A 40-point first-half shootout captivates audience between local schools.
By: BRAD PRICE
Fourth Quarter Media
SOUTH CENTRE TWP. — Southern won, 54-27, over Central in a hard-fought game on the road.
The Blue Jays (3-2) refused to go down without a fight, giving the Tigers all they could handle in the first half. Central cashed in the very first drive of the game on a 24-yard touchdown run by Jack Schecterly, briefly silencing the Tigers crowd after he broke free for the score.
The Tigers answered with a 10-play drive of their own and a touchdown by Gaige Garcia, one of three on the day for the Southern back.
The scoring volley continued as Central responded to keep the first half exciting on Ky Seesholtz touchdown run to give the Blue Jays a 13-7 lead. The Blue Jay scoring drive, benefitting off two Southern personal fouls on one play, helped put them deep in the Tigers’ territory.
“I just thought that maybe the officials could do a better job of kind of managing things early in the game,” Southern Head Coach Jim Roth said. “It just seemed like there were too many penalties called.”
Southern had 13 penalties for 141 yards while the Blue Jays racked up 14 penalties for 84 yards in what would be an ongoing theme in the game.
The Tigers tied it at 13 on Southern Columbia quarterback Preston Zachman’s 45-yard touchdown run.
“Preston Zachman was a big player all game,” Gaige Garcia said. “He got the job done with the passing and he stepped in for Stone Hollenbach and he did a great job.”
Less than four minutes later, Southern was on the board again as Julian Fleming caught a jump ball over a Blue Jays’ defender for a touchdown to give Southern a 20-13 lead.
The Blue Jays, refusing to go quietly, struck right back with a running back pass on Isaac Gensemer’s 36-yard touchdown pass to Eli Morrison to tie the game at 20 heading into half.
“We’ve had the play (in our playbook) for three years.” Central Head Coach Scott Dennis said. “We ran the same play two years ago but we don’t run it often.”
Southern trailed for the first time all year on Schechterly’s long touchdown run to start the game.
“They have been improving every year, and I think they have their kids to the point where not only are they capable of playing good football but they believe in themselves and they believe they can play with a team like us and they came out and showed they can,” Roth said.
After another Gaige Garcia touchdown run to start the second half, brother Gavin Garcia got into the act as well, reeling off a 42-yard touchdown run of his own.
“It was a sweep (play), I got through the hole and leapfrogged from one blocker’s back to the next,” Gavin Garcia said. “When I saw the littlest seam, busted through it and just saw green from there.”
Gavin Garcia added another score late in the fourth quarter to finish with nine carries for 91 yards and two touchdowns.
Ty Roadarmel added another touchdown for Southern’s rushing attack, on a short run to put the Blue Jays down 20.
Central eventually put one more second half score on the board as Troy Johnson, showed off his speed and scored on a 33-yard scamper but the damage was done.
“We wanted to play a second half and we got a game,” Gaige Garcia said. “ We did what we needed to do in the second half and got the job done.”
Southern 7 13 27 7 - 54
Central 6 14 0 7 - 27
First Quarter
CC- Jack Schecterly 24 run (Run Failed), 8:10
SC- Gaige Garcia 4 run (Ethan Dunkelberger kick), 3:46
Second quarter
CC- Ky Seesholtz 1 run (Gregory kick), 11:24
SC- Preston Zachman 45 run (Kick Failed), 10:12
SC- Julian Fleming 17 pass from Zachman (Dunkelberger kick), 6:51
CC- Eli Morrison 36 pass from Gensemer (Gregory kick), 1:43
Third quarter
SC- Gaige Garcia 4 run (Dunkelberger kick), 8:41
SC- Gavin Garcia 42 run (Kick Failed), 6:03
SC- Ty Roadarmel 5 run (Dunkelberger kick), 4:07
SC- Gaige Garcia 3 run (Dunkelberger kick), 1:40
Fourth quarter
CC- Troy Johnson 33 run (Gregory kick), 9:00
SC- Gavin Garcia 18 run (Dunkelberger kick), 5:04
S C
First downs 21 18
Rush-yds. 39-354 36-152
Com-att-int 9-11-1 10-22-0
Passing yds. 144 132
Total yds. 498 284
Penalty-yds. 13-141 14-84
Fumbles-lost 0-0 2-0
Rushing — Southern: Gaige Garcia 16-143; Gavin Garcia 9-91; Preston Zachman 6-63; Braden Him 1-26; Ty Roadarmel 5-18; Brandon Gedman 2-13. Central: Isaac Gensemer 17-65; Johnson 7-51, TD; Jack Schechterly 6-37, TD; Ky Seesholtz 3-4, TD; Trae Devlin 3-(-5).
Passing — Southern: Zachman 9-11-1 144 yds., TD. Devlin: 9-21-0 96 yds. Central: Gensemer 1-1-0 36 yds., TD.
Receiving — Southern: Julian Fleming 8-134, TD; Gav. Garcia 1-10. Central: Eli Morrison 4-71, TD; Gensemer 2-39; Jared Verse 2-19; Zander Bradley 1-10.