Healthy Tigers set for clash

Compared to last week, preparing for tonight's District 4 Class A championship game has been easy for Southern Columbia.

Not that Line Mountain isn't every bit as good as Bloomsburg; the 8-3 Eagles are the top-seeded team in the tournament. But from Southern coach Jim Roth's point of view, he's got a leg up on tonight's game just because he actually has had most of his team available this week.

The flu big bit the Tigers hard last week, going through not just the football team, but the whole school, and although Southern was at close to full strength for its 28-6 win over Bloomsburg, at least seven or eight starters were playing with at least a hint of illness still in them, according to Roth.

"It was really a pretty big unknown how things were going to go in that game with

the amount of people we had missing at practice last week," Roth said. "I've never had a week like that in all my years of coaching. I can remember having a couple kids miss an entire week of practice, but this was seven or eight starters. When it came down to it we had a number of kids who had just shown up for pre-game on Thursday. That was the only preparation those kids had all week. It was kind of scary, and frustrating."

On top of that, starting running back Tyrell Thomas had to sit out the game while serving a school suspension. Most of the others who had been sick played the whole game, with the exception of Jared Hallick, who played a couple of series before being shut down by the trainer.

"Knowing we had played them (Bloomsburg) once and lost, I told the players after the game that it was one thing to come back and turn the tables on them, but it was another thing to do it the way we did it. Hopefully it's a confidence builder for the team," Roth said. "Some of the kids who weren't sick stepped up and played harder."

Roth said he had heard stories from clinics and other coaches' gatherings about how some teams perform better under such conditions, but never actually experienced it.

"There is probably something to be said for the focus an athlete has coming off an illness," Roth said. "I thought that some of our kids played some of their best football. I've often heard that sometimes kids will play some of their best games because they're so focused on having to be at their best because they're sick, that they don't let anything distract them."

At least one Tiger won't be available tonight, Roth said. Defensive end Ben Snarski was injured against Bloomsburg and was on crutches this week.

"Neil Breskiewicz came in for him earlier in the season and did a nice job, and did it again," said Roth.

Line Mountain's belly dive option series is an offense that causes problems for Southern because the Tigers don't see it much, Roth said. Since the teams are playing each other for the fourth consecutive season in the playoffs, there is a little more of a comfort factor for the Tigers.

"They bring that problem that we've had with them in the past," Roth said. "We don't see that offense and they run it well. The deception involved gives us some problems.

"It's the overall scheme. It all starts with the quarterback. You have to have a kid who can really execute that scheme, and they do," Roth said. "If the quarterback is good it makes it that much easier for the other backs to fit in."

On top of that, Roth said the Eagles make the offense even harder to read by using unbalanced formations.

"Last year, they had five linemen on one side of the ball and eight offensive linemen at times," Roth said. "A lot of people think you're not allowed to do that, but you are, and that threw us off a little.

"Plus in practice, you try to simulate their quarterback and fullback, but generally your scout team isn't going to be close to the level of execution running that offense that they are. Then what happens in the game is that your kids can lose their composure if they don't make the right reads, and start running around and getting out of position."

Sign up for Text Alerts

Sign up for e-mail newsletters