CRUISE CONTROL
SOUTH CENTRE TWP. —Southern Columbia showed early that it can win by playing well in all three phases, scoring 16 points in the first two minutes of its game Friday evening en route to a 52-3 win over Central Columbia.
It marks the ninth consecutive perfect regular season for the Tigers (7-0). Meanwhile, the Blue Jays (4-3), who held the fourth and lowest playoff seed heading into Friday, were still awaiting their fate as of press time.
Gavin Garcia was at the center of the fast start, shedding numerous Blue Jay tackles for a 26-yard touchdown. He capped off the two-minute drill with a 70-yard kickoff return.
Between all of that, the Blue Jays — on their second offensive play of the night —fumbled the snap as it went through quarterback Garrett McNelis’ hands at their own 18-yard-line. The ball continued to roll into the end zone where McNelis fell on it for the safety.
“I thought our kids gave a lot of effort. The seniors played really hard, but that seems to be a Southern thing,” Central coach Scott Dennis said. “I don’t know what the mystique is, but kids were nervous. It’s a big game, and a great opportunity and I think they came out of the gate nervous.”
The Blue Jays continued to struggle on special teams as Southern’s Derek Berlitz got his hands on Mason Yorty’s punt attempt in the Tigers’ end zone. The Jays were thankful they landed on the ball and only gave up the two points, as it could have easily been six for the Tigers.
In addition, they fumbled four times on kickoffs with Southern coming away with one recovery. The takeaway, happening after Garcia’s kickoff return, didn’t come back to hurt the Jays. Instead, they had their first of three consecutive turnovers — two on downs and an interception of Liam Klebon by Troy Johnson.
“It’s normally a phase of the game that we win in, and we didn’t win it tonight” Dennis said of the Jays’ special teams. “We ended up giving up nine points pretty quickly in the first half on special teams. That’s an area we usually take a lot of pride in. It was hurtful and clearly made a difference in the game.”
Despite the strong showing by Central on defense in the first half that includes a strip-sack and fumble recovery by Johnson and another turnover on downs, the Jays couldn’t sustain much of anything offensively.
The Tigers were quick to the ball throughout, matching man-for-man in the passing game and having multiple defenders get in the backfield to disrupt the Jays’ timing and close any potential running lanes.
It amounted to the Jays coming away with 54 total yards, and still no touchdowns given up by the Tigers’ starters. Central’s field goal, from 31 yards out, was the first points given up by the Tigers’ starters this season.
“Overall I felt we did a good job, especially defensively,” Southern coach Jim Roth said. “Holding them to no touchdowns with the first team was great to see. Even if you’re not putting the ball in the end zone every time you have it, stopping the other team certainly goes a long way to winning football games.”
The Tigers cleaned up their offense some as the game moved along. Using its bread and butter, the running game, they tacked on a 57-yard rushing touchdown by Braeden Wisloski on the first play of the second quarter. They added more insurance before halftime on Garcia’s third touchdown, this time from 45 yards out after he cut across the field in something a Madden player couldn’t even replicate.
The running game continued to control the game in the second half with Wes Barnes punching it in from 16 yards out on the Tigers’ first possession. And with its second team in, Ian Yoder and Tyler Arnold also rushed for scores.
All told, the Tigers rushed for 437 yards with Garcia (158 yards) and Barnes (112) each reaching the century mark. Wisloski finished with 77.
Despite the success with the running game, Roth was complimentary of what he saw from the Jays’ defense.
“They were basically playing their defense aggressively — moving their front, changing things up, disrupting the timing of the offense — and they were able to do that at times,” Roth said. “It was a learning experience to go against that type of look and thought we could have executed a little better in the first half.”
Both teams said they were looking to improve on their passing game all week long, but they struggled in that department, combining for 82 yards on 29 attempts.
Jake Davis accounted for the Tigers’ interception, picking off McNelis in the second quarter.
Southern 18 14 13 7 — 52
Central 0 3 0 0 — 3
First quarter
S — Gavin Garcia 26 run (Isaic Carter kick), 10:40
S — Safety, 10:24
S — Garcia 70 kickoff return (Carter kick), 10:13
S — Safety, 2:39
Second quarter
S — Braeden Wisloski 57 run (Carter kick), 11:48
C — Mason Yorty 31 field goal, 5:25
S — Garcia 45 run (Carter kick), 1:32
Third quarter
S — Wes Barnes 16 run (Carter kick), 7:26
S — Ian Yoder 12 run (kick blocked), 1:21
Fourth quarter
S — Tyler Arnold (Carter kick), 2:14
S C
First downs 24 4
Rushing-yds. 47-437 18-10
Passing 4-11-1 6-18-1
Passing yds. 28 54
Total yds. 465 64
Fumbles-lost 1-1 6-1
Penalties-yds. 1-5 2-20
INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS
RUSHING — Southern Columbia: Gavin Garcia Garcia 12-158, 2 TDs; Wes Barnes 10-112, TD; Braeden Wisloski 6-77, TD; Connor Gallagher 4-29; Matt Masala 3-26; Trevor Yorks 5-13; Ian Yoder 1-12, TD; Liam Klebon 5-7; Tyler Arnold 1-3, TD. Central Columbia: Troy Johnson 9-34; Logan Welkom 2-3; Garrett McNelis 5-(-4); Team 2-(23).
PASSING — Southern Columbia: Klebon 4-11-1, 28 yds. Central Columbia: McNelis 5-14-1, 51 yds; Welkom 1-3-0, 3 yds.; Johnson, 0-1-0, 0 yds.
RECEIVING — Southern Columbia: Jake Toczylousky 2-15; Jake Rose 1-9; Wisloski 1-4. Central Columbia: Logan Gillaspy 3-35; Zach Smith 3-19.
Link to story: https://www.pressenterpriseonl...
