Tough Foe Awaits Wildcats
BALD EAGLE TOWNSHIP – Central Mountain football followers can only hope that when Southern Columbia brings its powerhouse football team to Malinak Stadium Friday night the visiting Tigers will fall victim to a “trap” game, looking ahead to week number ten. The Catawissa-based team will certainly be a top-heavy favorite over the home-standing Wildcats in week number nine.
Southern Columbia heads west on I-80 to the land of the Wildcats with an 8-0 mark and only Central Mountain standing in the way of a 9-0 start as the Tigers finish the regular season the following Friday at 8-0 Selinsgrove.
This year’s Southern Columbia squad may be as good as any that veteran coach (and Lock Haven University grad) Jim Roth has produced. They’ve scored no fewer than 40 points a game, the low mark 40-0 over Central Columbia; the high was 56 in wins over Bloomsburg 56-19 and Warrior Run, 56-7.
This is a team that has not lost a regular season game since 2011 and last year took down the Wildcats by a 55-13 score in the first-ever meeting between the AA Tigers and Quad-A Central Mountain.
SC rode to a 49-10 halftime lead over Lewisburg (5-3) last Friday en route to a 49-24 win, holding the Green Dragons to minus 37 yards rushing while eight different Tiger running backs piled up 258 yards, augmented by quarterback Nick Becker (sr, 6-3, 210) and his 10-for-11 passing performance for 105 yards and two touchdowns.
The only downer for Southern Columbia was the loss of two-way standout lineman Josh Yoder (sr, 6-3, 270) who went down with a leg injury at the end of the first quarter; his status for the rest of the year was not immediately known.
Last Friday saw Central Mountain Wildcats do everything but win the game in a 21-20 loss to heavily favored Tyrone. Though the Wildcats trailed 14-2 at halftime, they came back and outplayed the 6-and-2 Golden Eagles in the second half and had a chance to take their only lead in the game’s final moments. Riding the arm and legs of quarterback Justin Neff to a 21-20 lead with 2:12 remaining, CM went for the lead with a 2-point conversion try, but a trick play was mishandled and Tyrone took over after the kickoff and ran out the clock to escape with the win.
The Wildcats, while playing arguably their best all around game in a 2-and-6 season, were also unfortunate. Neff lost a prospective score on a fumble at the Tyrone 1-foot line; he also had a 65-yard punt return for a score called back on a holding penalty. And Tyrone benefitted from a Brandon Loose 39-yard fumble return for a touchdown when the Wildcats lost the ball as the half came to an end.
After this Friday the 2-6 Wildcats finish their season at 6-2 Jersey Shore Friday, Nov. 6. The Bulldogs were downed by undefeated Selinsgrove last week, losing 42-10.
