Tigers Dust the Red Tornadoes
Written by: Shawn Weller on Saturday, September 15th, 2012. Follow Shawn Weller on Twitter.
CATAWISSA: Two undefeated state powerhouses squared-off at Tiger Stadium on the third week of the regular season. The Red Tornadoes of Mount Carmel Area brought a largely veteran team with plenty of size and speed. The Southern Columbia Tigers played host with a very young and untested team, drubbing their first two opponents by a collective total of 116-3. This was to be a tie-breaker match-up with each team touting eight victories since the series began in what has emerged to be one of the area’s (not to mention state’s) top rivalries. The series has included barn-burners and blow-outs for both teams, and this year the Tigers were hungry to avenge a last-minute loss of 22-21 on a two point conversion in 2011.
The game proved to be a classic slug-fest, with six lead changes, six turn-overs, and all the hard hitting that we’ve come to expect from these two schools. By the time the final quarter had arrived the young Tigers had cleaned up a variety of mistakes that had allowed the game to stay close and matured into something of a well disciplined beast. The result was a 49-33 toppling of the Tornadoes.
On Southern’s first offensive play Matt Lupold raced for 36 yards with 15 more tacked on due to a personal foul penalty. After a 10 yard burst by Adam Feudale, Lupold capped the drive with a two yard touchdown run.
Mount Carmel answered back eight plays later on a 33 yard TD pass over the middle from Zack Wasilewski to the big tight end Eric Joraskie. With the score knotted at seven a piece, the teams traded series then traded turn-overs. Southern’s Luke Rarig picked off a Wasilewsi pass then Nate Hunter fought his way forward for 30 yards only to have the ball knocked lose for a Tornado recovery on the very next play.
The Tiger defense held strong with stout play from the front line and impressive athleticism by the defensive backs. A pass tipped by Mitch Stanziale on 3rd & 7 forced another punt. Southern put together a 10 play drive into Mount Carmel territory when fumblitis struck again on an eight yard carry by Hunter.
In all, the Tigers were defeating themselves in the battle for field position despite winning the battle up front. Good punts by Rob Varano forced Southern to start from their five yard-line, then from their 11. It was from there that a solid run by Feudale was negated on a chop-block call against Lupold as he picked up a blitzing line-backer. The result was a second & 16 from the five. From the shotgun the snap skidded on the grass behind the goal-line and was picked up by Taylor Young while the defenders closed in. In an attempt to throw the ball away while being hit in the end-zone, Young flipped the ball up for grabs and it was recovered by Mount Carmel’s Vinny Candelora for the go-ahead score. The PAT attempt sailed wide and left MCA with a 13-7 lead.
Bryce Parry gave Southern good field position on the kick off return near mid-field. From there the Tigers put together a 10-play 52 yard drive capped by a Feudale one yard TD dive. Dylan Swank went a perfect 7/7 PAT’s on the night and regained the lead at 14-13 with only 1:14 left to play in the first half.
Wasilewski put on his best drive of the night to wrap up the half when he clipped off 18 on a delayed draw, then threw a strike to Varano for 35 yards to the Tiger three yard-line. Luke Klingerman punched it in from there with only 7.9 ticks on the clock. On the two-point conversion attempt Jake Becker dropped Wasilewski for no gain, leaving the score 19-14 going into the locker rooms.
If the Tigers had doubts coming into the game about whether or not they could match-up with the big Mount Carmel team, by half-time those doubts had vanished and players, coaches and fans knew that they had every reason to win this contest. They came back on the field with a new focus and took the lead back on a 10-play, 83 yard drive, capped by a 24 yard TD strike from Young to Parry. Southern’s defense then forced a punt to set up another drive. However, confusion struck one more time when Young’s pass hit defender, Tyler Kwaitkowski, right on the numbers. The run-back to the Tiger three led to another score for Klingerman and new life for the Tornadoes with a 25-21 lead at 1:55 in the 3rd quarter.
The ensuing kick went to Parry who rocketed down the middle before cutting left along the visitors’ sideline on a 60 yard return to the Mount Carmel 32. In his three kick returns on the night Parry racked-up 104 yards. Southern made short work of retaking the lead with a 16 yard bootleg by Young, followed by a gutsy ten yard TD run by Hunter with 2.4 seconds left in the third.
Southern’s defense stifled the potent MCA attack and forced another Varano punt. This time it was shanked and only netted 17 yards to the MCA 38. With great field position, Young called his own number, raced around the left side and went the distance. At this point, despite only being down by nine points with 9:30 left to play, you could sense the air completely leaving the Tornadoes. Their next series featured two sacks in a row by Stanziale and Cody Pavlick/Rob Delbo which forced another punt.
From then on the Tiger running machine was unstoppable. Lupold clawed his way ahead for 22 yards, then Feudale bowled over defenders en route to a 54 yard touchdown, making the score 42-25.
To add insult to injury on MCA’s next offensive play – a pass attempt to TE Joraskie – freshman linebacker, Nick Becker tipped the ball from the receiver’s grasp into the waiting arms of Parry who ran it all the way to the Tornado 15 yard-line. Feudale rumbled in from there to put the game out-of-reach 49-25.
Southern Columbia (3-0) compiled over 450 yards of total offense on the night. Adam Feudale led the attack with 117 yards on 14 carries with 3 TD’s. Taylor Young went 6/10 passing with 64 yards, a TD and an interception.
Mount Carmel (2-1) had 133 yards rushing on 32 carries and three touchdowns. Zack Wasilewski went 9/18 for 140 yards, two touchdowns and two interceptions.
SCORING BREAKDOWN:
Lupold: 2 yd. TD run @ 8:57(1st) SCA 7-0
Wasilewski – Joraskie: 33 yd. TD pass @ 6:17(1st) 7-7
Candelora: fumble recovery in endzone @ 7:01(2nd) MCA 13-7
Feudale: 1 yd. TD run @ 1:14(2nd) SCA 14-13
Klingerman: 3 yd. TD run @ 0:07.9(2nd) MCA 19-14
Young – Parry: 24 yd. TTD pass @ 7:17(3rd) SCA 21-19
Klingerman: 2 yd. TD run @ 1:55(3rd) MCA 25-21
Hunter: 10 yd. TD run @ 0:02.4(3rd) SCA 28-25
Young: 38 yd. TD run @ 9:30(4th) SCA 34-25
Feudale: 54 yd. TD run @ 6:28(4th) SCA 42-25
Feudale: 15 yd. TD run @ 6:00(4th) SCA 49-25
Klingerman: 3 yd. TD run @ 2:05(4th) SCA 49-33
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September 18th, 2012 at 1:09 pm
@Michelle
If it was about all linemen, then why inject your kids name? Your statement was about THE game, which I would assume was the SCA game, not all games. I didn’t see any names of the Mount Carmel linemen on your post? Be proud of who your son is, and not bitter at who he is not.
September 18th, 2012 at 6:26 am
Shawn~~~Thank you so much for the response,it was well written……And this comment wasn’t just for our southern linemen it was for every linemen from high school,college and the pros….It was really nice to hear about from press,that you,you are a well deserved sports press,,,Thanks Again..
September 17th, 2012 at 3:37 pm
Nothing like lobbying for your kid to get some attention eh Michelle?
September 16th, 2012 at 9:23 pm
@ Michelle: This “press person” is fully aware of the contribution of linemen – I used to be one. We lineman are used to doing all the grunt work and getting none of the glory. It’s our job. I did, however, make a reference to the great job they did in this statement: “Tigers were defeating themselves in the battle for field position despite winning the battle up front.” It’s just very difficult to single out individual linemen when they work so well as a unit, AND keep the article interesting enough for folks to keep reading. Hats off to Logan, Josh, Ryan, William and the boys for slugging it out in the trenches. It’s a thankless job that is essential to winning games.
September 16th, 2012 at 6:44 pm
Loved the post about our game but you press people got to remember there are linemen out there that make these rushers and ball carries look good..Do some stories are the linemen every once in awhile…..If you would have watched the game on TV,you forgot to mention the linemen (Reynolds) that took them boys into the endzone….They deserve credit too….
September 15th, 2012 at 8:30 pm
got there for the second half and I’ll I can say to other coaches on their schedule is good freaking luck aint no way thats a high school team
September 15th, 2012 at 6:03 pm
Could not believe how good these teams really are… like staff writer weller said, after cleaning up a messy first half southern became machine like… they keep playing 1 week at at a time and i dont see them being denied a trip to chocolate town
Mount carmel despite solid, tough, fast were unfortunately beat by ONE of the best squadrons Ive ever seen at southern and would be very surprised if they (mount carmel) suffer another loss this regular season… Im not a gambling man but Id bet on southern against many of the top AA teams in the state and their only a A school!!!