YORK, Pa. — Trinity continued its magical postseason run last weekend with a 35-17 come-from-behind victory over Executive Education Charter in the Class 2A state quarterfinals.
But the Shamrocks might need more than magic to defeat their next opponent in the semifinals. They face one of the most dominant teams ever to come out of Pennsylvania's Coal Region: Southern Columbia.
The Tigers have won five straight Class 2A state titles and are a win away from playing for a sixth. They stomped Bishop Guilfoyle 42-14 in the quarterfinals last weekend.
Guifoyle, which won the state crown in Class 1A last year, was bumped up to Class 2A this season, and they were no match for the powerful Tigers.
Southern Columbia has won a record 12 state championships in program history -- six in Class 1A, and six of the last seven in Class 2A.
While this year's version of the Tigers isn't as invulnerable as some of its previous programs -- they've been beaten three times this season, all by state-playoff qualifiers -- Southern Columbia will still pose a huge challenge for the Shamrocks when they square off Friday at 7 p.m. at Selinsgrove High School.
Here's a look at the game.
Trinity (10-4) vs. Southern Columbia (11-3)
Friday, 7 p.m. at Selinsgrove High School
ABOUT SOUTHERN COLUMBIA: The Tigers' three regular-season losses are the most they've had in a single season since 2011. Southern Columbia fell to Class 3A state playoff qualifiers Loyalsock Township (27-10) and Danville (49-14) in September, and to Class 2A qualifier Mount Carmel (35-21) on Oct. 14.
But the Tigers avenged one of those defeats, knocking off Mount Carmel 48-18 in the first round of the state playoffs on Nov. 18. Southern Columbia then trounced Guifoyle in last week's quarterfinals for its sixth straight win.
This year's team has used a familiar formula to account for its success: The Tigers run the football almost exclusively and use a ball-hawking defense to shut opponents down.
Southern Columbia churns out an average of 269 rushing yards per game, paced by senior Braeden Wisloski, who has 1,544 yards and 22 touchdowns this season. Wisloski rushed for 113 yards and scored twice in last week's rout of Guifoyle.
Fellow senior Wes Barnes is also closing in on the 1,000-yard plateau for the Tigers; he's got 900 yards and 11 scores on 80 carries. Barnes did the most damage against Guifoyle last week, carrying the rock 21 times for 149 yards and two TDs.
The Tigers held Guifoyle to just 88 rushing yards, forced four turnovers, and scored a pair of defensive touchdowns. They attempted just two passes, completing one for 10 yards.
Last year, Southern Columbia shook off a 41-21 loss to Wyomissing in the regular season to capture its fifth straight state title. The Wyomissing loss ended Southern Columbia's 65-game winning streak, which at the time was the longest active streak in the nation.
The Tigers are coached by Jim Roth, who is Pennsylvania's all-time winningest high school football coach after passing legendary Berwick coach George Curry in 2020. Roth is 481-67-2 in 41 years at Southern Columbia. He entered the season ranked seventh nationally in career victories among high school coaches.
ABOUT TRINITY: The reigning District 3 champions trailed Executive Education 15-14 at halftime last week after struggling to contain the Raptors' explosive passing offense. But the Shamrocks made the right defensive adjustments at halftime, added some timely scoring on offense and pulled away for an 18-point victory.
The Shamrocks, who started the season 1-3, have won nine of their last 10 games. The only loss over that span was a 35-28 overtime setback against Class 1A state semifinalist Steel-High.
Against Executive Education, the Shamrocks found themselves trailing at halftime after allowing Raptor QB Darmel Lopez to shred their secondary for more than 200 yards. Lopez hit Emery Plummer and Jyhmiek Roman for touchdowns to give his team a 15-7 lead before Trinity's Caleb Wray found Trey Weiand for a 23-yard touchdown to cut the margin to a point at the break.
Trinity's defense tightened in the second half, picking off Lopez four times after the break. The Shamrocks finished the game with five interceptions after stealing one Lopez pass in the first half as well.
Cole Cappawana got Trinity's comeback started with a 40-yard TD run on a reverse with 8:52 left in the third quarter, and the Shamrocks scored again when Jacob Ness set up Christian Joy's 16-yard TD run with an interception of Lopez on Executive's ensuing possession.
A 99-yard pick-six by Amil Way with 3:39 left ended any hope of a comeback for the Raptors, whose only second-half points came on a safety.
Freshman Messiah Mickens, whose 48-yard TD run on the first play from scrimmage gave Trinity the early lead, finished the game with 61 yards on 10 carries. He's rushed for 954 yards and 18 scores on 123 carries this season.
Max Schlager (109-843, 12 TDs), Cappawana (22-241, four TDs) and Joy (59-666, six TDs) are factors in the ground game for Trinity as well.
Wray has thrown for 1,057 yards and 13 touchdowns for Trinity this season, with the bulk of those tosses going to Mickens (16-200), Cappawana (17-333, 3 TDs), and Weiand (13-192, 5 TDs).
Trinity is in the state semifinals for the first time in program history.