By Harold Raker
MANDATA — After years of dominating District 4 and the rest of the state, the 2009 version of Southern Columbia football was going nowhere. Perhaps not even to the playoffs.
Or so the naysayers declared.
After the Tigers downed Line Mountain 42-12 on Friday night to win their 18th district Class A championship, and second in a row, they more than made up for their 3-4 start.
Yet, if you listen to Southern junior quarterback Jake Townsend, you get the feeling that these guys could just be getting started.
After throwing for 137 yards and a touchdown and watching fullback Jake Morton run for 121 yards and three TDs, Townsend was not ready to rest on his or the team’s laurels.
“We struggled (early in the season), but we’re still not to the top of our potential,” Townsend said after he and his teammates had finished hoisting another district championship plaque at Eagle Stadium. “We still have a lot more to progress. Hopefully we get a few more good games going and it will take us right through the playoffs.
One reason for the Tigers’s resurgence was the improved play of its veteran offensive line, which consists of just one underclassmen.
Senior left tackle Joe Klebon said, “They were hopping back a little bit from a 4-3 to a 4-4 and we had some times where it was tough and they made some plays in the backfield, but we kept at it and, I think, we won the battle in the trenches, and that was huge.”
Southern coach Jim Roth agreed. “Coming into the season that was the experienced part of the team. Those guys have stepped up and really played better the second half of the season.”
Like the champions they are, the Tigers responded to adversity, robbing the Eagles of their momentum.
Klebon added, “If they get the momentum, you’ve gotta get it right back.”
The Tigers did that twice, stealing some thunder from the Eagles and freshman quarterback Cole Rickert.
Southern (8-4), which will play District 2 champion Northwest next weekend at a District 4 site, led 14-0 at the half on a pair of touchdowns by Morton.
Southern scored on its second possession as Townsend hit Billy Shoop on a slant for 22 yards on third-and-five, then connected with halfback Tyrell Thomas for 12 yards. Morton jumped over the top of the pile for a one-yard score. Bryan Snyder’s first of five PATs made it 7-0 with 1:18 left in the first period.
On its next possession, Line Mountain (8-4) eschewed the punt on fourth-and-one at its own 36-yard and came up inches short. The Tigers made the Eagles pay and again it was Townsend who came through in the clutch. On third-and-four, Townsend faked the dive and ran 29 yards to the one. Morton scored on the next play and the Tigers went up 14-0 with 9:47 left in the second.
Line Mountain coach Mike Carson said, “I may have put us in a bad position...I thought we could get the foot and a half we needed and we didn’t and they made us pay for that.”
Townsend said the success of the passing game was big because early on, the Tigers were not able to run against the Eagles’ 4-3 defense. “When we started completing some passes, we started running the ball a little better,” he said.
The Eagles decided at halftime to go with Rickert, who completed 6-of-13 second-half passes for 88 yards and ran for 66 yards, leading the Eagles to both TDs.
He led the Eagles to their first TD, a 3-yard run by Joey Hukill to make it 21-6 and later hit junior wide receiver Mike Marciniak on a 28-yard TD.
But the Tigers scored on their first four possessions in the second half to keep the Eagles at bay.
Carson said, “(The Tigers) played very well. Great job by their quarterback, great job by their receivers. We never really were able to find a way to solve what they were doing defensively.”
