BRETT R. CROSSLEY/Talk Williamsport
Montoursville’s Torin Lewis breaks away from a Mount Carmel tackler for a big gain. Lewis will be expected to carry the load on both sides of the ball tonight against Southern Columbia.
By BRETT R. CROSSLEY
It’s the biggest game on the local slate by a far distance as undefeated Southern Columbia travels to undefeated Montoursville.
Montoursville has overcome multiple injuries to survive the first half of the season unscathed, while Southern Columbia has just been its usual, dominant self.
Obviously, both teams won last week with Montoursville knocking off Lewisburg 41-25 and Southern Columbia defeating Milton 56-0.
In Southern Columbia’s triumph over Milton, Gaige Garcia rushed for 200 yards and four touchdowns on just eight carries. His services were hardly needed though as Southern Columbia built a sizable halftime advantage to bury the Black Panthers.
Garcia might just be a freshman, but he’s already shown the ability to lead one of the State’s premier teams. He averages 134.7 yards per contest and has scored 15 touchdowns on the season. His high mark came against Milton, but he’s also put up totals of 148 yards on seven carries, 199 yards on 13 carries, and 92 yards on nine carries.
Garcia leads the pack with 808 rushing yards, but he’s hardly the only Tiger getting yards on the ground. Nic Fetterman and Hunter Thomas have each rushed for more than 300 yards. Fetterman has scored five touchdown on the ground while Thomas has added another six, giving Southern Columbia’s top three rushers 26 combined touchdowns in six weeks.
With such a strong running game you would think Southern Columbia would struggle with passing, but that’s just not the case.
Stone Hollenbach has thrown for 825 yards and eight touchdowns against just one interception. He passed for 253 yards and three touchdowns against Hughesville.
Cal Haladay and Teagan Wilk have been forces on the defensive end. Both have recorded 41 tackles to lead a defensive unit that hasn’t given up a point in two weeks.
The Tigers will be looking to stop Brycen Mussina, who has led the Warriors since losing their top two backs to injury.
Mussina has completed 91 of 173 passing attempts for 1,469 yards and 16 touchdowns.
In last week’s win over Lewisburg, Mussina completed 18 passes for 272 yards and four touchdowns.
Mussina has Tommy Shea (39 receptions for 760 yards) and Mitchell Rothrock to throw to against Southern’s stingy secondary.
Nolan Ott has returned from injury, but hasn’t really been able to get going, rushing for just three yards on one attempt against Lewisburg.
The big help out of the Warriors’ backfield has been Torin Lewisburg, who has eclipsed the 100-yard mark twice since taking over as the starting back. Lewis is also Montoursville’s leading tackler with 60 on the season.
Lewis has proven himself to be a strong two-way player with the speed and strength to carry the workload on both sides of the ball.
Mussina will be able to take away some of the pressure, but it will be up to Lewis to establish the running game and contain Southern Columbia’s on the other side of the ball.
This game can be broken down in a bunch of different directions, but it’s going to come down to Montoursville being able to stop the run and put together long sustained scoring drives.
