Southern Columbia overcomes wet conditions, turnovers in blowout win over York Catholic
By DAVE FEGLEY
For the Fourth Quarter
SHAMOKIN — York Catholic had to weather two different storms on Saturday afternoon.
The first one — the heavy rain — the Fighting Irish were able to handle, but the second one they had no chance of stopping. That was Southern Columbia.
“I am proud of our guys. We finally got a district title, but the team we went up against today was just a completely different beast,” said York Catholic coach Eric Depew after a 56-23 loss.
The Fighting Irish came in 12-0, winning their first ever District III Championship, receiving a rare bye last week, but their reward wasn’t a fulfilling one.
Southern (14-0) came in and took care of business from the start.
“It was the first time we ever played them, so you didn’t know exactly what they might do,"Southern Columbia coach Jim Roth said. "I felt our guys played very good besides the couple of turnovers and one or two defensive mistakes.”
The Tigers jumped out to a 7-0 lead on a 49-yard touchdown reception when Julian Fleming found separation and received a good pass from Stone Hollenbach.
“Obviously when you throw to Julian you just have to get it on his area. He is going to take care of business when the football is in his hands,” Hollenbach said. “It was a nice start to give us the quick lead after our defense made a stop to start the game.”
The Fighting Irish were able to find a rare hole in the Tigers run defense on their initial drive when Cole Witman, son of former Pittsburgh Steelers back Jon Witman, ran 51 yards. Three plays later, quarterback Wes Burns connected with Benjamin Nelson on a 14-yard pass to tie the game at 7-7 with 8:19 left in the first. Unfortunately for the Fighting Irish, that would be the end of the fight.
Southern Columbia regained the lead on a 12-yard Hollenbach to Fleming connection to go up 14-7.
“I thought Stone did a real good job of getting some air under that throw to get it over their linebackers head and getting it to Julian,” Roth said.
After Max Tillett recovered a fumble on the ensuing kickoff, the Tigers looked like they were going to go ahead by two scores. Unfortunately, Hollenbach was intercepted by Nelson ending that opportunity.
After forcing a three and out, the Tigers got the ball back but had another turnover when Gaige Garcia fumbled to turn it over to the Fighting Irish.
Southern got the ball back when Preston Zachman intercepted Burns. On the very next play, Gaige Garcia redeemed himself by taking a handoff 55-yards to the end zone.
“It’s never good to fumble and especially in a playoff game. I’m hard on myself and I knew a fumble wasn’t what I wanted to happen," Gaige Garcia said. "I knew that if I got the ball again I was going to go.”
After an accidental two-point conversion attempt because of a high snap, kicker Ethan Dunkelberger tossed a pass to Gavin Garcia who found the goal line, putting Southern up 22-7 after the opening quarter.
After a nice punt by the Fighting Irish pinning the Tigers back at their own 6-yard line early in the second, Southern put together a five play drive covering 94 yards.
The score was via a 21-yard run by Gavin Garcia.
“It put the nail in the coffin and changed the mindset negatively for them and positively for us,” lineman John Stabinski said.
The physicality appeared to also change on that drive as the Tigers seemed to dominate the line of scrimmage completely.
“It’s extremely important because the more you dominate them, they realize they don’t want to be there and don’t play as well,” Stabinski said.
After another three-and-out, the Tigers needed just one play to extend their lead to 36-7. Hollenbach found Zachman behind the cornerback, and the junior outran the rest of the defense 72 yards to pay dirt.
“When Preston is able to get going, that makes our offense just that much tougher to defend,” Hollenbach said. “Now you have to stop Julian, Gaige, Gavin, Ty, and Preston who can all break off long plays.”
Fleming agreed that the emergence of Zachman in the receiving game will be crucial over the final stretch.
“It’s great to be able to spread the ball out especially with someone who can stretch the field like Preston can," Fleming said. "He’s a matchup nightmare and one of the strongest kids on the team."
With 103 yards receiving, it was a career high for the junior who started most of the regular season at quarterback when Hollenbach was injured.
After a Jake Davis interception, Gavin Garcia scored on a two-yard run to extend the Tigers' lead to 42-7.
The run put the younger Garcia over 1,000 yards rushing on the season, and it was also the final dagger leaving the York Catholic coaching staff no answers of how to stop the Tigers heading to the break with the game in the Mercy Rule.
“Nothing to hang your head about" Depew said. "We just ran in to a team that can do damage anywhere on the field. That Fleming kid is as good as advertised but they have so many other guys as well."
Being that it’s the state playoffs, Roth decided to give his starters some third quarter reps to get them used to maybe eventually playing a full game.
“I mean it’s definitely a good problem to have," Roth said. "We just want to make sure our guys are focused because after halftime they haven’t had to be for most of the season so far."
They didn’t stay out there for long, only getting three total plays in two scoring drives.
Gavin Garcia rushed for 61 yards on the first play of the third quarter. Then his brother, Gaige, finished the drive on a two yard plunge. The Tigers went up 56-7 on the next drive when Gaige Garcia ran 92 yards for the second longest run in Southern Columbia postseason history.
“There’s always motivation getting the ball with our offense," Gaige Garcia said. "Any one of our players can make a big play when they get the ball so I know when my number is called I gotta make the most of it.
"Julian actually called the touchdown (before it happened) which was crazy.”
York Catholic scored the game’s final two touchdowns taking advantage of the Tigers reserves. Quarterback Mitch Galentine ran in a one-yarded late in the third quarter, and he added a five-yard carry in the fourth.
Converting on both two-point conversion attempts, the 56-23 final score didn’t quite show the dominance of the Tigers. For the first time ever, Southern Columbia had two running backs and two wide receivers go over 100 yards all in the same game.
York Catholic finishes their season 12-1 and graduates a strong senior class with most of their starters being seniors.
Southern Columbia will take on District XII champ West Catholic next week in the PIAA Class 2A Eastern Final.
“They are going to try and spread our defense out more than most of the teams we have played, so we need to be ready for that,” Roth said.
The Tigers defeated the Burrs in the 2015 Eastern Final on their way to the school’s first ever Class 2A State Championship. That was the only time the school’s have ever matched up.
“We are motivated to get back to the final game. This would be the fourth straight year,” said lineman Oak Six. “The seniors have the experience and I know the entire team wants to go back to Hershey.”
Southern 22 20 14 0 56
York Catholic 7 0 8 8 23
Y SC
First Downs 13 17
Rush-Yds 32-155 34-376
Comp-Att-Int 6-19-2 8-10-1
Pass 84 239
Total Yds. 239 615
Penalties 1-5 5-65
Rushing — York Catholic: Massimo Antolick 9-3; Cole Witman 6-53; Mitch Galentine 14-67, 2 TDs; Wes Burns 2-24; Andrew Adams 1-8. Southern: 0-186, 2 TD’s; Gavin Garcia 5-106, 2 TD’s; Ty Roadarmel 4-28; Stone Hollenbach 3-13; Braden Heim 6-29; Jayden McCormick 4-4; Brandon Gedman 2-10.
Passing — York Catholic: Wes Burns 2-11-2, 16 yds, TD; Mitch Galentine 4-8-0, 68 yds. Southern: Stone Hollenbach 8-10-1, 249 yds, 3 TDs.
Receiving — York Catholic: Manuel Montes 2-11; Cormac Sterling 1-35; Noah Kiel 2-24; Benjamin Nelson 1-14, TD. Southern: Julian Fleming 5-146, 2 TD’s; Preston Zachman 3-103, TD
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