to rack up 427 yards on the ground. Lewisburg was however the first Tigers opponent to not get Mercy Ruled in the last 18 regular season games that Southern has played in. “We didn’t want to come in and get rolled like every team has this year. We accomplished that, and I’m excited for our kids even in the loss,” said Lewisburg coach Michael Ferriero. The Green Dragons had an outstanding night through the air. Gower finished with 234 yards passing and two touchdowns. His top two receivers, Inch and Fedorjaka, combined for 15 receptions, 189 yards, and both scores.
Southern Columbia will stay at home next week as they host a Central Mountain team that hasn’t played well in any game so far this year. The Tigers will also have to find guys to plug into the lineup now in Marks’ absence on both sides of the ball. Lewisburg will be the heavy favorites in their matchup next week as they travel to Warrior Run, and the Green Dragons have opened many eyes across District IV with how competitive they were for the entire game against the undefeated Tigers.
SCA: 7-0-14-10 = 31
LEW: 0-7-0-7 = 14
SOUTHERN COLUMBIA (8-0)
RUSHING:
Matt Jeremiah 22-131, 2 TDs; Hunter Thomas 14-101, TD; Blake Marks 9-72; Nick Becker 9-89, TD; Jared Torres 3-14; Billy Marzeski 2-20
PASSING:
Nick Becker 4-14-1, 40 yds
RECEIVING:
Cameron Young 1-11; Hunter Thomas 1-9; Steve Toczylousky 1-19; Matt Jeremiah 1-1
1st DOWNS: 26
PENALTIES: 9-75
LEWISBURG (5-3)
RUSHING:
Andrew Newcomb 5-50; Logan Aikey 12-15; Trent Gower 5-(-24)
PASSING:
Trent Gower 17-35-1, 234 yds, 2 TDs
RECEIVING:
Matthew Fedorjaka 8-84, TD; Noah Inch 7-105, TD; Jason Bonner 2-20; Newcomb 1-22; Trent Henger 1-7
1st DOWNS: 11
PENALTIES: 5-32
Lewisburg stats provided by Damien Scoblink (PE)
One Response
Southern season comes to an end after districts if Marks is done for the season. I don’t care how good you are, when you lose 3 of your starters for the year you can’t go deep in the playoffs. These are all skill position players and all of them would’ve been 1st or 2nd team all state players. Well maybe not Noll but still.