Oh Southern, oh Southern – wherefore art thou Southern? The Catawissa-based bunch hasn’t gone anywhere – the three-time defending District 4 Class A champion Tigers are once again in the thick of things in the Class A statewide scene and could possibly have enough pieces to make a serious run at Hershey, a destination they’ve not reached since winning a fifth consecutive Class A state championship in 2006.
The Tigers’ last three seasons have been ended in the PIAA playoffs by Riverside (2008 and 2010) and Tri-Valley (2009), and Bloomsburg’s powerful 2007 team claimed the D4 A title, the only hiccup in Southern’s run to 19 District 4 football titles since the start of the 1991 season. The Tigers suffered a blow when leading returning rusher and receiver Tyrell Thomas sustained a torn ACL early in camp – #23 will miss the entire season – but there’s plenty of talent to help offset the loss of the career 2,000-yard rusher.
The quarterback job will either go to senior Brad Fegley or junior Taylor Young, and a plethora of options are available in the backfield with Matt Moore (replacing Thomas), Tyler Levan, Casey Savitski and Jamie Slotterback. Southern’s O-line features the likes of Tom Schetroma (returning from a knee injury), Bryan Gedman, Cameron Flore and tight end Jake Becker. Prior to the shutout loss to Riverside last year, SCA was averaging more than 40 points per game.
Defensively, Fegley, Moore, Levan, Slotterback, David Jeremiah, Flore and Keith Day all return. SCA enters the 2011 season just one victory shy of 400 in program history – with 285 of those victories coming since 1990.
