DANVILLE -- While Southern Columbia does not begin defense of its five state titles and ump-teen District 4 titles until next week, the Tigers showed the heart of champions twice when the chips were down against high-flying Danville on Friday night.
Southern Columbia answered Danville score in the final minute of the first half with one of its own to take a lead into the locker room.
And when the Ironmen scored three TDs in the span of six minutes late in the third quarter to take a lead, the Tigers again responded.
This time, Steve Roth ran for three fourth-quarter touchdowns as Southern Columbia won 47-34 in a shootout at Ironmen Stadium.
Southern (9-1) likely hosts Line Mountain in the opening round of the District 4 Class A playoffs next week. Bloomsburg and Southern leap-frogged the Eagles with wins last night, giving them the top two seeds. The Ironmen (4-6) have wait word on their postseason fates with an Eastern Conference bid still possible.
"We did some good things, but we did other things poorly," Southern Columbia coach Jim Roth said. "The positive is we showed we can do some good things. We just need to be a little more consistent. From time to time we give up some stuff and we can't do that in the playoffs."
On a night when the Tigers' defense was under a microscope trying to corral the state's top passing attack, Southern's passing attack did enough damage until the Tigers' defense and ground attack took over in the fourth quarter.
Moments after Danville tight end Michael Smith turned a 2-yard pass into a 65-yard game-tying touchdown to even the score late in the first half, Southern QB Ted Heitzman turned in a brilliant 2-minute drill to give the Tigers the momentum right back.
Heitzman hit 4-of-5 passes on a 56-yard drive that took just 35 seconds. Heitzman connected with halflback Andrew Wimble for the final 22 yards to give Southern a 21-14 lead at half. Heitzman then Colby Snyder on a route adjustment to start the second half with a 30-yard TD pass, putting the Tigers up two scores.
"Ted is very efficient in that 2-minute drill, he's been that way for two years now," Roth said. "He does a nice job on the short passing game and then makes plays downfield when they are available."
Trailing by two scores, the Ironmen began to mount a comeback. Junior QB Andrew Shoop threw back-to-back 6-yard scoring passes to Smith and Nick Bloskey to tie the game at 28 with 2:35 left in the third. On Southern's next series, Bloskey stripped Austin Carpenter near midfield and raced into the end zone to make 34-28, Danville's first lead of the game.
"I told the guys at halftime that we fell behind against Selinsgrove and found a way to come back," Danville coach Jeremy Winn said. "A lot of teams in our shoes would have quit long before this. Our guys never quit."
Neither did the Tigers. They scored three times in the fourth quarter and limited the Ironmen to just two first downs. Southern took the lead for good early the fourth, when Roth capped a 65-yard drive with a 4-yard score. After forcing a punt, Roth then scored from a yard out to make it a 7-point game before he capped it with another 1-yard after an interception.
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