Tigers Win Thriller

Written by: Dave Fegley on Saturday, November 1st, 2014. Follow Dave Fegley on Twitter.

Southern finishes regular season undefeated

By Dave Fegley (Twitter: @DFegs9)

Billy Barnes hasn’t shown any tricks this season, but he has certainly been a treat for Southern Columbia. Barnes’ interception with 21 seconds left in the 4^th quarter lifted the Tigers to a 28-21 victory over Selinsgrove on Halloween night at Tiger Stadium. “He has made big plays for us all season. What makes it even more impressive is that he hasn’t played football since 8^th grade before this season,” said Tiger head coach Jim Roth. The Seals were driving inside the Tigers’ red-zone with a chance to tie the game until Barnes’ tipped Logan Leiby’s pass, and then he was able to dive to secure it one-handed to “seal” the victory. “I saw right off the bat that they were running play action so I made sure to stay back and cover their tight end. When the ball was thrown, I was able to get a piece of it and then intercept it on the way down,” Barnes said.

Selinsgrove took the lead to start the game in the opening quarter on a 22 yard scoring strike from Leiby to his fullback Zack Adams on a 4^th down play. The Tigers were able to answer on the next possession when their senior fullback Matt Jeremiah scored from the six to knot up the score at 7-7. Unfortunately for the Tigers, they lost another starter on that drive when sophomore running back Hunter Thomas went down. “We certainly have had our share of injuries this season, and unfortunately Hunter’s situation doesn’t look good right now either,” Roth stated after the game. SoCo lost all-state, do-everything athlete Luke Rarig in week one with an ACL tear, and then the team lost Blake Marks two weeks ago to the same injury. They have also had four other main starters miss extended time throughout the regular season with various different injuries.

The Seal regained the lead on the final play of the first quarter when Juvon Batts scored on a 71 yard run up the Tigers sideline. “We weren’t very aggressive tonight on defense. There were times throughout the game that we struggled with tackling and we were tentative. You can’t play like that especially when facing an explosive back of Batts’ caliber,” Roth said. Southern tied the game again just before the half on a 16 play-96 yard scoring drive that was finished off when Jeremiah caught a 16 yard screen pass from Nick Becker. Both teams headed into the locker room tied again at 14-14. “I felt like I had to step my game up after Hunter went down with that injury. We were already down Blake and when Hunter went down I knew I would be counted on even more to produce,” Jeremiah said.

Southern’s defense came up with a huge stop to start the third quarter when Batts fumbled after trying to elude a Tiger defender. Billy Marzeski recovered the fumble, and six plays later Jeremiah scored his third touchdown of the game from a yard out to give the Tigers a 21-14 lead that they would keep for the remainder of the night. The Seals set up shop near midfield on the next possession after a nice kick return. On the next play, Leiby found a wide-open Angel Figueroa Vazquez for a 46 yard gain. Southern’s defense held strong and forced Selinsgrove into a 26 yard field goal attempt that missed wide right to keep the Tigers in front by a touchdown heading to the final quarter.

Southern used another 16 play drive to score their final touchdown of the night with 7:08 remaining in the fourth quarter. This drive went 93 yards and ate up over seven minutes of game clock. Jeremiah and Becker lead the team down the field with their legs, and Jeremiah was able to break free on the touchdown from 44 yards out. Tyler Keiser connected on his fourth PAT of the night to give SoCo a more comfortable 28-14 lead. “My line did a great job of battling for me all night. I was able to break a couple of tackles and then I was able to get through their defense to score,” said Jeremiah who finished the game with 26 carries for 167 yards and all four Tiger scores. Becker also had himself a fine game with 105 yards passing and an additional 96 on the ground.

Less than a minute later, Batts was able to score on another long play. This time Leiby through a pass that Batts took to pay dirt from 67 yards out to trim the Tigers’ lead down to 28-21. Batts finished the game with 116 yards rushing and 97 yards receiving. “He’s a heck of a football player. Every time he touches the ball he has the ability to get into the end zone. Sometimes he breaks tackles and other times he puts on a move and is able to outrun the defense,” Roth said. Batts also scored what looked to be a game-tying touchdown on an 82 yard punt return with less than two minutes to play, but the play was called back thanks to two block-in-the-back penalties.

Selinsgrove was able to drive down the field until Barnes’ came up with the interception that ended the game after a Tiger kneel down. With the win, Southern finished the regular season 10-0 and secured the top spot in the district playoffs. This is the third consecutive year that the black and gold have gone perfect in the regular season. Selinsgrove finishes 7-3 with their three losses coming to Berwick, Jersey Shore, and the Tigers. The Seals will receive the No. 2 seed next week to start the District IV AAA playoffs. Southern will hold home-field advantage throughout the playoffs as they try to win another district championship. The one huge difference is the Tigers will play in the District IV AA playoffs this year for the first time in program history. “It’s going to be exciting to see how we are able to do. It’s going to be more of a challenge this year, so we have to come out and play four strong quarters every week from now on if we want to keep advancing,” said Roth.

SCA: 7-7-7-7 = 28

SEL: 14-0-0-7 = 21

SOUTHERN COLUMBIA (9-0)

RUSHING:

Matt Jeremiah 26-167, 4 TDs; Hunter Thomas 2-14; Brad Noll 6-11; Nick Becker 16-96; Billy Marzeski 4-8

PASSING:

Nick Becker 6-12-0, 105 yds, TD

RECEIVING:

Matt Jeremiah 2-25, TD; Billy Marzeski 2-52; Steve Toczylousky 1-8; Cameron Young 1-20

1st DOWNS: 17

PENALTIES: 4-20

SELINSGROVE (7-3)