Tigers shut down Blue Jays run game
By: Dave Fegley (Twitter: @DFegs9)
Central Columbia came into Friday night’s game against Southern Columbia averaging just under 30 points per game and rushing for almost 280 yards per game over the first four games of the season. It was the first time that the Blue Jays had over 1,000 yards rushing at this point in the season since 2004. However, none of those four opponents had quite the defense that the Tigers have. “I was really pleased tonight. I thought that was the best our defense has looked all year. They had been having a lot of success on the ground, but our defensive front came to play tonight,” said a pleased Southern head coach Jim Roth after his team’s 42-21 victory. Just how dominant was Southern’s defensive line? The Blue Jays rushed 19 times in the first half and picked up a grand total of one yard. Central’s leading rusher Daniel Koch, who rushed for 206 yards last week, was held to just nine yards on the night. “We just wanted to come out from the start with a lot of intensity against them because we came out flat the last couple of weeks,” said Tiger defensive lineman Trent Donlan who had one of the Tigers’ five sacks on the night. “We wanted to come out and hit them in the mouth and let them know they weren’t going to have the success they have had the past few weeks on the ground.”
Matt Jeremiah started off the scoring at the 5:32 mark of the first quarter on a five yard run for the Tigers. On the ensuing possession, Southern’s Steve Toczylousky intercepted Steve Shannon near midfield. On the very next play, Blake Marks took a handoff 52 yards and dished out a couple of stiff arms on his way to the endzone to put his team up 14-0. Shannon made up for his mistake on the next possession with a 32 yard pass to Lewis Williams making the score 14-7. “They hit a couple of big pass plays so we certainly weren’t perfect, but they were forced to pass with the success our defense had against the run,” said Roth. Marks added his second touchdown of the opening quarter in the final minute on a nine yard run behind his offensive line to make the score 21-7 after the opening quarter. “I have to give my line a ton of credit. They came out and played tough to allow me to make some plays,” Marks said.
On the Tigers first possession of the second quarter, Marks caught a 46 yard pass from fellow junior Nick Becker that set up a 16 yard touchdown grab from Toczylousky. After forcing a three and out, Southern sophomore Hunter Thomas caught a 20 yard pass and then scored from six yards out two plays later. The Tigers defense forced another three and out on the following possession and were content heading into halftime with a 35-7 advantage. “I think tonight we showed a ton of energy. We came out as a unit and maintained our gaps to shut them down,” said Donlan.
Marks would pick off a Shannon pass early in the third quarter and then scored his third rushing touchdown on the following possession to put the game into a Mercy Rule after an extra point by kicker Tyler Keiser. This marked the fifth consecutive Mercy Rule Southern has put on an opponent to start the season. “I like getting interceptions even more than scoring touchdowns. I have been known as an offensive player the past couple of years, so it’s nice to be able to make an impact defensively,” stated Marks. The carry also gave Marks 106 yard on the night on only 10 carries. He would also add two catches for 57 yards. All together, the Tigers backs piled up 315 yards on the ground. “On the offensive side of the ball we ran the ball with a lot of success, but the passing game was a little inconsistent. We are having our way running the ball, and some people might even wonder why we need to throw the ball because we have been picking up yards on mostly every run play. The bottom line is there will come a time this year that we need to show some balance on offense,” said Roth. Becker finished with 105 yards passing and most importantly didn’t throw any interceptions which helped keep the offense motoring all night.
The Blue Jays would score the final two touchdowns on the Tigers’ reserve players to make the final score, 42-21, closer than the game ever was. The win gave the Tigers their 18th straight victory over the Blue Jays. Central will try to rebound on the road next week against Lewisburg. Southern will travel to the Silver Bowl for the next chapter of their rivalry with Mount Carmel Area. After five weeks of the season, Southern and Jersey Shore are the only two Heartland Conference teams undefeated in the entire 19 team conference. “We need to come out and play with a lot of emotion next week. We have been flat at different points this season with the exception of tonight,” said Marks.
SCA: 14-21-7-0= 42
CC: 7-0-7-7= 21
SOUTHERN COLUMBIA (5-0)
RUSHING:
Matt Jeremiah 7-68, TD; Hunter Thomas 5-45, TD; Blake Marks 10-106, 3 TDs; Nick Becker 1-11; Jake Potter 3-8; Jared Torres 4-26; Nick Fetterman 4-25; Billy Marzeski 3-27; Sam Abdul 1-(-1)
PASSING:
Nick Becker 6-12-0, 105 yds, TD; Justin Derk 0-1-0
RECEIVING:
Blake Marks 2-57; Hunter Thomas 1-20; Mike Klebon 1-1; Steve Toczylousky 1-16, TD; Nick Fetterman 1-11
1st DOWNS: 18
PENALTIES: 5-40
CENTRAL COLUMBIA (2-3)
RUSHING:
Brittain Cooke 7-49; Evan Campbell 3-13; Aaron Farver 1-11, TD; Daniel Koch 13-9; Steven Shannon 6-3
PASSING:
Steve Shannon 7-12-2, 115 yds, 2 TDs
RECEIVING:
Austin Farver 2-12; Peter D’Ambrosio 1-40, TD; Lewis Williams 1-32, TD; Frankie Tewell 1-24; Daniel Koch 1-4; Jared Petersheim 1-3.
1st DOWNS: 5
PENALTIES: 2-27
