Tide falls

Columbia’s 2008 football season came to an end Friday night in a 39-6 loss to one of, if not the best team in the state, the Steel-High Rollers.
The 11-0 Rollers are not only the defending District 3 Class A champion, but the defending state champion as well.
They have a number of Division I prospects on the team and are a good bet to repeat their success in the state tournament.
One of those Division I prospects for the Rollers is running back Jeremiah Young. He’s closing in on the state’s career rushing record. He needed more than 400 yards going into the game. Friday night, he ran the ball 15 times for 159 yards. He also caught a pass for a score.
Young caught that pass on the Rollers’ first possession of the game, on a 20-yard aerial from quarterback Andre Campbell.
He scored the first of three rushing touchdowns on a 40-yard sprint on the Rollers’ second possession. Steel-High led the game 14-0, seven minutes into the game on a nine-play and a two-play drive.
After forcing the Tide to its second straight, three and out series, the Rollers took over late in the first quarter at their own 26 and 34 seconds into the second quarter, Young scored from the 17 to give the Rollers a 20-0 lead.
Disaster then struck the Tide.
They fumbled the ensuing kickoff, which the Rollers turned into points. Campbell scored on a 10-yard scamper with 10 minutes left in the first half.
On the Tide’s next possession, quarterback Matt Kreiser fumbled when he was sacked and the Rollers got the ball back. Two plays later, Young scored on a 6-yard run and the Rollers were ahead 32-0.
Columbia again was forced to punt, but got a huge break when the Rollers fumbled the punt, giving the Tide new life. But they were unable to capitalized as Dakota Lightfoot’s option pass was picked off, which the Rollers converted into a 30-yard run by Dionte Willis. With five minutes left in the half, the Rollers were in front 39-0.
The Tide finally got some offense going. Lightfoot, the leading rusher in the L-L League broke loose on a 22-yard gain and the Rollers were flagged for a 15-yard penalty on a Tide punt. But the Tide was unable to capitalize and the half ended.
Now with the mercy rule controlling the game, the Rollers moved in for another score in the third quarter, but a great defensive play by Clark Meshey broke up a fourth down pass.
Columbia moved the ball on their second possession of the second half. Steel-High was again hit with a 15-yard penalty and Kreiser teamed up with his number one wide receiver Yahya McIntyre for a 34-yard gain to the Roller 24. But the Tide was unable to convert.
Columbia finally did get on the board. Getting the ball at the Roller 49, the Tide needed nine plays to score on a 2-yard run by Lightfoot with 3:47 left in the game.
On the nine-play drive, Lightfoot had his hands on the football for eight of the plays.
The Tide finished the season with a 3-8 record.
Friday’s game saw the end of the high school careers of Kreiser, Lightfoot, McIntyre, Meshey, Jason Combs, Kevin McCarty, Bobby Schoelkopf and Raefel Mendez.

District 3 playoffs

With the exception of last two years when the Crimson Tide was classified Class AA in football, the annual trip to the District Three playoffs always met one thing -- more often than not the Tide was paired against either Steel-High, Scotland or Camp Hill in the playoffs.
Back in Class A, the Tide, despite its 2-7 record qualified for the post-season again and their reward will be a trip to one of the most tradition rich schools in District Three next week, Steel-High.
And the Rollers are loaded. They are 9-0 on the season and have Division One prospects at a number of positions including senior running back Jeremiah Young.
Young, who has yet to commit to a college, is with 420 yards of setting the state’s career rushing record of more than 8,000 yards held by former East Stroudsburg running back James Munro, who spent some time with the Indianapolis Colts.
Other teams qualifying for the Class A playoffs are Camp Hill (2), Holy Name (3), Central Catholic (4), Millersburg (5), York Catholic (6) and Upper Dauphin (7).