Rollers, Rollers

• They have rich traditions in athletics.
• They are among the smallest school districts in the state.
• Both communities are economically deprived.
• Both communities love their high school athletics.
The list could go on and on.
But the biggest difference in the two schools, the Crimson Tide and Rollers, at least year on the football field is that you could call the Rollers a Division I college team and the Crimson Tide are a Division III college team.
That’s not a smack in the face to our kids, its just that the Rollers are loaded and basically rolled to a perfect 10-0 record.
In winning 10 straight regular season games, the defending state Class A champs, who are a solid bet to repeat, they scored 381 points, while giving up just 98.
Their three closest games were a season-opening 16-14 win over Susquehanna Township and wins over Mid-Penn Patriot Division rivals, Trinity, 20-14 and Camp Hill, 28-20. They crushed Middletown, one of the favorites in the Class AA field, 30-14.
And they have a number of Division I prospects on the team.
The biggest D-I prospect is running back Jeremiah Young, who sat out last week’s game with Camp Hill, with an ankle injury.
He needs 421 yards to get a new state career rushing record for a season currently held by James Mungro of East Stroudsburg High School. The former Indianapolis Colt rushed for 8,432 yards for his four-year career.
So far this season, Young has rushed for 1,806 yards and scored 20 touchdowns.
But here’s a little history -- Columbia is one of seven schools in the state that has held Young under 100 yards on the ground since the start of the District 3 playoffs when Young was a freshman. In that playoff game, Young was held to 89 yards on six carries. Others in the club are Holy Name (11), Southern Columbia (27), Boiling Springs (3), Bellwood-Antis (35) and Trinity (18).
And he also had a stud blocking for him, fullback Jordan Hill, who stands 6-5 and weighs in at 290 pounds.
Calling the signals for the Rollers will be Andre Campbell, who started last year on the state title title team. This year, he’s rushed for four scores and thrown six touchdown passes.
The team’s leading receiver is Jordan Smith, who has caught 21 passes for 389 yards.
The Rollers have rushed for 2,751 yards this year, while passing for just 666. Run defense was a weakness for the Tide earlier this year, but it has been moved improved over the last four games, but Columbia still hasn’t faced a run game like the Rollers.
That’s because there is a lot of beef\ up front for the Rollers. In the pits, the Tide will face a line anchored by the “Big Cat,” Lloyd Hull, who stands 6-2 and weighs a whopping 320 pounds. Others in the trenches are Will Rozman (6-0, 230), Matt Johnson (6-1, 215) and Justin Williams (6-2, 210).
Leading the way at linebacker for the Rollers is Jordan Hill, who leads the team with 64 tackles, followed by Jeff Davis with 35 stops.
Defensively, a player to watch for the Rollers is LB Jordan Perry, who leads the team in sacks ad cornerback Dionte Willis and Billy Stairs, who lead the team in interceptions.
Roller coach Rob Deibler in his 10th year has won five district titles.
NOTES: Kickoff is 7 p.m. at the Roller’s Cottage Hill Field, which is turf.
The winner gets the winner of the Millersburg-Reading Central Catholic game.
The other seeds are Holy Name (2), Camp Hill (3) and Millersburg (4).
Local ties are Columbia grad Tony Fillmore is a Roller assistant and Columbia assistant junior high football coach Tom Sherk teaches health and physical education at the high school.
Other L-L League teams in the playoffs are: Wilson, Penn Manor, Hempfield, Warwick and E-town (AAAA), Cocalico, Manheim Central, Lebanon, Garden Spot, Northern Lebanon and Elco (AAA) and Lancaster Catholic (AA).
Four of the 10 teams that Columbia played during the regular season qualified for the playoffs. The fourth being Daniel Boone in the Class AAA field.