SCA's Morton a find at fullback

When Jake Morton played football in junior high, he played halfback. But the Southern Columbia junior thought that by the time he hit the varsity, he'd likely be a wide receiver. He just figured he had the build for it.

Morton, you see, is 6-2 and weighs 170 pounds. He's a big kid, but well, kind of thin.

"Yeah, I'm kind of skinny," Morton said after practice Tuesday, laughing.

But guess what? Coming into this season, Southern itself was, well, kind of thin at running back, and during the offseason, Morton was penciled in by head coach Jim Roth as the Tigers' starting fullback, even though, as Southern fullbacks go, Morton kind of looks like a pencil.

After all, Henry Hynoski, now starting at fullback at Pitt, was 6-2, 240 during his senior season at Southern. Other prominent Southern fullbacks over the years have included Butch Romanoski and Shawn Gaul, neither of whom was exactly built like a pogo stick.

But Morton's first carry of the season went 75 yards for a touchdown, and although things weren't always that easy the rest of the way, he has quietly put up numbers which will compare favorably with those of other Tiger fullbacks over the years. He has carried the ball 174 times for 1,206 yards and 16 touchdowns, and he has been gaining steam as the Tigers make their postseason run. He has gone over the 100-yard mark five times, and has

done it for the past three games, averaging 138.3 yards per game and 7.8 yards per carry in that stretch.

In Southern's 28-6 win over Bloomsburg in the district semifinals, Morton carried 24 times for 131 yards as something of a marked man - starting halfback Tyrell Thomas, who is also closing in on the 1,000-yard mark, sat the game out for disciplinary reasons.

Still, the first half of the season was kind of rocky for the Tiger backs, and resulted in Southern throwing the ball at what head coach Jim Roth thinks is a record pace.

"I'd have to look it up, but I'll bet we're close to a school record for (pass) attempts this season," Roth said. Quarterback Jake Townsend has thrown 217 passes, including 42 in a loss to Montoursville, and five interceptions in a loss to Loyalsock.

Although the Tigers have a veteran offensive line, it took some time for Morton, Thomas and the other young backs to learn the fine points of running behind that line. Once the lessons kicked in, Southern started looking more like Southern than the 3-4 Tigers of a few weeks ago.

"I think our inexperience was the biggest thing," Morton said. "We had to establish some chemistry with the line. I think early the linemen didn't know where we were going to go and we didn't know where they were going to go."

It's obvious Morton came up through the system, learning how to run like a Southern back. Like all good Southern backs, he keeps his free hand close to the hip of the lineman leading his blocking ("We all learn to do that," he said), and his legs keep pumping after the first hit by an opposing player.

His last two carries in last week's 42-12 win over Line Mountain were for 34 and 17 yards, and on both of them, he broke several tackles, suggesting there's some strength in those legs to go along with the speed that makes him a solid hurdler on the Tigers' track team.

Morton said the coaching staff has had faith all along in this team, even through its early struggles.

"When you play at Southern, people expect a lot out of you," he said. "We couldn't figure things out early. We knew we had a good line, and we knew we had talent, but it took some time. But Coach (Roth) kept telling us, 'You're pretty darn good.' I guess he knew we were good enough."

With all its playoff tradition, Southern will be a solid favorite Friday night when it plays District 2 champion Northwest at Shamokin's Kemp Memorial Stadium, but the Tigers, having had to fight just to make the postseason this year, aren't taking anyone lightly.

"They have a real good running back, and a real good receiver," said Morton, a real good running back who might also have been a real good receiver.