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Pep Rally at Southern Columbia as Tigers Get Ready for Big Game

FRANKLIN TOWNSHIP, Pa. — Most high school football teams are done for the season, but Southern Columbia High School still has one more game left — t...

FRANKLIN TOWNSHIP, Pa. -- Most high school football teams are done for the season, but Southern Columbia High School still has one more game left -- the biggest game of their season. the state championship.

This is the fourth straight year the Tigers are in the finals.

Southern Columbia goes for its third state championship in four years on Friday, but first, the school held a pep rally for the football team to get everyone pumped up.

You may as well just call it the yearly pep rally at Southern Columbia High School near Catawissa. The school is celebrating the football team's fourth straight appearance in the PIAA state championship game.

"It's really exciting just to carry on the tradition, all the great athletes who have been through Southern Columbia and just make our coaches and our families proud," said junior Julian Fleming.

The Tigers have been unstoppable this year. In fact, the closest Southern Columbia has come to losing this season in one game they were tied at halftime.

"We just focus on the team that we're playing and we just go out and do what we're supposed to do and get the job done," said junior Cal Haladay.

Newswatch 16 spoke to some juniors on the team. Playing in the state championships is all they know.

"This is the best experience you can get in high school football. Being able to be in it for the third time is just the best experience," junior Gaige Garcia said.

The team won the "double A" title two out of the past three years and hopes to win again this year.

"It would be a nice little extra Christmas present under the tree to come home with the second state championship in three years. We have it to look forward to again next year, hopefully," Fleming said.

The Tigers play the Wilmington Greyhounds from the New Castle area in western Pennsylvania, the team they played in last year's state championship game and beat 48 - 0.

"We just go and treat it like a regular game and prepare like every other week," Haladay said.

Team member say they're even more excited to have the support of the entire school district behind them.

"Our fans are great. Everyone is supporting us and they're hoping we get the gold," Garcia said.

"It's great. They're always supporting us and they're always cheering us on every game and they keep us pumped up for every game," Haladay added.

The Southern Columbia School District has no school Friday so students and faculty can attend the game. The championship game is Friday at 1 p.m. at Hersheypark Stadium.

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