After a “down” year of 9-5 and yet another District 4 Class A championship, here are the Tigers, poised to jump back up on top in the state’s smallest classification. The 5-loss season for Southern was the first since the late 1980s. Southern returns a plethora of athletes from its 2009 team which was eliminated in the PIAA quarterfinals by a senior-laden Tri-Valley team. Senior QB Jake Townsend (1,019 pass yards, 12 TD) and other seniors Tim Benner (RB/DB), Jake Morton (RB/LB), Alex Fidler (SE/LB) and Ethan Snyder (TE/LB) join juniors Tyrell Thomas (RB/LB), Matt Moore (TE/LB), Tom Schetroma (T/DT) and Keith Day (DB) to form a very solid nucleus. 2009 was also just the third time in the Jim Roth era that Southern failed to win 10 games or more in a season.
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Actually, eight of Southern’s 2010 regular season opponents were in the playoffs last season, and the two that weren’t are very solid teams this year. This is quite likely the staunchest schedule Southern has ever played.
Schetroma’s injury left a huge hole in the line-up in both strength and experience. I hope he can return for his senior season. The front line is young and smaller than recent years, but they are plenty strong and very athletic. It took them a quarter to settle in, but, once they did, they matched up very well with a larger Line Mountain team. They don’t face the veer offense often and it took them a bit to catch on to it. The whole team played a more physical game than a very strong Line Mountain team. They will most likely meet again in the district playoffs.
I understand Southern lost junior Tom Schetroma to a knee injury in the first scrimmage. Sounds like he won’t be back any time soon. He started as a freshman. His loss on the defensive line and as an occasional offensive LM (as Roth likes to move his linemen to keep them fresh…and get advantageous matchups) is significant.
Also understand the line is fairly new and not as big as in the past.
They also have one heck of a schedule…playing seven teams that went to the playoffs last year.
Can’t wait.
One of Southern’s strengths and fundamental needs in the past has been a formidable line with enough players to ‘platoon’. They graduated some very good linemen last year…obviously they must have a stable of sorts returning…could you provide more information on your assessment of this year’s line?
Thanks