Tigers Recipe for Success

By: Dave Fegley (Twitter: @DFegs9)

Southern Columbia has been throwing a party since week one because this season has marked a half-century of the program’s existence which dates back to 1963. The Tigers have certainly learned what it takes to create a recipe for success in the past twenty years. Ask any football fan of another high school in PA, and they will probably tell you that they envy the fact that SCA has maintained dominance for this long of a stretch. Actually, it would be extremely hard not to be jealous. Jim Roth’s squad is the favorite to win the 22^nd district title in the last 23 years (2007 was only hiccup since 1990). The black and gold have played in a state record thirteen state championship games winning six of them including a remarkable five in a row from 2002-2006. The Tigers recipe has been missing one or two ingredients since 2006 with the exception of 2011 when all the parts were in place to make it back to the state title. All indications from the regular season show that the Tigers have recovered the full recipe with all of the ingredients, at least for the first ten meals that they served and devoured this year and now they are closing in on getting the dessert that they have been craving. In those ten regular season games, not only did the boys from Catawissa go 10-0, but they won all but one of those games in mercy rule fashion. To the hater’s defense, the Tigers have had a relatively easy road in the regular season against their opponents who have combined to win only about a third of the games that they played in total, but the Tigers didn’t take any opponent for granted.

The postseason always calls for a little extra added to the recipe because by week 11 the Tigers are usually starving for more. Year in and year out, the goal has always been to end the eating spree with a Hershey dessert. Below is a list of the Tiger menu from the regular season that they plan on continuing to feast from starting this Friday night against the Bloomsburg Panthers, and they hope it lasts until they smell the sweet aroma of Chocolate World:

-The chefs:

Jim Roth has about as certain a chance to get into any hall-of-fame as any coach ever has had in Pennsylvania football history. Since he took over the program before the 1984 season, he has been as successful a coach as anyone during that span. His resume includes 6 State Championships, 21 District IV Titles, & 25 League Titles and he’s won nearly 90% of the games he has coached in. He is also in an elite coaching class of 350 game winners. He hasn’t done it alone though. Defensive coordinator Andy Mills and assistant coach Al Cihocki have been with him since day one. John Marks, Mike Johnston, and Rick Steele have been with him for over half of his tenure and others like Andy Helwig and Don Traugh have been there for over the past decade. The team also has a solid junior high staff full of experienced coaches including head coach Troy Heath. Other coaches in the program include Dewey Townsend, Randall Campbell, Nate Roadarmel, Tom Donlan, Jason Campbell, & Roger Nunkester.

-Working up an appetite:

Southern Columbia football players seem to have the mentality of an NFL player and gain a large appetite for the season in the process. In order to gain the edge, no time can be taken off or it is lost for good. “The offseason is the most important part of the season, it really gets the team ready and prepares us for what is about to come. Everything from lifting, speed camp, conditioning, and even the seven on sevens get us rolling for what we need to do,” said senior Robert Delbo. It is very rare to see any Tiger football player not in the weight room at least three times a week and participating in many other activities before and after the actual season.

-Appetizers that set the tone:

“It’s really important as a captain to show leadership. We know all of the past teams that have played in state championships have had the great leaders, but it’s not just with us captains (Feudale, Tripp, Delbo, and Lupold) because it’s all the seniors that push the underclassmen at practice to make sure we are ready for games,” said Matt Lupold. Another important fact is that not one starter on this year’s squad has missed a game for poor academics or behavior.

-The food is fresh:

Unfortunately, with how violent the great game of football is, each team suffers injuries throughout the course of the season. Thankfully for the Tigers and their trainer Katie Fisher, there haven’t been too many injuries during the regular season (knock on wood). The one starter that did suffer an injury was back in week one when starting senior safety Mason Peters tore his ACL in a home game against Pius X. What made the injury even more devastating, was the fact that Peters spent his entire summer training and earned the starting spot after not playing a single down of high school football in his career prior. Southern has filled the position with a variety of players including Blake Marks, Mike Klebon, and Garett Sosnoski. “It was a very disappointing loss of a player that worked so hard in the offseason to be ready to play football. When I heard the news it sent me right back to the moment when I did the same thing,” said Nate Hunter who suffered a season-ending ACL tear last regular season.

-Hot sauce to give it flavor:

Since week one, the Tigers offense has put on a jaw dropping display of consistency. The starters have normally been pulled either before the end of the first half or at the half, but the team has still managed to score 465 points during the regular season which has certainly helped put all ten opponents away in convincing fashion. The running game has averaged over eight yards a carry and close to 320 yards per game. Probably the biggest offensive surprise has been the play of sophomore quarterback Nick Becker. “With all the senior leaders it really helps being a sophomore and going 10-0 in the regular season helps a lot too,” said Becker when asked about his growth of confidence since the beginning of the year. He has thrown for 1,360 yards with 18 TDs & six interceptions. In fact, he has the third highest regular season passer rating in the last decade trailing just Brad Fegley (2011) and Dan Latorre (2004). “It’s definitely the best seeing your backs be successful and getting a bunch of yards along with our passing success when you know you are a part of it,” offensive lineman Josh Tripp stated. The offensive line has also done a solid job protecting their quarterback and has given up less than ten sacks on the year as a unit. Another remarkable stat is the fact that the starting offense has only been forced to punt six times all season long.

The individual rushing numbers aren’t mind-boggling because the starters share carries and have yet to play an entire game. “Every time that we get the ball we know it can be scarce and a little bit limited because of the number of backs we have and the talent. It makes us all hungry to go out and do the best we can,” said one of the starting running backs Blake Marks who has rushed for eight TDs and caught six more on top of that. Adam Feudale has lead the charge with 1,041 yards and 14 rushing touchdowns during the regular season. Matt Lupold and Nate Hunter have combined for 17 more rushing touchdowns and nearly 700 yards. The three backup running backs (Billy Marzeski, Brad Noll, & Matt Jeremiah) have put on a display as well by combing to score 11 touchdowns and almost 900 yards on the ground.

-Can you pass the stuffing:

If the old saying of “Defense Wins Championships” is true, then the Tigers will certainly be a satisfied squad during the course of the playoffs. Coach Jim Roth has been very impressed with the play of the defense since week three. “I would like to see the numbers when the starting defense is in the game because a most of the yards we have given up have been against our backup units. I have been very pleased with the way our defense has played since the Mount Carmel game earlier this season,” said Roth. One statistic that adds to Roth’s point, Southern Columbia has only given up three touchdowns in the first half of games total during the regular season. They have also caused 21 turnovers and forced 25 sacks. “Our defense has been working very hard and we are playing pretty physical, but I feel as if we haven’t reached our full potential yet” stated linebacker Cody Pavlick. Pavlick leads the team with 103 tackles and the other inside linebacker Robert Delbo is second with 82. A few other stars have also emerged throughout the year including Garett Sosnoski who has 46 tackles and three interceptions while playing linebacker and safety. “The transition has been pretty easy. This year a lot of teams have been coming out in one back sets so we have played more 4-3 to defend the pass and I play the other safety position,” said Sosnoski. Zach Tillett has been another key contributor picking off three passes as well. The defensive line has been dominating their counterpart which makes the defense even scarier. Mitch Stanziale leads the team with 6.5 sacks. “The only concern our defense might have is being conditioned since we haven’t had to play a full game yet. We have mostly only played a half at most each week,” said another defensive lineman Trent Donlan.

-Cherry on Top:

I don’t think anyone can debate that the most valuable ingredient to this year’s team has been junior Luke Rarig. “He has done everything that we have asked him to do this year,” Roth told reporters after a game earlier this season. He leads the team with 26 receptions for 486 yards and six touchdowns. On defense, he leads the team in interceptions (5), pass breakups (7), and has also added 32 tackles including some gigantic blows to returners. Last week, he returned an interception for a touchdown as well. The third part of the game, which often gets overlooked, is special teams and Rarig has also shined in this category. He has connected on 40 of 46 extra points and kicked a 37 yard field goal early on in the year. He is also averaging close to 25 yards per punt return and has taken two of them back for scores. “I enjoy being on the field because I never have to take a break and it allows me to stay in the zone and keep with the flow of the game. I just try to make an impact on everything that I can,” said the confident junior.

With all those ingredients added together, it makes this year’s team look like a team that can make it back to the State Championship just like the team from two seasons ago. Many players have unfairly been asked to compare the two teams, but Adam Feudale seemed to sum it up best. “The 2011 team had Matt Moore, Brad Fegley, Tom Schetroma, Tyler Levan, and Keith Day who were all great players on that team and this year we have plenty of good players as well. We were mostly all freshman or sophomores when they made it to Hershey and this year we are just trying to emulate their success,” stated Feudale. “You can’t really make the comparison of the two team’s similarities because they are two different teams. The 2011 team was the 2011 team and this year’s team is the 2013 team and is completely different.”

One thing that can be compared is the ultimate goal that this year’s team has which is the same one from two years ago. The aspiration is to enjoy one final meal from start to finish before the Christmas holiday starts up. The 2011 squad got their taste of chocolate, and now the question remains…will this year’s team finish up with dessert or will they be asked to leave the dinner table before it’s served?