CATAWISSA -- Just like the fans of the Denver Broncos, followers of the Southern Columbia Tigers now have their own version of The Drive.
Unlike John Elway's heroics, Southern quarterback Ted Heitzman performed his magic in the final two minutes of the half. But, make no mistake about it, the Tigers' six-play, 74-yard, 36-second drive late in the first half of Friday night's Central Susquehanna Conference Division II game with Loyalsock was a game-changing series. Largely because of that drive, the Tigers were able to survive a 21-17 thriller.
Southern (6-1 overall, 4-1 CSC-II) trailed 9-0 when it got the ball back on a Loyalsock fumble. Tigers defensive end Brent Rosenbaum recovered the fumble at the Southern 26-yard line.
Heitzman, who had struggled earlier in the game, including missing a wide-open tight end Aaron Farnsworth for what would have been a 66-yard TD, completed 4 of 6 passes, including the 12-yard TD pass to Colby Snyder after being drilled from behind by blitzing safety Jesse Eggerton.
"I missed some guys before that drive but I knew what we were capable of doing and we went down and scored," Heitzman said.
He said he saw the blitzing defender at the last second. "I was like I'm going to get it off.' I let the ball go and Colby got it. All the way down I was looking at the ball and I went down and congratulated him. It was great."
Snyder said, "We had to put some points on the board. They were just giving it to us and giving it to us. During that drive me and him were really connecting."
Halfback Andrew Wimble also made a great catch, picking up 13 yards and a first down after bobbling the ball to keep the drive alive with 24 seconds left.
The Lancers (6-1, 2-1) scored on their first possession on a 30-yard field goal by Jackson Person and their third series, a 45-yard TD run on a draw play by tailback Austin Knighton. A bad snap foiled the PAT, but the Lancers led 9-0 with 7:05 left in the first half.
Southern seemed to have stolen the momentum when the Tigers followed the late first-half scoring drive with a 15-yard touchdown run by halfback Wimble on their first series of the second half to take a 14-9 lead with 7:03 left in the third.
The Tigers' running game produced 302 yards with Steve Roth netting 138 and Wimble 112. Southern coach Jim Roth said, "The development of the running game was one of the most pleasing things about this win. And we were able to step up and make some plays when we had to.
"It was a great high school football game and I have to give (the Lancers) credit. I can't remember a Loyalsock team that was any better than that. It was a huge win for us."
And the Lancers would not fold. Three plays after his team lost the lead, Knight broke through the middle of the line, picked up a block from fullback Jamie Van Fleet and raced 75 yards for a TD to give the lead back to Loyalsock. Quarterback Shane Carey passed to Robbie Wright for the two-point conversion for a 17-14 advantage with 5:56 left in the game.
The Lancers had a chance to pad their lead after recovering a Tigers fumble at the Southern 18. But a holding penalty and an outstanding defensive play by cornerback Zeke Conrad kept the Tigers in the game. Carey completed a sideline pass to Eggerton, but Conrad drove him out of bounds inches short of the first-down marker.
Southern got what turned out to be the game-winner when Wimble followed a 22-yard run by fullback Roth with a 35-yard TD run around the right side with 3:17 left. Wimble followed his blockers to the corner, then juked a linebacker and ran past the cornerback.
Wimble said, "If we didn't score, it was probably our last home game we'd be playing, so it was very important. The line made a nice hole and as soon as I saw the hole I just tried to hit it and run as fast as I could toward the end zone. I was thinking, Run as fast as you can because if we make this, we probably win.'""
The Lancers quickly moved into Southern territory and nearly scored on a pass from Carey to Wright when Snyder went for the ball and missed. Conrad chased Wright down at the 25 and Snyder made a great pass break-up two plays later to help save the victory.
Loyalsock coach Dick Delaney said, "I told my kids, Southern didn't beat us; we beat ourselves tonight with mistakes -- dropped balls, penalties, wrong alignments on defense. You can't do that against a team like Southern."
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Tigers shake off early deficit to nip Lancers
Tigers shake off early deficit to nip Lancers
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