By Todd Hummel
For The Daily Item
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MANDATA — Southern Columbia coach Jim Roth called it one of the strangest games he’s ever been a part of in 30 years of football.
Line Mountain coach Mike Carson would probably just rather forget the whole game all together.
The Eagles raced out to a 20-point lead in the first quarter, but the Tigers came roaring back with 49 unanswered points to notch a 49-20 victory on Saturday night in a nonleague matchup between two of the top contenders for the District 4 Class A football championship.
“(No), we didn’t panic, but I was kind of disgusted for a while,” Southern’s Roth said. “Thirty years of coaching high school football and it’s one of the most amazing games I’ve ever been a part of.
To come out and have one team scoring 20 unanswered points with such ease and then have the other team come back and score 49 unanswered points ... I’ve never been a part of something like that.”
This coming from a man whose team ran for over 700 yards in a state playoff game.
The Eagles (0-1) had no problems moving the ball up-and-down the field against the Tigers defense in the first quarter, rolling up 198 yards on the ground in opening up a 20-0 lead. Joey Hukill had a 30-yard touchdown run, quarterback Marty Beninsky added a 17-yard scoring scamper, and Kyle Troutman finished up the first-quarter scoring with a 37-yard touchdown run.
Unfortunately for the Eagles, there were three more quarters to play.
“Give a lot of credit to Southern Columbia. They didn’t panic and they physically took control of the football game,” Carson said. “There was a point where our wheels fell off and they exposed all of our weaknesses.”
After the first quarter, Beninsky was forced to leave the game for most of the second quarter, and though he returned, the Eagles never found the rhythm they had on offense in the first quarter again.
The Tigers took advantage of seven Line Mountain turnovers to take control of the game, and their physical style of play left three key Eagles’ players on the bench: Beninsky, Hukill and center Bryce Martz.
Southern Columbia had cut the lead to 20-14 by halftime. Tim Benner picked off backup quarterback Cole Rickert deep in Line Mountain territory, giving the Tigers the ball on the 26. After Tyrell Thomas ripped off a 21-yard run, Aaron Zigarski scored from five yards out with 6:58 left in the first half to cut the lead to 20-6 after a missed extra point.
Another interception set up the next score, as the Tigers marched 46 yards in 11 plays to cut the lead to 20-14 after Jake Morton scored from nine yards out, then ran in the two-point conversion with 39 seconds left in the half.
Southern Columbia got the ball back to start the second half, but was forced to punt. Matt Moore then recovered a fumbled snap and Thomas scored from two yards out to give Southern Columbia a 21-20 lead with 7:15 left in the third quarter.
The Tigers scored on their next four possessions to put the game away. Quarterback Jake Townsend scored on a five-yard keeper before Morton and Thomas each added their second touchdown of the game as the Tigers took a 42-20 lead into the fourth quarter.
