Forest Hills was a challenge for the Tyrone football team a week ago because the Rangers had a first class skill player at every position. They had a quarterback who was very good, two running backs who could break plays, and a wide receiver who was bound to get open sometime based on his speed alone.
There wasn’t a lot of mystery where the ball was going to go. The challenge for Tyrone was stopping it.
Sometimes they did; many times they didn’t.
Tyrone lost 31-29 after coming up short on a late 2-point conversion try, but the Eagles’ playoff spot was a lock either way.
This week, No. 3 Tyrone (6-4) will face No. 2 Penn Cambria in Cresson in the semifinals of the District 6 3A playoffs, and the challenge will be slightly different and tougher than it was last week.
With Penn Cambria, there is a little mystery of where the ball will go because the Panthers like to spread the ball around, and throughout an 8-2 regular season they did that as well as any team around.
“These guys are so much more balanced (than Forest Hills),” Tyrone coach John Franco said. “They do a really good job. Gavin Harrold is probably the best skill kid on their team, there’s no doubt about that, but they’ve got a lot of other guys they get the ball to, and they really don’t focus on one guy. That in and of itself will be a different type of challenge.”
The Panthers average 27.9 points per game, and up until last week they had won eight games in a row. In the Laurel Highlands Week 10 crossover game they ran into a buzz saw in Bald Eagle Area and lost 46-0, but they’re a dangerous team offensively, nonetheless.
Penn Cambria is averaging 310 yards per game, led by junior quarterback Brady Jones, who has completed 87 of 140 passes for 1,376 yards and 17 touchdowns. While he’s thrown to seven different receivers, Harrold (42 receptions for 636 yards) and Carter McDermitt (35 receptions for 680 yards) have been his top targets, combining for 77 catches.
If those numbers make the Panthers’ offense sound predictable, it’s in the running game where they distinguish themselves. Penn Cambria has run the ball 334 times this season, and three backs have more than 200 yards, led by Thomas Plunkett, with 697 yards on 129 carries. Three other rushers have gone for 120 or more.
That has made shutting down the Panthers’ run a major emphasis for the Golden Eagles, Franco said.
“Our number one defensive goal is to shut down the inside running game,” Franco said. “That is our biggest focus. The second goal is to shut down the deep pass. Teams have broken some long runs on us, but we haven’t had a time this year when a team has really run it down our throats.”
The game against Forest Hills was a good example of what Franco is talking about. While the Rangers gained 216 yards on the ground, a huge chunk of that yardage came on two plays – a 67-yard touchdown by Mason Papinchak and a 73-yard run by Xander Richardson. Outside of those plays, the Eagles shut down the run as one could expect against a 7-3 team headed to the 2A playoffs.
Aside from handling the Panthers’ running game, Tyrone will be up against one of the toughest defenses it has faced this season, one as opportunistic as it is stingy. It’s a defense that sets itself apart with what Steelers coach Mike Tomlin calls splash plays.
Against the pass, the Panthers’ have sacked the quarterback 28 times this season, led by outside linebacker Derek Hite, who has 11. They’ve also caused 30 turnovers, 17 of them on interceptions. Marcus Lily leads the team with 6, while Harrold has produced 4.
In all, Penn Cambria has gotten into the opponents’ backfield for 75 tackles for loss, which puts a lot of stress on Tyrone’s offensive line, which will be without Jacob Rice for the second week.
But the Eagles have developed a solid offense of their own, and it should challenge the Panthers in ways similar to the ones Tyrone will face when it’s defending the ball.
Junior quarterback Ashton Walk has taken his place among the top signal-callers in the area. With 107 completions on 95 attempts, Walk has thrown for 2,011 yards and 18 touchdowns. Where Penn Cambria pokes at a defense with its diverse running attack, Tyrone does the same with its passing offense. Andrew Weaver leads the team with 844 yards on 34 receptions, but both Brady Ronan and Eli Woomer have more than 340 receiving yards, and two other receivers have more than 120.
Tyrone is averaging 28.5 points per game, and since losing to Central 42-7 in Week 3 it hasn’t been held below 22 points. The Eagles are averaging more than 330 yards per game, with 130 of those coming on the ground, where Ronan is on the precipice of becoming the program’s first 1,000-yard runner in eight years.
“I honestly think we’re at the point where we can score against anyone,” said Franco. “We’ve got a kid that has almost 1,000 yards rushing and quarterback whose thrown for over 2,000 yards. Our offense is intact.”
Since returning to Tyrone in 2019, Tyrone has made the postseason four times, advancing to the District finals in 2020. But there hasn’t been a consistent push in the playoffs, which had Franco wondering which team would show up against Penn Cambria – the one that won five in a row heading into its Week 10 crossover or the one that was penalized 11 times for more than 100 yards in last week’s defeat.
“The game last week is another one we looked at and said we should have won,” he said. “That has happened a couple time this year. The team that has beaten us the most this year is ourselves.”
ORANGE AND BLACK 