Tigers abandoned run at crunch time

Published: December 5, 2009

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Seldom are games won or lost on one play.

Usually, it's a combination of mistakes and missed opportunities. Friday night, it was one series of missed passes with a whole quarter to play and only a four-point deficit, combined with a whole game of missed tackles by the Southern Columbia defense that spelled the end of the Tigers' 2009 PIAA playoff run.

There's no taking away from Southern Columbia the way it battled back from a 3-4 record with the danger of not making the playoffs, nor how dominant the it was in its three playoff wins.

But the tenet of each of Southern's postseason victories this season was running the football. The offensive line had gelled, and fullback Jake Morton came into the game with 1,303 yards, and gained another 185 yards on Friday. So it was odd that after recovering a Tri-Valley fumble in prime field position, Southern's playcalling put the ball in Jake Townsend's hands.

Townsend has also played well this season, but Tri-Valley's defensive line pressure was cutting the Southern pass blocking to ribbons, and on more than one occassion Southern's wideouts didn't run as crisp a route as was needed.

So Morton turned into a blocker and a receiver, and two incomplete passes and a minimal two-yard gain on a screen pass to the fullback were all Southern had to show as its best opportunity to retake the lead fell harmlessly to the ground.

Tri-Valley immediately scored on its next possession to go up by 11 points. While Southern made it interesting at the end, who isn't wondering what if Southern's bread-and-butter running game had not been so suddenly and abruptly phased out when it was needed most?

Morton wasn't the only runner having his way with a defense on Friday, but where the philosophies differed is that when Tri-Valley needed yards, the Bulldogs gave it to running back Wyatt Straub.

It was an easy decision, given his team had the lead for most of the second half and time was the Bulldogs' to burn, for Tri-Valley head coach Mike Kogut to give the ball to Straub. He had the best vision, speed and balance that Southern may have faced all year, and rarely did a Tigers' defender get a clean hit on the 5-foot, 9-inch, 170-pound back.

And Southern's defense, which has been just as dominant and responsible for the turnaround as the running game, just flat out missed its opportunity to contain Straub, who looked as though he was made of rubber and dipped in Crisco the way the Tigers bounced off of him and couldn't wrap him up.

And with all the missing going on, Hershey is going to miss seeing Southern Columbia in the state finals again, although with a game separating Friday night and Hershey, nothing was written in chocolate yet.

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