BRETT R. CROSSLEY/Talk Williamsport
Montoursville’s Riley Conboy pulls a ball down over a Southern Columbia defender for a Montoursville first down. Conboy finished with six catches for 73 yards.
BRETT R. CROSSLEY/Talk Williamsport
Montoursville’s Brandon Dyer takes a kickoff return and attempts to gain yards against Southern Columbia.
BRETT R. CROSSLEY/Talk Williamsport
Montoursville’s Tommy Shea pulls in a pass for a big gain against Southern Columbia’s secondary.
By BRETT R. CROSSLEY
MONTOURSVILLE–In a game between two of the top teams in the District mistakes proved to be the difference.
Southern Columbia returned a 95-yard kickoff, an 85-yard interception for a touchdown, and another interception for a touchdown. The turnovers proved to be enough as the Tigers pulled away for a 42-21 win over the Warriors.
The win all but guarantees the Tigers will win the Heartland Athletic Conference Division II.
Southern Columbia will take on Danville next Friday, while Montoursville attempts to bounce back from its first defeat with a road trip to Milton.
“Every time we were about to get back in the game they had an answer,” Montoursville coach J.C. Keefer said. “Two pick-sixes and a kick return and we lose by three touchdowns. It’s the little things. We’re not disciplined enough. When things start to go wrong our players resort to bad habits.”
The Tigers responded to each step the Warriors took toward tying the game.
In the second quarter, after a 10-play 65-yard drive capped by a one-yard run from Torin Lewis, Montoursville gave up a 95-yard kickoff return to Julian Fleming.
Fleming would later step in front of a Brycen Mussina pass and return it 85-yards for a touchdown.
“You get in these big games and people need to step up and makes plays,” Southern Columbia coach Jim Roth said. “Teams are going to score and move the ball and have success, but I was pleased overall with the way the defense played tonight.”
The Tigers’ run defense was stout, holding Montoursville to a combined 64 yards on 32 carries.
Southern Columbia’s defense forced Montoursville to become one dimensional in the second half.
Brycen Mussina, who entered the game as the area leader in passing yards, completed 16 passes on 36 attempts. He threw for a touchdown, but also threw for two interceptions that were returned for touchdowns. Mussina was also pressured throughout the night.
“When you look at the pick-sixes there are a number of things that are to blame,” Keefer said. “I wanted to establish the run tonight and we couldn’t do that tonight, which was disappointing. We don’t want to turn into a throwing football team. We still have the ability to run the football.”
Montoursville has lived a dangerous life throughout the first six weeks of the season, winning by a combined 13 points in four of its six wins in 2016.
That continued against an undefeated Southern Columbia team Friday that has rarely been challenged. The Tigers have two shutouts on the season and have limited opponents to 19 points over the three previous weeks.
The goal Friday was stopping Montoursville’s passing game, which meant shutting down Mussina, who entered tired for the area lead in touchdowns passes.
The Tigers attention to the passing game showed throughout the night as Mussina dealt with two-man and three-man coverages on his top target Tommy Shea. Even with the coverage the defensive line and linebackers did enough to pressure Mussina into mistakes.
“It’s interesting the way these two teams matchup,” Keefer said. “They aren’t three scores better than us. It comes back on me. We will fix some things and tighten them up.”
Shea pulled down three balls for 32 yards, but struggled with time to get open as Southern Columbia’s defense pressured Mussina throughout the night.
“For the most part we did a nice job against their passing game,” Roth said. “Against Shea, he had the one long pass to setup the score, but for the most part we contained him.”
The two teams had split the last two meetings with Southern Columbia avenging a playoff loss with a 56-50 win over Warriors last year.
Montoursville was the last team to beat Southern Columbia and one of the only teams that had beat it in the District 4 playoffs. Unfortunately, because of the re-classifications done last year, Friday will be the only meeting between the two teams as Southern Columbia is two-A and Montoursville plays in the Class AAA bracket.
It’s a shame after Friday’s game.
Montoursville scored on a 55-yard pass when Mussina found Michell Rothrock in the third quarter. Shea scored the final touchdown for the Warriors on a five-yard reverse.
Southern Columbia 42, Montoursville 21
SCA 14 7 14 7-42
MTV 0 7 0 14-21
FIRST QUARTER
SCA-Hunter Thomas 25 run (Elijah Hoffman kick) 1:55
SCA-Cameron Young (Hoffman kick) 52.9
SECOND QUARTER
MTV-Torin Lewis 1 run (Ethan Lazorka kick) 5:17
SCA-Julian Fleming 95 kickoff return (Hoffman kick) 5:03
THIRD QUARTER
SCA-Fleming 85 interception return (Hoffman kick) 1:29
FOURTH QUARTER
MTV-Mitchell Rothrock 55 pass from Brycen Mussina (Lazorka kick) 11:50
MTV-Tom Shea 5 run (Lazorka kick) 7:41
SCA-Gaige Garcia 42 run (Hoffman kick) 5:02
SCA MTV
First Downs 15 16
Total Yards 369 211
Rushes-yards 35-248 32-64
Passing 121 147
Comp.-Att.-Int. 9-13-2
Fumbles-Lost 2-1 0-0
INDIVIDUAL STATS
RUSHING-Southern Columbia Gaige Garcia 10-132 TD, Nic Fetterman 10-32, Hunter Thomas 9-70 TD, Ty Roadarmel 1-5, Nate Crowl 2-14, Stone Hollenbach 3 (-5). Montoursville: Torin Lewis 8-17 TD, Nolan Ott 12-26, Logan Ott 2-5, Colby Nettling 1-2, Tom Shea 1-5 TD, Brycen Mussina 8-9.
RECEIVING-Southern Columbia Julian Fleming Julian Fleming 1-13, Cameron Young 1-7, Hunter Thomas 3-58 TD, Gaige Garcia 3-36, Nic Fetterman 1-6. Montoursville Tom Shea 3-32, Nolan Ott 1-35, Riley Conboy 6-73, Mitchell Rothrock 4-81 TD, Leahy Keegan 1 (-1), Aaron Stoner 1-20.
PASSING-Southern Columbia Stone Hollenbach 9-13-2 121 yards TD. Montoursville Brycen Mussina 16-36-2 247 yards TD.
INTERCEPTIONS-Southern Columbia Julian Fleming, Cameron Young. Montoursville Nolan Ott, Riley Conboy.
RECORDS: Southern Columbia 7-0. Montoursville 6-1.
Next: Southern Columbia at Danville, Friday, 7 p.m. Montoursville at Milton, Friday, 7 p.m.
