A turnaround in the second half led Southern Columbia to a 31-14 win over Lewisburg Friday night, and while the Tigers probably don't want to remember much of the first half, there was one bright spot.
Quarterback Nick Becker showed a rushing acumen he hadn't shown previously this year. It came in handy on several plays.
Twice, Becker kept the ball himself to earn Southern first downs on third-down situations.
While Becker was having success running, the rest of the Tigers weren't. It was slow starts for running backs Matt Jeremiah and Hunter Thomas, who went into the half with 76 combined rushing yards - much lower than usual for them.
Becker, however, picked up the slack. On four rushes in the first half, Becker had 52 yards and finished with eight carries for 80 yards.
One of those resulted in a 12-yard rushing touchdown for the quarterback in the fourth quarter.
Even Tigers head coach Jim Roth was surprised by the night Becker had on the ground.
"He had a tremendous game running the ball," Roth said. "That's something we can utilize in the future."
SPEAKING OF RUNNERS: It's fun sometimes to watch the development of young players as the season progresses.
Take, for instance, Line Mountain sophomore running back Kenny Boyer.
Through the season's first five games, Boyer, a standout wrestler for the Eagles during the winter season, had accumulated a very pedestrian 119 yards and three
touchdowns on 45 carries. And, most of that (15 carries, 77 yards and a touchdown) came in Line Mountain's second game of the season, a win over Susquenita.
Since the fifth game, the 160-pounder has emerged as an offensive force.
In the Eagles' last three games, victories over Halifax, Upper Dauphin and St. Joseph Academy, he has gained 133, 192 and 103 yards, respectively. Also, during that same span, he's rushed for eight touchdowns.
Boyer's season totals now show 547 yards and 11 touchdowns on 128 rushes.
The sophomore has also become a viable weapon in the Line Mountain passing attack, hauling in 12 passes for 145 yards and a touchdown.
SO CLOSE, BUT SO FAR AWAY: Mount Carmel Area senior Blake Panko is within roughly 40 yards of the school season record for kickoff return yardage, but with two regular season games and maybe a couple of playoff games remaining, his chances of breaking it, while not bad, aren't particularly good either.
That's because teams have wised up and are starting not to kick to him. Warrior Run steadfastly did all it could to avoid Panko on returns most of the night in Mount Carmel's 47-21 win on Friday.
Panko has 16 returns for 583 yards and two touchdowns this season. That's both a good thing and a bad thing, as well. It's good for Panko on a personal level, but the fact that he has so much return yardage speaks to the fact that Mount Carmel has been giving up lots of points. Mount Carmel has given up 267 points in eight games, or 33.3 points per game, Most of those points came in their three losses to Selinsgrove, Southern Columbia and North Schuylkill (a combined 22-2) but even in their five wins the Red Tornadoes are giving up close to 20 points per game,