High School Football: Southern Columbia's newcomers romp past Line Mountain - Danville News
By Harold Raker
The Daily Item
ELYSBURG -- Those new faces in new places looked a whole like some of the old faces for Southern Columbia.
The all-rookie backfield produced 420 rushing yards and six touchdown Friday night as The Tigers opened the season with a 42-25 victory over a Line Mountain team that never quit.
Halfback Matt Moore, who got the job in camp after a season-ending injury to Tyrell Thomas, rushed for 131 yards and a pair of TDs on just nine carries, and fullback Tyler Levan racked up 131 yards on 17 carries and made a big recovery of a muffed punt to set up the first touchdown. The other halfback, Casey Savitski, ran for 95 yards and three TDs.
Oh, and the new quarterback, he not only managed the game like a veteran, he even ran for a 22-yard score on what was supposed to be a pass play, but the receivers were covered.
Levan, who runs the position which generally carries the biggest load in the Tigers' wing-T attack, was having fun, whether he was running over ballcarriers or blocking and watching his teammates do the same.
"Once I got my momentum, I was pretty pumped," Levan said. "With Matt and Casey Savitski all putting in touchdowns, I was just glad to be blocking for them."
The Eagles actually stopped the Tigers on their first series and forced a punt. But Jake Becker's kick was muffed and recovered by Levan at the Eagles' 5-yard line; Savitski then swept the left side for a touchdown on the next play with 7:45 left in the opening quarter.
Levan said, "I was running down and I was pretty sure he was going to fumble, but I wasn't sure I was going to get it. Then when we got that first touchdown out of that, I was pretty excited. We are all excited to start the season off this way."
The play resulted in the Eagles having to play from behind the rest of the way.
Line Mountain coach Mike Carson said, "It's the kind of mistake that unfortunately you have the chance of making in a first game. He should have just let the ball alone, but he will learn from that mistake and so will the rest of us."
The Tigers went up two scores on that Fegley TD in which he saw intended receiver Keith Day covered and took off around the left side, with Day turning around and throwing the block to clear the way to the end zone. Dylan Swank's first of six PATs made it 14-0 with 3:39 left in the first quarter.
But the Eagles answered on the ensuing possession as quarterback Marty Beninsky chewed up chunks of yards, often faking to draw the Tigers toward tailback Kyle Troutman. Then Troutman scored on a 22-yard burst up the middle and Austin Snyder's kick made it 14-7 with 1:02 to play in the opening period.
Moore played a big role in putting the Eagles into a hole they would never quite dig out of. First he scored on an 18-yard TD, then, after Troutman scored on a 5-yard run, Moore broke through to block the PAT to keep it 21-13 in the first half.
Beninsky and the Eagles kept the pressure on, but the Tigers answered every score.
"I have to look at the film to try to figure out what was happening that allowed them to do that, because generally we defend their sweep fairly well and they were running underneath our ends," Carson said. "They ripped us pretty good there."
Southern coach Jim Roth couldn't say enough about the job of those backs, all in their first varsity starts. "All four of them, the way they ran. There were times they didn't have great holes. Not only did they run well in terms of getting what was there, but they showed real good vision and they all ran hard and showed the ability to be physical," he said.
Roth added, "It was a war. It was a real physical game. It was a battle. Both defenses had trouble finding an answer."
Moore, running like the state medal-winning hurdler he is, had a 55-yard TD run on the third play of the second half, starting over right tackle, then cutting back to the left and outrunning everyone. Beninsky scored another TD and Snyder scored on a 43-yard run on his only carry of the day, but Savitski scored twice more and the Eagles never got within two scores.
Carson said he was proud of the fact that his team kept fighting. "What I want to take away from this is the character our kids showed," he said.
03 Sep, 2011--
Source: http://news.google.com/news/url?sa=t&fd=R&usg=AFQjCNH6wHPXOLZKJ-IsNVVUFvLfl2MVsw&url=http://dailyitem.com/0200_sports/x1753726878/High-School-Football-Southern-Columbias-newcomers-romp-past-Line-Mountain
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