Tigers shut out Jays
FRANKLIN TWP. — They say scheming and play calling is a game of chess between opposing play callers in a football game.
And if Friday night’s game between Southern Columbia and Central Columbia were such a game, the Tigers would have had the Blue Jays calling checkmate by the end of the first quarter.
The Tigers not only had an answer to everything the Blue Jays threw at them, but were steps ahead on both sides of the ball — outgaining them by nearly 600 yards— in a 62-0 win.
The shutout marks the Tigers’ fifth of the season, as Southern has outscored its opponents, 284-0.
“Obviously, we’re winning by big margins, but a lot of our offense of design is to continue to work on balance and try to keep people honest,” Southern coach Jim Roth said. “They’re overplaying the run, we want to go play-action. We want to try to hit some big plays down the field.”
The Tigers did just that on the game’s first snap as Julian Fleming burnt past the Blue Jays’ secondary — who were playing zone for much of the game in hopes of not getting burnt — on a go route for a 69-yard touchdown reception.
Earlier this week, Roth said Fleming would see the ball more as the season progressed and he lived up to his word by feeding him five catches and 172 yards.
His best catch of the night didn’t go for a score as the Ohio State-bound receiver looked as if he was going to be overthrown. Instead, he got a boost of speed and seemingly turned into Inspector Gadget — extending his arms out as far as they could go —for a 54-yard fingernail catch.
“If somebody in the secondary is flat footed for a second, with Julian’s speed, he’s taking advantage of that,” Roth said. “And that’s what he’s done a couple times.
“... You can throw him the ball and it looks like (Preston Zachman’s) overthrown him, but he’s one of those special players, and elite receivers that he can find another gear.... Somehow he finds a way to get to it. He did there. Then, when he started to stumble, I thought ‘if he keeps his feet, that’s going to be a real special play,’ but he wasn’t able to keep his feet after he started to stumble.”
Roth acknowledged Zachman has been coming into his own since the start of the season, taking what’s there. The senior quarterback went 9-for-12 with 264 yards and a pair of touchdowns — all in the first half.
His other scoring pass came via a 29-yard screen to Ty Roadarmel for a 41-0 lead.
Of course, it wouldn’t be a Southern Columbia contest without the run game getting involved.
The Tigers rushed the ball 33 times for 359 yards for seven touchdowns.
Brothers Gaige and Gavin Garcia carried the load in the first half, combining to rush for 181 yards and five scores.
Roth would love to give the Garcias and Roadarmel more carries, but is respectful of the competition and knows he has a tougher stretch coming up with South Williamsport, Jersey Shore and Wyoming Area — teams with just one loss combined.
“The bottom line is we’ve been scoring quick, and they’ve been playing a half,” he said. “... We haven’t had the opportunity. With the points that you put on the board, you don’t want to have your first team on the field... No. 1 because we’re not about scoring 70 points, or even 60, but it happens. And No. 2, you don’t want to get an injury to someone when the game gets out of hand.”
Not to say they still don’t have success with the starters sitting. The Tigers went to their depth and they didn’t disappoint as both Nate Crowl and Matt Masala found the end zone on back-to-back drives that started in great field position via Central fumbles.
As for Central, the Blue Jays seemingly couldn’t get anything going as seven of their drives ended in three-and-out, and two more ended in turnovers on the second play.
Central only once put a drive together of more than three plays, needing a fourth down conversion to do so in the second quarter. That drive saw both of Central’s first downs, but ended with Fleming intercepting Garrett McNelis.
“We played a clean game, but they’re better than us,” Central coach Scott Dennis said. “It’s that simple.... They have better players, they have a great scheme and probably the best coach in Pennsylvania history. When things go wrong against a team like that, they just snowball. It’s just really hard to get refocused because they’re just so good.”
Central 0 0 0 0 — 0
Southern 27 21 14 0 — 62
First quarter
SC — Julian Fleming 69 pass from Preston Zachman (pass failed), 11:48
SC — Gaige Garcia 8 run (Ethan Haupt kick), 8:34
SC — Gai. Garcia 23 run (Haupt kick), 4:27
SC — Gai. Garcia 1 run (Haupt kick), 3:26
Second quarter
SC — Gavin Garcia 17 run (Haupt kick), 9:31
SC — Ty Roadarmel 29 pass from Zachman (Haupt kick), 7:01
SC — Gav. Garcia 48 run (Haupt kick), 0:07
Third quarter
SC — Nate Crowl 3 run (Haupt kick), 8:24
SC — Matt Masala 1 run (Haupt kick), 4:28
CC SC
First downs 2 24
Rushing-yds. 22-4 33-359
Passing 3-11-1 9-12-0
Passing yds. 22 264
Total yds. 26 623
Fumbles-lost 2-2 1-0
Penalties-yds. 0-0 7-65
INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS
RUSHING — Central Columbia: Troy Johnson, 12-12; Isaac Kester, 3-4; Nathan Smith 2-0; Logan Welkom 2-(-3); Garrett McNelis, 3-(-9). Southern Columbia: Player, Gavin Garcia, 5-102, 2 TDs; Gaige Garcia, 6-79, 3 TDs; Ty Roadarmel, 2-79; Braden Heim, 5-48; Matt Masala, 4-25, TD; Nate Crowl, 2-19, TD; Wes Barnes, 4-18; Cade Linn, 1-11; Gabe Leffler, 0-0; Preston Zachman, 1(-4); Team, 3-(-18).
PASSING — Central Columbia: McNelis, 3-11-1, 22 yds. Southern Columbia: Zachman, 9-12-0, 264 yds., 2 TDs.
RECEIVING — Central Columbia: Garrett Carter, 1-13; Johnson, 1-8; Zander Bradley, 1-1. Southern Columbia: Julian Fleming, 5-172, TD; Gai. Garcia, 3-63; Roadarmel, 1-29, TD.
Link to story:
https://www.pressenterpriseonline.com/daily/092119/page/13/story/tigers-shut-out-jays
