Coming off its toughest game of the season and with a regular season closer against Selinsgrove next week, unbeaten Southern Columbia (8-0) faces Central Mountain, which has lost seven straight games since an opening 34-33 win over Williamsport, tonight at Tiger Stadium.
Southern head coach Jim Roth said, after watching the Wildcats on tape, that they remind him of other teams that have been "in transition."
"They're young, and they lack continuity and consistency," Roth said. "They play well at times. Then they lose it for several plays and make mistakes. They seem to lose confidence. But they have some athletes. There have been some games when they have been competitive and played with people, and other games where they just got trashed."
For instance, Mount Carmel was locked in a 21-21 tie with Central Mountain at haltime before pulling away, 54-28. Then last week, Tyrone drubbed the Wildcats, 61-0.
Junior running back Hunter Weaver has had a solid season with 831 yards and five touchdowns rushing, and sophomore Justin Neff has added 340 yards plus 11 pass receptions for 302 yards.
Quarterback Bryce Bitner has thrown for 651 yards and four touchdowns.
Roth hopes Southern can get its sharpness back after turning the ball over several times in the first half last week against Lewisburg.
As of early this week, Roth also wasn't sure of the status of junior back Blake Marks, who injured his knee against the Green Dragons.
"He had an MRI today and was getting another test and we still haven't heard anything," Roth said. "We're hoping it's not an ACL (anterior cruciate ligament, the same injury that knocked Luke Rarig out for the season), but only an MCL (medial collateral ligament) or cartilage. If it's an ACL, that will probably knock him out not only for football, but for the rest of the school year."
Marks is a returning state runner-up in wrestling and was The News-Item's Player of the Year in baseball last spring.
On the plus side, Brad Noll played last week, the first game he's played since the Shamokin game.
"It's funny. Blake came back earlier this season and we lost Brad. Now Brad comes back and we lose Blake," Roth said. "Brad had an MCL and he was out for six weeks, so that tells you a little about it. Even if Blake only has an MCL, he's probably not going to be ready until later in the playoffs."