A month or so ago, unbeaten Southern Columbia was a consensus favorite to win the District 4-AA title.
Now, as the playoffs open, the Tigers are still unbeaten (10-0) and are still a favorite for the title, but, thanks to a rash of injuries, Southern is not as sure a bet. As for the other seven teams in the field, there isn't a whole lot of separation.
"I think there'a lot of balance there," says Southern coach Jim Roth, whose Tigers open with eighth seed Hughesville (6-4). "If we take care of business and win this week, we'll play the winner of Montoursville and Lewisburg. Lewisburg already gave us a game and Montoursville is capable of doing the same thing if they play the way they've played later in the season."
Sophomore back Hunter Thomas is the latest Tiger to be lost for the season because of an injury. He fractured an ankle against Selinsgrove last week. He finished the season with 691 yards and nine touchdowns on just 56 carries (12.3 yards per carry). He joins Luke Rarig and Blake Marks on the sidelines.
The loss of those three players has had Roth and his staff scrambling to find replacements and substitutes to back them up at
both running back and in the defensive secondary.
"We're moving some people around, trying to get some areas stabilized," Roth says. "We're getting (Steve) Toczylousky and (Billy) Barnes involved in the running game. The pass defense issue (against Selinsgrove) was disturbing but we have taken a hit in that area with Luke and then Blake."
On the plus side, Matt Jeremiah, after a week off, came back last week with a great performance against Selinsgrove with 164 yards rushing, two pass receptions and four touchdowns.
"He had a bruise on his shin, which is why we held him out against Central Mountain," Roth says. "He had his best game of the year against Selinsgrove. Other than the skill players, we're in pretty good shape."
Jeremiah now has 809 yards and 17 touchdowns on the ground.
Selinsgrove passed for 262 yards against Southern, although the Tigers did pick off three passes in their 28-21 win.
"Some of the kids who have been pretty solid all year for us back there became tentative with the speed of (Juvon) Batts and were reacting to some of the plays instead of attacking," Roth says. "Sometimes you get taken out of a game by kids like that. If you're tentative he's going to burn you every time. You have to learn not to lay back against a quality skill kid like that."
Hughesville (6-4) has had an up and down season after several rough seasons.
"They've had a solid year. We have film of them playing Montoursville and it's a competitive game," Roth says. "One of the things I notice is that they get down a little bit and lose their confidence and things go wrong. That happens with a team that hasn't had a lot of success the past couple of years. But it's a team we have to be ready for."
The Spartans do have some weapons. Quarterback Logan Henry has thrown for 1,302 yards and 12 touchdowns and has a couple of key people to work with. Running back Nick Yeager has 777 yards, and is also a return threat, with almost 800 combined yards on kickoff and punt returns, and Sean Poust has caught 29 passes for 569 yards and six touchdowns. The Spartans have four other players with at least 10 receptions.
Defensively, Christian Fish has 105 tackles, and Ethan Duff has 10 sacks.