Riverside’s Defense Tames Tigers

Written by: Vince Pellegrini on Saturday, November 27th, 2010. Follow Vince Pellegrini on Twitter.

When one thinks of Southern Columbia, one reflects back on their five consecutive state championships (2002-06). Only Berwick has won just as many PIAA titles as the Tigers have won (six). Dating back to Southern Columbia’s first crown in 1994, the Tigers had appeared in twelve of thirteen championship contests. That’s almost unheard of in any state.

The fans of Southern Columbia endured through close losses in the state championship games over the years. Tigers lost to Farrell in back-to-back seasons (1995, 1996) by 6-0 and then 14-12. Southern Columbia had never suffered through a game that they were just manhandled like the Tigers were on Friday night at Memorial Stadium.

Harry Armstrong’s Riverside Vikings went up early and often to take a, 30-0, lead at the half. The Vikings’ defense held the Tigers vaunted rushing attack to -10 yards on the ground. Southern Columbia accumulated just 92 total yards.

Riverside was led by quarterback Corey Talerico, who completed 8 of 17 for 146 yards and four scores. Talerico connected with Skylar Lavage and Nicholas Dranchak for two aerial touchdowns a piece. Nick Rossi, future Akron Zip, ran for 109 yards on 20 carries for the Vikings.

Riverside (12-1) rolled to a, 36-0, win over Southern Columbia. Next up for Riverside will be Schuykill Haven (11-2) in the Class A State Quarterfinals.

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11 Responses to “Riverside’s Defense Tames Tigers”

1. at every game says:
   December 1st, 2010 at 10:49 am

   close but no cigar greenwood.area coach your predictibly politically correct. a coach thats won 6 state titles not prepare his team for a team that he is 0-2 lifetime against in the state playoffs! nonsense.the FACT is the vikes were bigger(1stime in 3 years)stronger faster and more athletic than sca.period.if harry keeps the pedal to the medal for four full qtrs.the result would be the same if they played ten times.welcome back hurricans!

2. greenwood says:
   November 30th, 2010 at 7:46 pm

   after reading all the comments above…there is one thing that may be true…sca did not come prepared to play a team like riverside…they were out coached, outplayed, and outrun in most every play the were in.

3. Matt says:
   November 30th, 2010 at 2:12 pm

   Riverside’s beat many great teams this year including Dunmore twice, West Scranton, and North Pocono. There only loss came to Lakeland by 1 point who only had two losses in the season, both to the eventual District 2 AA champs G.A.R. Grenadiers. Riverside’s domination did not surprise me since they played a tough schedule and many 3A teams this year.

4. scaalum28 says:
   November 30th, 2010 at 11:12 am

   Exactly what I’m saying areacoach. Riverside is definitely better than SCA, its not luck when you win 36-0. However, nobody in the last 20 years in the east or state playoffs has beaten SCA by that margin or held them to negative rushing yards. SCA just wasn’t ready to play and Riverside probably played their best game of the year there. I still think Riverside wins by 2 maybe even 3 scores if SCA played well. Kudos to Riverside for making SCA look silly.

5. areacoach says:
   November 29th, 2010 at 8:22 pm

   I am not a Southern Columbia fan. Just an area coach. I promise that Riverside is not 36 points better than Southern. This Southern team is not their best ever but they were a very good team and beat a lot of good teams througout the year. They did not show up and they needed to against a good Riverside team. Southern is not 35 or 29 points points better than Line Mountain either but Line Mtn didn’t show up against a good team and Southern did show up and that is what happens when one good team plays well and the other doesn’t. There is usually a fine line between winning and losing a game and if 2 good teams play and one doesn’t play well and the other does, the end result may end up being lopsided just as it was in the Southern – Riverside game. But congrats to Riverside for beating a good Southern team and good luck the rest of the playoffs.

6. hawk says:
   November 29th, 2010 at 8:08 pm

   i agree with vikingfan….riverside was inches away fromscoring 50+ points fri night.ran the football in the 3rd and 4th qtrs to eat the clock.also, their defence was fierce all season long.

7. scaalum28 says:
   November 29th, 2010 at 5:54 pm

   think what you want viking proud, but you caught sca on a flat night and they didn’t know what hit them. thats what happens in playoffs when you don’t come to play. a good team will beat the snot out of you. like i said, riverside it better, but not 36 points better. enjoy the victory, hopefully riverside will represent the east in hershey. in my opinion riverside is the only chance the east has to beat Clairton, if Clairton gets there.

8. hornetfan says:
   November 29th, 2010 at 4:09 pm

   I was not surprised by the result of the game… From what I have seen, Riverside has to be one of the top A teams in the state. I don’t see any weaknesses on the team and watched them destroy bigger schools all year.

9. viking proud says:
   November 29th, 2010 at 1:28 pm

   I was thinking more like fifty points better….one interception away from being mercy ruled before the half.

10. William Pabst says:
    November 27th, 2010 at 11:20 am

    NOICE!

11. scaalum28 says:
    November 27th, 2010 at 9:56 am

    that was just embarrassing, SCA looked lost on both sides of the ball. Reminded me of week 1 against Line Mt. when they got down 20-0 but came back and won 49-20. Riverside is not Line Mt. that’s for sure. Riverside dominated the line of scrimmage on both sides of the ball and SCA tackled poorly. They never got anything going.I think they never got off the bus on the two hour trip. Props to Riverside for their preparation and execution. For SCA, shame on you for not being up for a big game and just allowing others to push you around all night. SCA faced bigger lines before but Riverside was ready to play and SCA wasn’t. I think Riverside is the better team but not 36 points better. Sorry Riverside that SCA wasn’t more of a challenge, but congrats for whooping their butts all night long.