By Brian Holtzapple
MILTON -- The first half of the season compared to the second half has been like night and day for Southern Columbia.
After seven games, the Tigers were a win under .500 and they were at risk for missing the District 4 Class A playoffs for the first time in 19 years.
But in the last three games Southern has turned it on when it mattered most, and in Friday's Heartland Athletic Conference crossover game against Milton the Tigers secured their spot in the playoffs.
Running backs Jake Morton and Tyrell Thomas combined for 270 yards on just 20 carries as Southern ran away for a 38-0 victory at Alumni Field.
Next up for Southern (6-4) is a game against Bloomsburg in the first round of the playoffs on Friday. Whether the Tigers host the game or go on the road is still up in the air.
Southern lost to Bloomsburg 27-24 in week six, but the game was a turning point for the team and the Tigers are itching for another shot at the Panthers.
"Things have fallen into place pretty well in the second half. If we continue to improve and play well we can do something in the playoffs," said Southern coach Jim Roth.
"That was one of our goals -- getting through the second half of the season and making the playoffs. The players wanted to have a shot of getting back into the districts and play Bloomsburg again.
"It looks like we'll have that opportunity."
Southern was sluggish to start the game, but after the Tigers got a 24-yard touchdown pass from Jake Townsend to Billy Shoop with 1:05 left in the first quarter they started to pick up momentum.
In the final two minutes of the second quarter the Tigers got a two-yard touchdown run from Morton and a 49-yard punt return from Alex Fidler for a 20-0 halftime lead.
"Milton was showing us some different defensive fronts, and there were a couple of times where we got crossed up on assignments, and of course we had two fumbles that hurt us and slowed us down," said Roth.
The Tigers poured it on in the third quarter and the mercy rule was put into effect.
They got touchdown runs from Thomas and Townsend in addition to a pair of safeties off bad snaps near the goal line for Milton (1-9), which suffered its third straight one-win season.
"Overall, with the way our backs are running now, and with the way we've been able to throw the ball in recent weeks, we feel pretty good with our execution and our consistency," said Roth. "We knew we had enough talent offensively right from day one, but a lot of it was consistency."
