MOUNT CARMEL -- To have a legitimate shot at making the District 4 Class A playoffs, Southern Columbia needed to beat Mount Carmel, which was also fighting for its playoff life, in Friday night's Heartland Athletic Conference Division II matchup.
And in order to get the win, Southern coach Jim Roth knew his team had to have a good passing day from junior quarterback Jake Townsend and control the line of scrimmage with its running game.
Like a pizza guy, the Tigers delivered.
Townsend threw two touchdown passes in the first half, and Southern's ground game took care of the rest in the second half as the Tigers came away a 31-20 win at the Silver Bowl.
"This is what we needed to do if we were going to have a legitimate shot at doing something in the playoffs," said Roth. "We needed to elevate our play, and play well at the end of the year. Since the Bloomsburg game (a 27-24 loss in week six) we've done that.
"As long as we take care of business next week (the Tigers play at Milton), we have an opportunity to have a first-round home game," added Roth. "At one time during the season that looked out of the question."
Southern (5-4, 4-2 HAC-II) opened up a 17-0 lead in the first half behind Townsend's two touchdown passes and a 42-yard field goal by B.J. Snyder.
Townsend threw a 54-yard strike to Jared Hallick for the first score, and he had a 27-yard pass to Billy Shoop, the latter coming with just three seconds left on the clock.
"That score at the end of the first half had to be back-breaker for Mount Carmel mentally to see that happen," Roth said. "It was one of Jake's better games, certainly as far as throwing the ball."
In the second half the Tigers' focused shifted to running the ball as they tried to sit on that 17-0 lead and eat up as much of the clock as possible.
Mount Carmel (5-4, 4-1) interrupted that plan as Tyler Karycki's 41-yard touchdown run midway through the third quarter cut Southern's lead to 17-6.
The Red Tornadoes continued to make things interesting in the fourth quarter as Jacob Kleman caught a 12-yard scoring pass from Eddie Stewart and Justin Pellowski ran for a 12-yard score.
However, the Tigers added a pair of touchdowns of their own in the fourth on a one-yard run by Jake Morton and a 10-yard run by Tyrell Thomas.
"The thing that pleased me overall was the way the kids hung tough when we had a little momentum shift in the third quarter," Roth said.
"The way we were able to go at them and physically run the ball right at them late in the game when they had 11 people up tight, that's a great sign," Roth added. "That's something we haven't done enough of the last couple of years against quality teams. Had we not done that in the second half, the outcome could've been different."
Townsend finished with 129 passing yards and Thomas piled up 149 yards on the ground on 23 carries. Morton added 48 yards on 16 carries.
"Tyrell has come on in the last couple of weeks. It's just a matter of him getting more comfortable with what he's doing," said Roth. "There's a number of people who we feel have stepped up since the beginning of the year, and that's what we want to see."
Sports
Tigers continue playoff push
- Sports
-
-
Shikellamy Braves rally to stay alive
SELINSGROVE — With 11 losses, the Shikellamy girls basketball team is teetering on the brink of elimination from the District 4 Class AAA playoffs. And on Wednesday night, it looked like the Braves were going to go quietly into the offseason when Selinsgrove built a 14-point lead early in the third quarter.
-
They learn to be tough young
It's difficult to recall exactly how the sequence unfolded because it happened so darn fast. Shikellamy made a couple baskets, and the crowd began to stir. It was still anybody's game, and the Braves had some momentum late in the third quarter of a recent run with Danville.
-
Motorsports: Selinsgrove, Lincoln speedways to host 360 sprint series
MECHANICSBURG -- Mach 1 Chassis of Mechanicsburg will be the title sponsor of the Mid-Atlantic 360 Sprint Car Championship Series, a $120,000 six-race tour that will include five shows at Selinsgrove Speedway and one event at Lincoln Speedway in 2012.
-
Girls basketball: Records fall, Red Tornadoes stay unbeaten
SOUTH WILLIAMSPORT -- An overflow crowd zealously cheered Tierney Pfirman's pursuit of the South Williamsport scoring record throughout Tuesday's game, until their breathless faces matched the Mounties' royal blue.
-
High school roundup: Rosini pin lifts Ironmen over Tigers
DANVILLE -- Steven Rosini's pin over Connor Houseknecht in 37 seconds in the final bout of the day at 132 pounds prevented disaster for Danville as the Ironmen pulled out a 40-36 Heartland Athletic Conference crossover victory on Tuesday.
-
College sports notebook: Antensteiner starts, finishes fast
ANVILLE -- Ines Antensteiner, a member of the powerful Lewisburg girls track & field team for the past four seasons wasted little time making her presence felt in college. On Monday, Antensteiner, a freshman at Lebanon Valley, was named the Middle Atlantic Conference's Indoor Track & Field Athlete of the Week after a pair of event wins at Saturday's Ducharme Invitational.
-
Bill Bowman's column on college sports: Tale of two teams in the clutch
Because basketball season is so long it is easy to forget that one or two moments in a single game can essentially make or break an entire season. While teams might play 30 games or so, most of them come down to a couple of possessions, spots where one little thing can be the difference between winning and losing, between making the postseason tournament or turning in the uniforms.
-
Sports court strips Contador of 2010 Tour title
MADRID -- Alberto Contador was stripped of his 2010 Tour de France title Monday and banned for two years after sports' highest court found the Spanish cyclist guilty of doping. The Court of Arbitration for Sport suspended the three-time Tour champion after rejecting his claim that his positive test for clenbuterol was caused by eating contaminated meat on a 2010 Tour rest day.
-
H.S. boys basketball: Selinsgrove rallies to top Southern Columbia
CATAWISSA -- In a battle between two schools better known for their football programs, Monday's game between host Southern Columbia and Selinsgrove naturally featured plenty of physical play. After a combined 43 fouls and 55 free-throw attempts, the Seals finally pulled it out. Reserve guard Tyler Krebs made five foul shots in the final minute and a half in Selinsgrove's 54-53 victory.
-
High School Bowling: Kratzer, Hartranft take home Pro-Am titles
SUNBURY -- The name might have changed, but the results were the same. Now called the 13th annual Best Bowl/Strike Zone High School Pro-Am Scholarship Challenge, the two-day tournament was another success as it pitted some of the Valley's best young bowlers against each other in friendly competition.
- More Sports Headlines
-
