Southern Columbia - Old Forge Preview 2013

During Southern Columbia's five consecutive PIAA championships from 2002-06, District 2 did not present much of a challenge to the Tigers playing in the last 11 out 12 finals.  The only exception was the 1997 loss to Riverside. Since the parade of championships ended in 2006 and Southern's district streak snapped in 2007, the Tigers were eliminated in 2008, 2010, 2012 by a District 2 team.

Good news for the Tigers that we are in a "odd numbered" year. However, District 2 sends a strong representative in Old Forge who avenged an earlier season loss to Dunmore and handled the Bucks in a 27-7 win last Friday night in Dunmore.

The Tigers recently played Old Forge in 2011, beating the Blue Devils by 11 in a 45-34 win.  It wasn't easy.  The 2013 version of the Blue Devils features a strong running game led by first year senior starter Brandon Yescavage who has rushed for over 2000 yards, carries over a 9/carry average and has scored 38 touchdowns. Most people can't recall a first year senior starters who has rushed over 2000 yards in recent memory.

For the Tigers,  it was good to face a strong rushing and power game the week before with Dominick Bragalone and South Williamsport.  A key to watch on Friday will be the Blue Devils coming off a big win on the road against Dunmore and long bus ride suffering a letdown against Southern.  Many thought Old Forge would not be playing in Week 13.  On Friday, there will be a locker full of Blue Devils waiting to take the field at Kemp Memorial. They are there for a reason.

Sometimes Lost with Southern Columbia

For over the past 20 seasons, Southern Columbia's seasons have been measured in Chocolate and Gold more than wins and losses.  The Tigers are often measured if their season ends at Hersheypark Stadium and they are getting on the bus with PIAA gold around their necks.


Lost in all of these comparisons is the importance of the regular season.  Over the past threes seasons, Southern Columbia is 29-1 in the regular season with two consecutive undefeated regular seasons.  The Tigers have won 21 in a row in the regular season with the last lost coming in Week 9 of the 2011 season with a 22-21 loss to Mount Carmel. 


This measure of excellence means that in the districts playoffs, the Tigers never have to hit the road.  For the fans out there, who can remember the last time Southern had to hit the road for a district playoff game?????

Southern vs. South Williamsport District Final Preview 2013

Southern hosts South Williamsport in the District IV A championship game this Saturday at 7 pm.  The Tigers follow the same script this week as they did last week.  They play a team that they dominated earlier in the season.  The difference with this week's game is the style of the opponent.  The Mounties like to keep the ball on the ground with junior Dominick Bragalone.

Bragalone has shattered Lycoming County records for yardage and touchdowns.  He needs 60 yards for 3000 yards and has 44 touchdown going into Saturday's game.  Unlike last season's senior dominated team,  South Williamsport had to rebuild this year's squad.

Unlike what you see in college and pro ranks, high schools stick to pretty much the vehicle that brought them to dance.  Will we see some different things from South.  The Mounties success will hinge upon moving the football and keeping Southern out of the endzone.  Poor punting on special teams was their demise in Week 4. 

Bloomsburg who lost to Southern in Week 7 by a 50-13 count, were only down 21-14 with 8 minutes left in the 3rd.  The game ended 49-14 with the Tigers scoring one less point and the Panthers scoring one more. 

It will be critical of South Williamsport to find success in the running game and keep the Southern offense off the field.  Mistakes made on special teams in Week 4 have to be cleaned up.  If the Mounties can do these two basic things plus a whole lot more, they may have a shot in the 4th quarter.  If the game is still a contest in the 4th quarter, the Mounties will still have to worry about the lack of depth when compared to Southern.

Saturday will be interesting to say the least.  South Williamsport will be second team in as many weeks to see if they close the gap of an earlier loss.  The Mounties are 20-3 over the last two season with all three losses to the Tigers.

Southern vs. Bloomsburg Playoff Preview 2013

Southern Columbia will begin it's quest for it's 7th state championship in school history when the Tigers host a rematch with the Bloomsburg Panthers this Friday night. One of the first things you have to ask yourself if your Bloomsburg is how you put 45 points on the board against Southern.  Southern's lowest output of the season was 44 points.

On paper, the Tiger's offense jumps out at you with the right combination of running and passing.  Looking a little deeper, it is the defense that will be transportation to a possible trip to Chocolatetown on December 13th.  It was the defense that couldn't stop Dunmore in 2012 at Valley View.  It was the first time in nearly 20 years that the Tiger defense had the ball run down their collective throats.

In the first game, Bloomsburg quarterback Ricky Klingerman was knocked from the game.  It basically rendered the Panther offense grounded and limited to what they could do.  Does Bloomsburg have enough on the roster to keep them off balance and give them a run?  It is hard to say.

The march to Hershey begins on Friday.  Out in front, the Tiger defense will be leading the way. 

Southern vs. Shamokin Preview 2013

It's funny how rivalry's develop and change over the years.  Some get white hot due to close games and down to the wire outcomes.  Others due to close proximity to one another. While others will stay the course due to longevity with one another. 

From 1974 through 1985, the eighth week of the season for the Shamokin Area Indians was devoted to their annual backyard brawl with Lourdes Regional High School.  During those years, Lourdes Regional were co-champions of the Eastern Conference in 1974 with a tie against West Scranton while the Indians won the title outright against Dunmore. Lourdes Regional won that first meeting with Shamokin, 24-19 then lost the next 8 in a row.  In 1983, Lourdes Regional won again by a 20-8 to 8 score as the Indian finished 0-11 under first year head coach, Jack Murdock. The Red Raiders won the following season with the famous hitch-and-pitch from Chris Reiprish to Vic Olear back to Joe Witt for immortality.  Shamokin Area won the final contest between the two schools.

What does Lourdes Regional have to do with all of this?

On Friday night, Southern Area will start two running backs who's parents were from the OLOL Class of 1982, A starting linebacker's parent graduated from OLOL in 1983 while a starting offensive lineman's mother graduated from OLOL in 1984. My guess is that there are probably more on the Southern roster along with a mix of Shamokin alumni. 

Shamokin Area will be underdogs to heavy underdogs in their final 3 games of the seasons.  30 years ago was the last time the Indians ended a season winless under new head coach.  Many OLOL alumni were there 30 years ago in the stands in week 8 and that should hold true for this Friday night. It has taken Shamokin 30 years to come full circle. Out of the ashes of 1983 came a state semifinal appearance in 1991.  Is the bottom at hand?

My hope for tomorrow night is not only a competitive game, but to have Journey sing the national anthem followed up with a halftime performance of "Don't Stop Believin!"

Week 3 Wrap Up in the Heartland Conference

Broadcasting the Southern at Shamokin game, you can tell how far the programs have pulled away from each other.  When the series first started in 2005, Shamokin had enough athletes to compete with two D-1 recruits and one who would go on the NFL and pull off a 19-16 win in overtime.  Much has changed in the last six years.  Shamokin quickly found themselves down 18-0 and trailed 25-7 after the first quarter. 

For a brief moment, the Indians were within 25-14 with the football and 3 minutes to go in the first half deep in their own territory.  The punter botched an easy snap inside the 10 and Southern scored getting the opening kick of the second half. In a few minutes of game clock it was 40-14 Tigers.........game over!!!! Southern started to insert the JV's with 5 minutes left in the 3rd.  This is with Southern's defense struggling at times.

Say what you want, the Indians problems don't start on the high school level.  But once they arrive, they tend to grow.  One thing really missing from the Indians program is not program coaches but programs kids.  Although Brad Fegley is a first year senior starter, he guided the Tiger offense overcoming 3 years worth of injuries and set backs.  Matt Moore another senior is seeing his first action on offense and making big contributions to the Southern running game.

Call it a case of Tiger pride.

Favorites around the Heartland are beginning to show in week 3.  Mount Carmel and Southern still remain as the the top two teams.  Lewisburg is still number 3.  Bloomsburg remains at number 4.  Danville is the new team in at number 5 replacing Selinsgrove.  Milffinburg (3-0) remains a team to watch.

Shamokin vs. Southern Columbia

Shamokin Area hosts Southern Columbia this Saturday night at Kemp Memorial Stadium.  Right now Southern is hot from scoring 84 points in their first two games.  Shamokin picked up a road win the in the slop surviving 4 turnovers. 

The key to this game is if Shamokin could move the football while hanging on to it.  Southern know they can do both.  

Jim Roth Previews Riverside

Jim Roth talks about Riverside for Week 13.




Working in radio for nearly 15 years has it's high and low moments and many times you look back and laugh quite a bit about some of the stunts and pranks. This has to be one of the funniest sitcom episodes to air about Thanksgiving from the show WKRP in Cincinnati.

Southern's Jim Roth Talks About Line Mountain

Heartland Fab Five Change

With Southern's 41-14 victory over Bloomsburg on Friday, there is a change to my Heartland Fab Five. The Top 3 remain the same with Lewisburg, Danville, and Southern.  Mount Carmel moves up to the 4th position and while Selinsgrove enters the #5 spot.  Bloomsburg drops out of the poll.

Friday's game for Southern could be described in three chapters; dominating, resting, and finishing. Southern came out and dominated the both sides of the line of scrimmage, but could not overcome some penalties to put the game out of reach.

The stumble at the end of the second and beginning of the 3rd allowed Bloomsburg to tie the game at 14.  The tie would only last for the kickoff.  On the first play from scrimmage following the kick, Tyrell Thomas went 70 yards for a TD and Southern never looked back.

With the win, Southern goes to 5-1 and will have another show down with undefeated Danville.  The good that came out of Friday's game was that the Tiger's running game got on track and were for the most part able to impose their will on the Panthers.

Defensively, Southern was able to cover most of the Bloomsburg receiver with man coverage and were able to keep the heat on Blake Rankin.

The only negative in the win were the penalties.  First, the Tigers committed 11 of them.  Second, they were not able to keep drives alive after they were committed.  More on penalties down below.

TV, Officials and Penalties

The Southern-Bloom game was televised live by WNEP16 (2).  Between TV timeouts, penalties and pass attempts the game lasted close to 3 hours.  The officials never seemed to be on the same page when the TV timeouts were called.  It led to Jim Roth questioning the officials whether coach Sones was allowed to bring his Panthers over to the sideline.

I'm all for TV coverage, but when it becomes more of a field distraction maybe some simple rules should be observed.

During the regular season, a game cannot be stopped by media.  Simple.

Getting back to the other side of officials,  I was a little surprised.  In Week 6, two teams were called for 21 penalties.  Friday was the third Southern game that I had the privilege to broadcast.  In the previous two with Line Mountain and Shamokin, the Tigers were not called for one illegal block.  On Friday, the were called for three from the line of scrimmage.   What did the officials see in Week 6 that wasn't seen in Week 1 or 2?

Bad Weekend for Local QB's

Dave Shinskie regained his starting spot on Saturday for Boston College.  One TD pass and two INT's, with the latter being returned 28 yards for a TD, Shinskie was pulled from the game.  Again, BC doesn't have a QB problem.  Their problem is lack of a running game and offensive line playing poor right now.  Boston College lost to NC State 44-17.

Shamokin Area graduate Marc Persing now sharing time at QB for Wilkes, suffered a broken leg that will require surgery.  Persing drove Wilkes 48 yards in the middle of a 22-point, 4th quarter comeback where the Colonels beat Lebanon Valley in 35-28 in OT.

Jim Roth Talks About the Bloomsburg Panthers for Week #6

Southern comes into Friday's game facing an undefeated Bloomburg Panther team at 5-0 through the first half the season. Including Bloomsburg, the last five Tiger opponents are 18-7 including a 2-3 Selinsgrove.

How will this game shape up? Southern used up the first 10 minutes of the fourth quarter in last season's playoff game against the Panthers to put the game out of reach.

This season after five games, Southern has struggled to run the football. For the first time in a long time, no one in the Tiger backfield is averaging close to 100 yards a game. Will the once vaunted running game be the Achilles heel?

Bloomsburg return most of their roster from last years team and are a little more physical up front. How physical remains to be seen.

Although Bloomsburg is 5-0 on the season, their toughest win has been against Montoursville. The Warriors are simply not the Warriors we are accustomed to see under Jim Bergen.

Strength of schedule will be big in this one. The Tigers already have been tested with Line Mountain, Shamokin, and Lewisburg.

Even though the Panthers have Blake Rankin, Southern has the better supporting cast.

The Tigers can't get caught looking ahead to Danville, every game is a meat grinder from here on out.

Southern Rolls Against Shamokin in Battle of Unbeatens

Going in tonight's game against Southern, Shamokin had a a lot to be happy about.  There long dormant running game (years) was churning out yardage with great play from the offensive line, the defense was playing great, and penalties were kept to a minimum.

Southern on the otherhand was starting slow in their first two games and trying to find some some consistency in the running game. The Indians had some optimism that was dashed away early.

If you would have told anyone going into Tiger Stadium that Shamokin would have two 100-yard rushers and would limit Thomas and Morton to about 100 yards total on the ground, most would have said Shamokin won.

Mistakes and penalties paid a visit to Shamokin tonight with two turnovers, a blown coverage and sloppy tackling leading to 28 points and a 42-13 win by the Tigers.

Tyrell Thomas had three touchdowns including pass receptioins of 40 and 47 yard for scores to go with an 8- yard TD run.

Defensively, Matt Moore was all over the field including an outstanding performance on kick coverage for the Tigers.

The microcosm of the game was the very first series where Southern recovered a Shamokin funble at the Indian 25 and Thomas scored from 8 yards out three plays laters.  Shamokin came back and big run by Matt Montgomery put the Indians in a would be first-and-goal at 6, but a dead ball moved Shamokin back to the 20 and would be 35-yard field goal was short. 

After trading possesions, it was Thomas breaking a tackle and taking it to the house for 41 yards and a 14-0 lead.  Gone was Shamokin's ability to control the game and run downhill. Southern's defense made the Indians offensive life miserable holding Montgomery to 54 yards in the first half total.

In the end, it was Southern's ability to dominate the line of scrimmage.  It wasn't overall domination, but the did it at critical times when Shamokin folded in critical moments.

Shamokin travels to Selinsgrove next week who lost in the waning seconds to Manheim Central.  Southern will play Central Columbia. 

Southern vs. Shamokin Preview for Week 3

On Friday, Southern and Shamokin will play for the 6th time in the modern era with the Tigers holding a 4-1 advantage including winning the last four in row.  The game has still been a great rivalry between the school with great attendance, but it now lacking some regional media exposure. Southern hasn't won a state title since 2006 and Shamokin hasn't had a .500 season since 2005 haven't been a playoff team since the '04 campaign.

I believe this game will be different. It has to go back to the 2009 game which Southern won by a 21-7 score.  Jake Morton scored on a 62-yard run on the second play of the game and the Indians battled them 14-7 the rest of the way.

I have had the opportunity to see Shamokin twice and Southern once.  The Indians went to a wing-T offense but unlike Southern run their motion man parallel to the line of scrimmage.  With that change, the Indians have been able to pound teams with the running game a piling up time of possession minutes.  Defensively, Shamokin has made huge strides in the secondary in both coverage and run support (tackling).  The Indians also improved in the penalty department committing only 9 in two games and one 15-yarder.

In one of the strangest games in 30-plus years around high school football, Southern came back from on the ropes down 20-0 to Line Mountain  to route the Eagles 49-20.  The Tigers took advantage of injuries and 7 turnovers with the comeback.  For the season, the Tigers now have a plus-8 turnover ratio.

How will Friday play out?  With absence of Tom Schetroma for Southern, Wes Tillet will be the best lineman on the field and makes the rest of his teammates much better.  The Tigers have been coming out of the gate slow with no touchdowns in the first period while Shamokin has been getting out of the gate quick but has a tendancy to coast in the middle.  Shamokin has enough parts to stop the run.  The Indians can't afford to coast due to the Tigers putting up 77 in the middle quarters this season.

Give the edge to Southern if it comes down to special teams with the punting of Tim Benner and placekicking of Colton Yeick being better than Shamokin's punter Jared Montgomery and placekicker Jon Vanaskie.

Shamokin hasn't trailed all season and their first team defense hasn't been scored upon.  Southern is well tested and has played from behind.  If Shamokin scores first they can win.  Don't blink.  Barring a major injury, this game will be over in under 2 hours.  Over the coarse of the series Shamokin has played Southern tough with the exception of 2006.  No one was beating the Tigers in 2006.  In mild upset pick, Shamokin 20, Southern 14.

ALIVE IN 1975

It was great to see so many members of Shamokin's 1975 Eastern Conference Championship team including head coach Tim Montgomery who came in from Maryland.  Great memories were shared with coaches and team members.  Team member Geoff Thomas came in for the reunion from the state of Wyoming. 

Joking around with team members, I forgot the great game Brian Jeremiah had on the defensive front stopping a great veer attack by the Pottsville Crimson Tide in a 21-20 win.  Not to matter, the '75 Indians are champions forever.

Jim Roth Talks About the Opener Against Line Mountain

Jim Roth Previews the District 4-A Championship

Southern Area turned in an outstanding performance against Bloomsburg last weekend. Big drives, clock control and great defense in the face of a team flu and a player suspension.

I like the Tigers winning a close one depending on the status of the Line Mountain quarterback Marty Beninsky.

The Drive of the Ages for Southern

18, 90, 10 sounds like meaningless numbers until you put them into context. For a football team trying to avenge an earlier defeat, fighting the flu, a player suspension those numbers come to mean so much more for Southern Columbia's football team.

Bloomsburg's Blake Rankin electrified the home crowd with a 38-yard scramble for a touchdown as time expired in the 3rd quarter pulling the Panthers within 21-6 and a possible possession or two left in the game.

To add to Southern's frustration, a knuckle ball kick bounce over the Tiger return man and he eventually was tackled at the 10. The start was first and ten at the 10-yard line. A quick three and out would have gave Rankin a chance to rally, momentum was on Bloomsburg's side.

The next time Bloomsburg would touch the ball there would be 1:49 left in the game and the Panthers would be staring at a 28-6 deficit and dashed district title hopes.

Southern went on an 18-play, 90-yard drive that would eat up the first 10:11 of the first quarter. High school teams would have a hard time with two 9-play drives or three, 6-play drives. College and professional teams would be envious.

From the News-Item, "It's one of the more impressive wins we've had, considering a good amount of our starters didn't practice all week," Roth said. "To come out and play this way is a tribute to their toughness and their courage to come out here and gut it out against a good team and turn around their fortunes from the first time.

Onward to Line Mountain.

Jim Roth Previews the Bloomsburg Panthers

Going into Friday's playoff game with long time rival Bloomsburg, Southern looks to avenge and earlier season loss to the Panthers. In the Roth era at Southern, this may be the first time the Tigers are looking to return the favor.

Locals make "A" All-State Football Team

First Team

Aaron Inch - Line Mountain - DL

Second Team

Chase Fraley - Southern Columbia - OL

Jon Fausey - Line Mountain - LB

Aaron Yoder - Southern Columbia - LB

Steve Roth - Southern Columbia - RB

Special kudos go out to Todd Maciejewski who made first team in AAAA as the punter for Red Land. Todd's father Steve and I were teammates at Lourdes Regional and members of the Class of 1984.

MCA, Southern and Riverside in the News

Harold Raker previews of the MCA-Montoursville game in the Daily-Item.

Raker also adds this piece about Zach Lutz.

Dan Burda features Southern LB Tony Drain for the News-Item.

Raker previews the Southern-Riverside game.

Raker also features lineman Chase Fraley of Southern.

Joby Fawcett of the Scranton Times features Matt Talerico of Riverside.

BASKETBALL

Colin Klebon signs with Bucknell.

Jim Roth discusses upcoming game with Riverside

Jim Roth talks about upcoming playoff game with the Riverside Vikings.