By Harold Raker
ARCHBALD -- Riverside coach Harry Armstrong thought he needed to show Southern Columbia something the Tigers hadn't seen and he picked the perfect time to do it.
With Riverside leading 6-0 and facing a third-and-seven at its own 14-yard line Friday night in the PIAA Class A Eastern quarterfinals, Armstrong called a timeout. He didn't call it to decide what to run. He just wanted the players to know their responsibilities.
Out of the huddle, with the Tigers sending nine men after quarterback John Velahoski, the quarterback tossed a shovel pass to tailback Joe Klebon, who raced 68 yards before Joe Admire caught him from behind at the Tigers' 18. Four plays later Klebon scored from the one to give the Vikings a two-scored lead and Riverside went on to a 25-7 victory.
"We put that play in last week but we didn't use it against Old Forge," Klebon said. "It's a great play on third down. They were bringing the house and they had us backed up. It was a real momentum changer."
Southern Columbia coach Jim Roth said, "I don't think our kids were affected a whole lot (by that play), but the problem is it turned it into a two-score game."
He said he thought if his team could have punched the ball in when it had a chance in the first half, "we might have stayed on top of things a little more defensively and we possibly would have had a shot to go in (to halftime) with a 7-6 lead, which is a heck of a lot better than being down 12-0."
But the Tigers recovered and drove 70 yards in 13 plays, all on the ground on the first series of the second half with Sam Springer scoring on a 3-yard run. Bryan Snyder's kick made it 12-7.
Southern finally forced the Vikings (13-0) to go three and out and seemed to have the momentum turned around. But the Southern offense also went three and out, thanks in large part to tackle Ryan Mickavicz, who made two tackles for losses in that series.
"We knew if we could get a stop there it could be the game," Mickavicz said.
Indeed, Klebon made it happen on the next play after the punt. Seemingly stopped for no gain on a quick hitter up the middle, Klebon broke free for a 45-yard gut wrenching TD run for an 18-7 lead with 2:46 left in the third.
Klebon said it felt like three or four Tigers had their hands on him, but "I just keep my legs driving."
Armstrong said, "He did what we tell them to do, he stayed low and kept his legs moving. That was a big play."
Roth said, "That became huge with the problems we were having putting the ball in the end zone. Plus, they are a tough team to get a breakaway play on."
The Tigers, who ended their season at 10-3, were forced to go the air and they made a few plays, but not enough. Riverside's Corey Talerico came up with an interception and the Vikings tacked on a late score on a 2-yard run with 1:40 left, set up by Valehoski's 30-yard pass to Matt Talerico.
Armstrong said he never felt comfortable against Southern until Klebon added the fourth TD. Klebon scored all 25 points on four TDs and an extra point. The Vikings went for two on the first three scores.
Roth said his defense played well enough to win but the offense didn't take advantage of its opportunities. Aside from the TD, the Tigers were 0-for-2 in the red zone. The most frustrating visit came just after Klebon's long TD run. The Tigers drove to the Vikings' 5-yard line, but committed an illegal shift on a fourth-and-2, then threw an incompletion.
"It was really a three-to-one score game, I don't count that last one, that means nothing. I would like to give them no big plays but they are a very difficult team to say that your going to totally shut them down and not give them any big plays at all," Roth said.
"I really felt that we would have done a little better offensively, that momentum may have held them to two scores and that would have been a tremendous effort against this football team," he added.
Senior halfback Springer led the Tigers with 116 yards on 16 carries and Roth finished with 94.
Klebon, who also played safety, said the defense came up big. "We knew they had three great running backs in their wing-T and they were averaging 30 points a game, and we held them to seven."
