Southern Columbia's football program has put up some amazing numbers over the years but the Tigers are in the midst of one right now that is almost mind-boggling.
With Friday's 55-13 win over Mount Carmel, the Tigers have now posted 16 consecutive regular season wins in which they have gotten the game into the mercy rule in every one.
That can be both a good and bad thing, though. It's good from the standpoint that the Tiger backups usually see plenty of action at the varsity level.
The bad thing, at least last season, when the Tigers were dropped to Division III of the Pennsylvania Heartland Athletic Conference, was that it hurt them a little when they hit Old Forge in the state playoffs. The Tigers probably could have used a competitive regular season game before hitting a team of the Blue Devils' caliber.
That shouldn't be a problem this season, Southern ends the regular season with a non-division matchup against once-beaten, and very strong, Selinsgrove.
STRONG SEASON: It's kind of hard to look for positives in a 55-13 loss, but Blake Panko continues to provide them for Mount Carmel.
He carried the ball 15 times for 96 yards against Southern, and although his touchdown run came against the Tiger backups, he also continued his great kick returning. He had four kick returns for 120 yards,
and they were consistently good - 31, 33, 25 and 31 yards, and he almost broke a couple them.
For the season, Panko has rushed for 538 yards and 10 touchdowns, and has 10 kick returns for 427 yards, an amazing 42.7-yard averages, with two returns for touchdowns. He has 1022 all-purpose yards, 170.3 per game.
He's also been good defensively from his defensive back slot. He's second on the team in tackles with 47 and threw his body around against Southern, as he has against every team.
COACH OF THE WEEK: Line Mountain assistant coach Damian Hojnacki gets our vote for Coach of the Week, not so much for what he did during the Eagles' 24-6 win over Halifax, but for what he did before the game.
After about the third loud, annoying rap song (we use that term loosely) on the public address system, Hojnacki walked up the stands, into the pressbox and, without much fanfare, hit the off button, to the cheers of everyone in the pressbox, not to mention people in the stands, neighbors, and wildlife in the surrounding fields and woods.
WORKING HARD: Chances are, Jersey Shore running back Levi Lorson is still a little sore today. He has every right.
Lorson, Jersey Shore's 5-foot-8, 180-pound tailback, carried the ball 49 times, gaining 246 yards and scoring three touchdowns in Friday night's Heartland I victory over Shamokin.
We can't recall any other high school athlete toting the ball that many times in a game, however the effort does bring to mind a performance by former Southern Columbia standout Jerry Marks when he was a collegian at Bloomsburg University.
In 1991, during a road game with Mansfield University, Marks, a senior at the time, carried an amazing 59 times, gaining 300 yards and scoring four touchdowns.