Roaring Tigers

Pennsylvania has fielded high school football teams since the late 1800s, and the state's scholastic game has produced many celebrated players, coaches and squads. Still, a small school in the farmland of central Pennsylvania, surrounded by cornfields, has drawn little attention despite a remarkable story. The Southern Columbia Tigers began humbly in 1962 and have since become the most successful high school football program the state has ever seen.

The climb was not smooth. The Tigers struggled through growing pains and a losing run lasting several seasons that brought the program close to being dropped by the school administration. Southern kept fighting, and that stubborn determination laid the groundwork for the dominant years that followed.

The Tigers have won a record eleven Pennsylvania Interscholastic Athletic Association football championships and were named small-school national champions in three straight years. Their head coach holds the most career victories in Pennsylvania high school football history. The program has sent numerous players on to college football and has produced a Super Bowl champion.

The book traces the highs of the program's rise along with the hardships it faced, including tragedies the Tigers endured and overcame. It also shows that the team never gave up its ethics or academic standards in pursuit of victory. This is the story of the Southern Columbia Tigers.