When a team scores more than 40 points most people usually think that the team had a powerful passing attack. For Southern Columbia on Friday night, most of the damage came on the ground, as the Tigers ran their way past South Williamsport, 42-21, in South Williamsport.
Led by the backfield of fullback Adam Feudale and halfbacks Nate Hunter and Matt Lupold, the Tigers rushed for 331 yards on 37 attempts and four touchdowns.
"The offense has been consistent," said Southern Columbia head coach Jim Roth. "We didn't punt tonight and I can't say enough about the way we have been executing on the offensive side of the ball."
Unlike the Tigers (4-0), South Williamsport (3-1) wasn't able to create much offense with its destructive backfield of Brandon Stonge, Matt Bartholomew and Dominick Bragalone. The Mounties racked up 156 yards on 38 carries, but weren't able to get the big yards when they needed them, as Southern Columbia was able to bottle up rushers in the backfield.
"The first defense played pretty well," Roth said. "We bent but we didn't break. We didn't give up a lot of points - the second team gave up the last score. We felt we could have done some things a little better, but (South Williamsport) comes at you with a lot of things."
The big score for the Mounties came on a screen pass from Tyler House to Matt Bartholomew. With just under four minutes to play in the first half, House dropped back and was swarmed with Southern Columbia defenders. House just got the pass off and Bartholomew was left with wide open space along the right sideline.
"They caught us in man coverage, we didn't cover the man they were throwing to," Roth said. "We didn't have a lot of help and that's what happened there. They are a pretty decent football team and they run the ball well and we thought that would be a challenge coming in."
The Tigers offense leaned heavily on fullback Feudale and halfback Lupold. Lupold, especially, made life difficult for the Mounties. He almost never went down on first contact and used a stiffarm to ward off South Williamsport defenders.
"For a guy who isn't real big, he is a strong guy," Roth said. "He is really determined. He isn't too fast, but he is very productive when he gets his hand on the ball."
For the Tigers, the win over South Williamsport comes just a week after a huge win over HAC II rival, Mount Carmel. There was no letdown, though, as Southern scored 35 first-half points in the win.
"Our coaches definitely said no letdowns," Taylor House said after the win. "We just wanted to play this game like last week and try our hardest."
