Stone Hollenbach dazzles in his return from injury while D4 leading passer KJ Riley struggles after strong start.
By ADAM ROBERTS
Fourth Quarter Media
DANVILLE — For the third time this season Southern Columbia trailed to start the game. And for the third time this season, the Tigers rallied to a victory.
Only Southern’s 49-7 win over Danville wasn’t much of a rally despite the electric start.
Danville’s KJ Riley, the District 4 leading passer, was billed up to the hype. The only problem: so was Southern’s Julian Fleming and Stone Hollenbach.
Riley took the Ironmen downfield on the very first drive, hitting Peyton Persing for 57 yards before capping the drive off with his own two legs — an 11-yard quarterback scramble to take an early lead.
It didn’t last.
Returning from a broken bone in his non-throwing hand, Hollenbach aired it out to Fleming but the pass looked like it was too far. Except he was throwing to five-star receiver Fleming, who has a knack for making plays.
“First pass going for a touchdown, that’s pretty special,” Hollenbach said. “When you have a receiver that’s as fast as Julian … He says I can’t over throw him. I’m not going to say anything about that.”
Fleming zoomed underneath the pass and ran it the rest of the way for a 63-yard score.
“He’s a great athlete sometimes all you got to do is throw it out there and just let them run under it,” Fleming said. “That’s exactly what I did there.”
Fleming finished with nine catches for 163 and three total touchdowns, including an interception return that came two plays after his first score of the game, and just as the taunts for the home student section started to make their way toward the sideline.
“There’s always feeding off of student sections,” Fleming said. “There job is to be there and get in kids’ heads, throw them off their game.”
They ended after Fleming ran back Riley’s throw for a 31-yard score, giving Southern a 14-7 lead.
It also marked a downward trend for the sophomore quarterback, who up until that point was 5 of 9 for 94 yards for the Ironmen.
Riley continued to help guide Danville’s offense but the drops started to pile up, as he completed 4 of his next 14 pass for 61 yards and another interception.
It was a rough finish for the promising sophomore, but still garnered praise from Hollenbach.
“I thought he was a very good player and a very good quarterback,” Hollenbach said. “Our defense is tough.”
In Hollenbach’s return, he finished 13 of 20 for 228 yards and two touchdowns.
The Tigers went on to score 49 unanswered points, and held Riley to just 12 yards in the second half on 2 of 7 passing.
Southern Columbia 21 0 21 7 — 49
Danville 7 0 0 0 — 7
First quarter
D — KJ Riley 11 run (Peyton Riley kick), 8:48
SC — Julian Fleming 63 pass from Stone Hollenbach (Ethan Dunkelberger kick), 5:21
SC — Fleming 31 interception return (Dunkelberger kick), 4:25
SC — Gaige Garcia 1 run (Dunkelberger kick), 2:48
Third quarter
SC — Fleming 48 pass from Stone Hollenbach (Dunkelberger kick), 10:12
SC — Gavin Garcia 1 run (Dunkelberger kick), 2:50
SC — Gaige Garcia 6 run (Dunkelberger kick), :49
Fourth quarter
SC — Braden Heim 4 run (Dunkelberger kick), 4:19
D SC
First Downs 5 16
Rush-Yds 18-(-2) 52-186
Comp-att-int 12-32-0 13-20-0
Passing 172 228
Total yds. 170 414
Penalties 7-55 7-60
Fumbles-lost 2-2 1-1
Rushing - Southern Columbia: Gaige Garcia 19-116, 2 TDs; Ty Roadarmel 5-27; Braden Heim 3-16, TD; Stone Hollenbach 3-10; Nate Kearney 2-9; Gavin Garcia 8-8, TD. Danville: KJ Riley 1-11, TD; Joey Harris 1-4; Eric Sees, 4-3; Jagger Dressler 5-3; Jaydon Diven 1-0; Team 1-(-11); Peyton Persing 5-(-12).
Passing - Southern Columbia: Stone Hollenbach 13-20-0 228 yds., 2 TDs. Danville - KJ Riley 12-32-0, 172 yds.
Receiving: Southern Columbia: Julian Fleming 9-163, 2 TDs; Preston Zachman 3-63; Ty Roadarmel 1-2. Danville: Shane Kozick 4-39; Persing 3-111; Sees 3-7; Peyton Riley 1-12; Ian Persing 1-3.
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