Southern defense recovers, allows seven points in second half.
BY DANIEL LIPOVSKY
Fourth Quarter Media
FRANKLYN TWP. — The Southern Columbia found themselves in a precarious position on Friday night. At the end of the first half the Tigers were tied with rival Central Columbia.
Southern Columbia allowed the Bluejays to put up 20 points in the first half, more points than they had allowed in a game to this point.
The Tigers’ defense was unable to generate pressure all game and finished with only one sack.
Southern assisted the Blue Jay offense by amassing 13 penalties for 141 yards in the game, which helped Central Columbia move the ball down the field on their first-half possessions.
The Tigers had to deal with absence of key defender, Preston Zachman, as he filled in at quarterback in relief of injured Stone Hollenbach.
“It changed a lot of things. We had to make a lot of defensive changes and everything,” Zachman said.
Without Zachman on the field the Tigers were forced to shift their players around on defense causing the Tigers to get off to a slow start on defense.
“A lot of people playing in positions they weren’t at before caused a lot of confusion,” Zachman said.
In the second half, the Tigers played an entirely different game. They held the Blue Jays to just one score in the second half as the Tiger offense rallied.
“We came like the score’s zero-zero, like a fresh game,” linebacker Cal Haladay said.
In Zachman’s absence, other Tiger defenders had to step their game up. Cal Haladay helped to fill the gap left from Zachman’s absence as he led the Tigers in tackles with 10 tackles including a tackle for a loss. In the second half the Tiger’s there were no major changes to the Tiger’s game plan but they were able to regain their cool.
“We just executed better defensively in the second half overall between run defense and pass coverage,” Southern head coach Jim Roth said.
Blue Jays quarterback Trae Devlin began the game completing 6 of his first 10 passes for 97 yards and helped keep the Blue Jays in a competitive game with Southern Columbia. The
Tiger defense got on track and only allowed Devlin one more completion for seven yards the rest of the game.
The Tigers ,getting their run game going in the second half, helped their defense to get their bearings.
“They go hand in hand, you know one leads of the other,” Roth Said.
Solos Assists Total
S.C.
Cal Halladay 3 6 10
Cade Linn 3 2 6
Cole Schankweiler 2 3 6
Shane Miller 2 3 5
Wade Kerstetter 2 3 5
Payton Pursel 2 2 5
Ty Roadarmel 1 2 3
Logan Potter 3 1 4
Max Tillet 1 1 3
Nate Crowl 2 0 2
Derek Wertman 0 2 2
Lear Quinton 0 1 2
Owyne Pursel 1 0 1
Jacob Gessner 0 1 1
Robert Williams 0 1 1
Julian Fleming 1 0 1
Gavin Garcia 1 0 1
Sacks: Cole Schankweiler. Tackles For Loss: Cal Haladay, 1; Lear Quinton, 1; Cade Linn, 1; Payton Pursel, 1; Max Tillet, 1.
Solos Assist Total
Central Columbia
Jacob Reifer 7 1 8
Isaac Gensemer 2 5 8
Ky Seesholtz 5 0 6
Garrett Carter 2 3 5
Zander Bradley 3 2 5
Carter Crawford 0 3 3
Jack Schechterly 1 2 3
Ian Huntington 2 1 3
Joshua Cohen 1 1 2
Dylan Walters 1 1 2
Troy Johnson 2 0 2
Carter Crawford 1 0 1
Matt Bierly 1 0 1
Dylan Devlin 1 0 1
Jared Verse 0 0 1
Tackles For Loss: Ky Seesholtz, 1; Isaac Gensemer, 1. Interceptions: Zander Bradley, 1.
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